Career nights for Strus, Vincent lead Heat past Magic. Takeaways and details from the win
Friday’s game almost didn’t happen, but the Miami Heat is happy it did.
With the Orlando Magic’s roster so depleted by COVID-19 issues and injuries that it nearly didn’t have enough to play, the Heat (18-12) took advantage and earned a 115-105 win over the struggling Magic (5-25) on Friday night at Amway Center. Miami improved to 2-1 on its four-game trip.
The Heat was dealing with its own injury issues, as it continued to play without its top three scorers in Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro.
But others continued to step up in their place, with Gabe Vincent setting a new career-high in points for the second straight game and Max Strus also establishing a new career-high in points. Both players spent last season on two-way contracts with the Heat.
“These guys, they’re the lifeblood of our player development program,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Vincent and Strus. “Guys that haven’t been drafted that have big dreams, are willing to put in the work and gradually incrementally get better over time. That’s what you have seen with both of these guys. This is not something that just happened overnight.”
Vincent finished with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting, two rebounds and four assists. He scored 18 points in the third quarter on his way to surpassing his previous career-high of 26 points that he set in Wednesday’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Strus scored a career-high 32 points on 8-of-11 shooting from three-point range and grabbed seven rebounds. He scored 20 points in the second quarter.
“I think it’s special,” Strus said of sharing his big night with Vincent. “Me and Gabe have kind of had the same role and kind of grown up together in this league and spent a lot of time together. So it’s definitely special. That’s my guy.”
“Any chance that we have to celebrate each other’s success, specifically he and I,” Vincent added. “We built a great relationship and we’re ecstatic for each other whenever we start playing well. I didn’t know anything about the career-highs until after the game. But to share that moment with him and to each get one in the game and get a win, it was awesome.”
The undermanned Magic led by 10 in the first quarter, but the Heat closed the opening period on a 23-4 run to end the quarter ahead by nine.
The Heat never looked back, as it led the rest of the way. Miami’s lead grew to as many as 18 points.
Despite playing without Adebayo and Butler for much of the last two weeks, Miami stands just one-half game behind second place in the Eastern Conference. The Heat is now 6-3 this season in games without Adebayo and Butler.
The Heat closes its four-game trip on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Magic:
Three-pointers were again a big part of the Heat’s offensive formula without Adebayo and Butler. Strus and Vincent led the way.
The Heat’s streak of games with 40 or more three-point attempts ended at four, which is the longest such streak in franchise history.
But that doesn’t mean the three-pointer wasn’t important for the Heat on Friday.
Miami shot 19 of 35 (54.3 percent) from beyond the arc against Orlando. It marks the 18th game in franchise history that the Heat has made at least 19 threes and already the third time it has done so this month.
According to Heat.com’s Couper Moorhead, the Heat has also made 18 or more threes in the same month for the first time in franchise history during this stretch. And Miami has done it by hitting 18-plus threes in four of its last five games to post a 4-1 record during this stretch without Adebayo and Butler.
“Threes, threes and more threes,” Lowry said of the Heat’s offensive identity without Adebayo and Butler. “Honestly, we just try to get shots. We’ve been turning the ball over too much and part of it is me. But we’re just playing with a certain type of tempo and pace. But I think just playing and shooting, getting shots on the goal. I think we’re just continuing to build. Tonight we had 14 offensive rebounds and we’re just finding ways to create extra shots and get shots on goal. That’s the biggest thing for us is continue to get shots on goal and just shoot the ball.”
Along with scoring a career-high 32 points, Strus set a new career-high with eight made threes.
Vincent reached his new career-high of 27 points with the help of 4-of-11 shooting from three-point range.
The Heat improved to 7-1 this season when making 16 or more threes in a game.
Kyle Lowry didn’t take many shots, but he was a catalyst behind the Heat’s offensive success.
Lowry scored 11 points on only six shots, but he orchestrated the Heat’s offense with a season-high 15 assists. He assisted on 13 of Strus’ 32 points.
“I think Kyle really felt it,” Spoelstra said. “I’ve said it before, it’s part of Kyle’s genius. He sees the young guys going and he’s just infusing them with confidence. He wanted Gabe to make plays and he really found Max three or four times where probably nobody else would have found him in those openings. It was open for a half a count, on time and on target and right in rhythm.”
Lowry has dished out 13 or more assists in three of the last five games.
“He had 15 assists. I mean, that speaks for it all,” Strus said of Lowry. “It just shows you the type of guy he is and the type of teammate he is. He doesn’t care about his numbers. He knows the right play, makes the right read every single time. He’s going to get the guys who are going the ball. He knows not every night is going to be his. But we go as he goes and he carries us. He has been unbelievable with Jimmy and Bam out in taking that leadership role.”
The Heat had the same 10 available players as it did in Wednesday’s short-handed win over the 76ers. But reinforcement could soon be on the way.
Miami was without Adebayo (thumb surgery), Butler (tail bone contusion), Herro (right quadriceps contusion), Caleb Martin (health and safety protocols), Markieff Morris (whiplash) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery).
Butler, Martin and Morris remain in Miami. But Butler, who has missed nine of the past 10 games, is making progress and is expected to make his return during the Heat’s homestand that begins Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers.
“He has been doing more,” Spoelstra said of Butler. “But I do not have a timetable or update of when he will be back.”
Herro remains day-to-day and wasn’t formally ruled out of Friday’s game until about an hour before tipoff.
“[Heat head athletic trainer Jay Sabol] and I have talked. He is making progress, but we want to be also responsible,” Spoelstra said when asked about Herro before the contest.
Adebayo isn’t expected back until mid-January, Martin could return at some point next week if he’s cleared from protocols, Morris is still waiting to be cleared for a return and Oladipo is expected back in the coming months.
The Heat’s injury issues are creating consistent in-game opportunities for its young developmental players.
Third-year forward KZ Okpala, rookie center Omer Yurtseven and two-way contract rookie guard Marcus Garrett were three of the four players used off the Heat’s bench on Friday.
Okpala played as Miami’s sixth man for the second straight game, finishing with six points and three rebounds in 16 minutes. He has played in nine of the Heat’s past 10 games after starting the season out of the rotation.
Yurtseven recorded five points and 12 rebounds in 21 minutes. He has played in 10 straight games after spending the first month of the season out of the rotation.
Garrett, who rejoined the Heat from the G League on Friday as part of his two-way contract, was scoreless but grabbed five rebounds in 13 minutes. He left the game in the fourth quarter after he was poked in the eye, but Spoelstra said Garrett “was much better in the locker room when we saw him.”
The Magic needed to sign four G League players just to make Friday’s game happen.
With Orlando placing Ignas Brazdeikis, Mo Bamba, R.J. Hampton, Terrence Ross and Mo Wagner in the NBA’s health and safety protocols in the 24 hours leading up to Friday’s game and another six players out because of injuries, the Magic was left with only six available players.
Orlando responded by signing four players — forward Aleem Ford, guard Hassani Gravett, guard/forward B.J. Johnson and forward Admiral Schofield — to 10-day contracts via hardship exceptions from its G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, just hours before Friday’s game to have enough players to face Miami. NBA teams are required to have a minimum of eight available players to play a game.
To make matters worse, Magic starting forward Wendell Carter Jr. left Friday’s game in the second quarter and did not return.
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 9:25 PM.
