Takeaways from another short-handed Heat win. Also, another COVID-19 replacement added
As the Miami Heat continues to lose players to injury or COVID-19, others continue to step up.
It was Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson who led the way for the Heat (22-13) in a 119-112 win over the Washington Wizards (17-17) on Tuesday night at FTX Arena in a battle between two short-handed teams.
The Heat closed its four-game homestand with a perfect 4-0 record and has won eight of its last 10 games. Miami is nine games above .500 for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
“This team has great resolve and just a great positive approach every single day,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve been getting these kind of news updates basically the last month, whether it’s injury or COVID and guys just keep on trying to find solutions and we were able to do that tonight.”
With Udonis Haslem and Max Strus joining Kyle Lowry in the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Tuesday and a list of other Heat players still out because of injuries, Butler, Herro and Robinson combined to total 83 points on 50 percent shooting.
Butler finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and set a new career-high with 15 assists.
Herro ended the night with 32 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field, 5-of-7 shooting on threes and 9-of-10 shooting from the foul line.
Robinson scored 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting on threes.
Even with a handful of rotation players out, the Heat was in control for most of the game. Miami led by as many as 28 points behind an efficient offensive performance.
The Heat scored 119 points on 16-of-34 (47.1 percent) shooting on threes while committing only eight turnovers.
The Wizards, missing eight players because of COVID-19 protocols, made a late run behind seven threes in the fourth quarter to cut the Heat’s lead to five with 28.4 seconds left in the game. But that’s the closest Washington would get, as its final lead of the game came with 4:27 remaining in the first quarter.
The Heat now embarks on a season-long seven game trip that begins Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Wizards:
The Heat’s list of COVID-19 issues grew longer on Tuesday, as it now has three players in protocols and was forced to add another replacement player to a 10-day contract.
After Lowry entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols on Saturday, the Heat announced Tuesday that Haslem and Strus also entered protocols. Haslem learned he was in protocols Tuesday morning and Strus was pulled off the FTX Arena court during his pregame routine just about an hour before tip-off on Tuesday night.
”He went through his whole warm-up and routine of basically everything, ready to play. He feels 100 percent,” Spoelstra said of Strus. “That’s the perplexing thing about this right now, this variant. I think we’ve gotten to a point where we need more information. Are there more asymptomatic cases? And all this is with the caveat of, OK, with double vaccination with a booster and then asymptomatic. What does that mean and what adjustments can we make from there?
“He’s really disappointed. He feels like he’s ready to go. He doesn’t understand it. I think it leads to a lot of confusion. It’s not even a cold or a headache or anything. He’s 100 percent.”
In addition, Heat assistant coach Caron Butler and head athletic trainer Jay Sabol remain away from the team because they are also in protocols. Also, Heat executive Alonzo Mourning announced Tuesday on Instagram that he recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Other personnel around the team have also tested positive in recent days.
With two players entering protocols on Tuesday, the entire Heat roster went through a round of COVID-19 testing following its win over the Wizards. Results are expected on Wednesday morning when the team is already in San Antonio.
“You just try to stay solutions based,” Spoelstra said before Tuesday’s game of navigating through this phase of the pandemic. “Focus on what you can control, over communicate every part of it because things are changing and you do have to adapt to this. You can’t just live in the problem. We are all fatigued by it. We are frustrated and I think those emotions are fine. That’s what makes us human and there are a lot of different factors to this. It’s not as if there’s one solution.”
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association recently agreed to shorten the quarantine period from 10 days to six days for NBA players and coaches who test positive for COVID-19 if testing data shows they’re no longer at risk to be infectious.
Under the new rules, Lowry’s six-day quarantine runs through Friday, and Haslem and Strus’ six-day quarantine runs through Monday.
With three players in protocols, the Heat needed to sign at least one COVID-19 replacement player to a 10-day contract before Wednesday’s game in San Antonio. Miami is set to sign former Sacramento Kings guard Kyle Guy, who averaged 20 points while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 36.3 percent on 8.5 three-point attempts per game, 7.2 rebounds and four assists in 12 games with the G League’s Cleveland Charge this season.
