Heat falls to 1-2 on trip. Takeaways from loss to Timberwolves and Adebayo’s frank assessment
The Minnesota Timberwolves issued a message ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Miami Heat: Arrive early to avoid long lines to enter the Target Center because a sellout crowd was expected.
The Timberwolves (9-9) then issued a message on the court with a 113-101 win over the Heat (12-7) on Wednesday night to extend their winning streak to five.
“We had enough,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said on the second night of a back-to-back. “We’re not taking anything away from what they did. They earned that win.”
The Heat led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter and entered halftime ahead by eight. But the Timberwolves opened the third quarter on a 14-6 run to tie it up.
During a chippy third quarter that included four technical fouls, Minnesota outscored Miami 32-20 to enter the fourth ahead by four.
The Heat responded to take a one-point lead with 9:34 to play.
The Timberwolves had the final answer, though, in the form of a 23-10 run to build a 12-point advantage with 2:25 to play and create the separation it was looking for.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 33 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Malik Beasley scored 29 points off the bench on 5-of-13 shooting from deep.
The Timberwolves still shot just 40.9 percent from the field and 18 of 55 (32.7 percent) on threes. But Minnesota made up for that, finishing with 19 more shot attempts than Miami with the help of 15 offensive rebounds and the Heat’s 21 turnovers.
Minnesota holds the NBA’s second-best offensive rebounding percentage, and it showed Wednesday. Forward Jarred Vanderbilt grabbed seven offensive rebounds.
“That’s what they do,” Spoelstra said. “They do it extremely well. I mean, they’re quick, they’re long. They do get deflections and steals and challenge at the rim. And they crash on the offensive glass. When we were able to rebound, we were able to get out in transition some. But we weren’t able to control that possession game.”
Heat guard Kyle Lowry added: “They shot 19 more shots than us. That’s a big difference right there. ... That’s the game right there.
The Heat’s free-throw shooting didn’t help its cause. Miami finished 20 of 29 at the foul line, with Bam Adebayo missing seven of his 11 attempts.
“I played like [expletive],” said a frustrated Adebayo, who ended the night with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists. “I’ll own up to it. It can’t happen no more.”
The Heat now heads to Chicago for Thanksgiving and a matchup against the revitalized Bulls on Saturday. Miami is 1-2 on its four-game trip.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Timberwolves:
Lowry ran into foul trouble early in the second half and things went south from there.
Lowry was called for his fourth foul with 10:28 left in the third quarter. Spoelstra left him in, and Lowry picked up his fifth foul just 15 seconds later.
Lowry was then called for a technical for arguing with an official as he walked to the bench.
The Heat led by nine when Lowry committed his fifth foul early in the third quarter.
“I mean, it stunk,” Lowry said of picking up his fifth foul at that point. “I set that screen a whole lot and it is what it is. They called it and it changed the momentum a little bit.”
The Timberwolves outscored the Heat 30-17 while Lowry spent the final 10:13 of the period on the bench to enter the fourth quarter with a four-point advantage.
Lowry finally re-entered the game with 10:13 left in the fourth quarter and the Heat trailing 88-84. But Lowry fouled out with 5:29 to play and the Heat in a three-point hole.
The Timberwolves outscored the Heat 11-2 over the final 5:29 with Lowry on the bench on their way to the 12-point win.
Lowry finished with seven points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting on threes, six rebounds and five assists in 23 minutes. He was limited to just 6:31 in the second half because of foul trouble.
Minnesota has not forgotten about Jimmy Butler’s brief but eventful stint with the Timberwolves.
Butler played one full season with the Timberwolves in 2017-18 before forcing a trade early in the 2018-19 season that landed him with the Philadelphia 76ers. In his only complete season with the franchise, he helped lead the Timberwolves to their only playoff appearance since the start of the 2004-05 season.
Wednesday marked the third game that Butler has played in Minnesota since the Timberwolves traded him. He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists and one steal.
But Timberwolves fans have not forgiven Butler, who was met with a strong wave of boos when he was introduced and every time he touched the ball during the game.
It elicited somewhat of a response from Butler, who shared some words with fans sitting courtside. He also had to be separated from Edwards after Edwards shoved him in retaliation for Butler ripping the ball away on a change-of-possession dead ball.
Butler and Edwards received technicals for the incident.
This all happened in a tense third quarter while the Timberwolves rallied to take control of the game.
“We haven’t really addressed it with the players,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said before Wednesday’s game when asked about the emotion of facing Butler in front of their home crowd. “I think they’re professional enough. It’s the physicality that you can’t let bother you, and obviously there’s some history there, so you’ve got to make sure that you just play your game and let everything take care of itself. ... As far as I’m concerned, they’re just a really, really good opponent. Don’t have any particular beef with anyone there.”
Guard Gabe Vincent was again part of the Heat’s bench rotation.
Vincent played ahead of Max Strus off the bench Wednesday for the second straight game. The last two games have marked Strus’ only two healthy scratches of the season.
Vincent was effective, finishing with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from deep and two assists in 18 minutes.
With veteran forward Markieff Morris unavailable for the past two weeks, the Heat had typically gone with a four-man bench rotation of Tyler Herro, Dewayne Dedmon, Caleb Martin and Strus when the rest of the rotation has been healthy.
But Vincent has been used instead of Strus in the last two games.
Spoelstra said following Tuesday’s win over the Detroit Pistons of his decision to play Vincent over Strus: “Just the speed and quickness, and they were playing small ball. It just felt like we needed another ball-handler out there and another guy that can contain off the dribble.”
Following Wednesday’s loss, Spoelstra said of Vincent: “He’s getting healthier. He has really been putting in the time. He has earned these minutes. Having that extra ball-handler has been really helpful.”
Vincent, 25, has scored double-digit points in three of his last four appearances.
The Heat did not sit anybody on the second night of this back-to-back.
This marked Miami’s fourth back-to-back set of the season.
On the back end of the Heat’s first back-to-back, Adebayo was unavailable because of a knee bruise in an Oct. 30 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
On the back end of the Heat’s second back-to-back, Butler couldn’t play because of a sprained ankle in a Nov. 11 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Markieff Morris was also unavailable because of whiplash stemming from Nikola Jokic’s shove.
On the back end of the Heat’s third back-to-back, Herro did not play in a Nov. 18 home win over the Washington Wizards because of a wrist bruise. Morris was also still out.
But on Wednesday, every player who logged minutes in Tuesday’s win over the Pistons was available. With two days off before its next game Saturday against the Bulls, the only three Heat players unavailable against the Timberwolves were Morris (whiplash), Marcus Garrett (right wrist tendinitis) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery).
The Heat is now 2-2 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
Like Lowry, Timberwolves star center Karl-Anthony Towns also ran into foul trouble.
Towns was called for his second foul with 7:37 left in the first quarter and Finch left him. It turned out to be a bad move, as Towns was called for a charge and picked up his third foul just nine seconds later.
Towns, who was off to a strong start with four points in the first 4:32, was forced to sit the rest of the first half.
Towns went on to play the entire second half. He recorded seven points, five rebounds and four assists in the final two quarters.
The Timberwolves also had to overcome another early blow when starting guard Patrick Beverley left the game with 6:33 left in the first quarter because of a left leg injury and did not return.
This story was originally published November 24, 2021 at 10:47 PM.