Guy, 24, was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft out of Virginia. He has played in 34 regular-season NBA games over his career, all with the Kings.
The Heat’s signing of Guy is expected to become official on Wednesday, a league source confirmed.
NBA rules say that teams with three players in protocols need to have at least two replacement players on its roster. The Heat will meet that requirement, as Guy will join forward Zylan Cheatham as the team’s COVID-19 replacements on 10-day contracts who do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax situation.
COVID-19 and injury issues left the Heat with just nine available players against the Wizards.
With three players in protocols and Bam Adebayo (thumb surgery), Dewayne Dedmon (left knee sprain), Markieff Morris (whiplash), Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) and P.J. Tucker (left lower leg nerve inflammation) out because of injuries, the Heat only had these nine players available: Butler, Cheatham, Marcus Garrett, Herro, Martin, KZ Okpala, Robinson, Gabe Vincent and Omer Yurtseven.
As a result, the Heat used its 12th different starting lineup of the season. Miami went with a lineup that included Vincent, Butler, Robinson, Martin and Yurtseven to open Tuesday’s game.
That left the Heat with a bench of Cheatham, Garrett, Herro and Okpala. Cheatham was the only one who did not play Tuesday.
“We have a lot of depth and guys that are eager to prove themselves,” Robinson said. “We have guys that are very talented. It’s an opportunity for guys to step into bigger roles and opportunities.”
The Wizards were dealing with their own COVID-19 situation, with Bradley Beal, Thomas Bryant, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anthony Gill, Rui Hachimura, Montrezl Harrell, Aaron Holiday and Raul Neto missing Tuesday’s game because of health and safety protocols.
Spencer Dinwiddie led the Wizards with 24 points.
The short-handed Heat got a much-needed three-point shooting effort from Robinson.
Without the quality outside shooting of Strus and Lowry available, Robinson’s shooting became even more important to help create space for the Heat’s attackers.
Robinson came through, tying a season-high with 26 points and setting a new season-high with eight made threes on 16 attempts. He finished just short of tying his career-high of 17 three-point attempts in a game.
It was a bounce-back performance for Robinson, who shot just 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) on threes in his previous two games.
“That’s what we want and need of him to do every single night,” Butler said of Robinson. “Be aggressive. It definitely helps whenever he sees the ball go in. He’s gaining more and more confidence.”
Despite a few shooting slumps this season, Robinson still ranks fourth in the NBA in threes made with 104. The only three players who have made more three-pointers than Robinson this season are Golden State’s Stephen Curry (167), Sacramento’s Buddy Hield (124) and Brooklyn’s Patty Mills (109).
Robinson is shooting 34.6 percent on 8.6 three-point attempts per game this season.
Butler took on the role of playmaker and Herro turned in another impressive scoring performance.
Butler set a new career-high with 15 assists, with eight of his assists going to Robinson. Butler dished out nine assists in the second half.
There was one scary moment late in the game for the Heat, when Butler turned his right ankle on a drive to the basket in the final minute of the fourth quarter. He limped to the bench during a timeout, but continued playing.
Spoelstra did not have an update following the game, but Butler said “I’ll be alright” when asked about his ankle.
Meanwhile, Herro scored a season-high 32 points off the bench. It marked the third time he has scored 30 or more points in a game this season and the seventh time he has done it in his NBA career (including the playoffs).
Herro is the NBA’s leading bench scorer, averaging 20.4 points as a reserve this season.
There’s no time to rest for the depleted Heat.
After Tuesday’s win in Miami, the Heat took a flight to Texas to complete the back-to-back set on Wednesday night against the Spurs.
Wednesday’s game in San Antonio marks the start of a long seven-game trip that ends in two weeks on Jan. 12 against the Atlanta Hawks. It’s tied for the longest string of consecutive road games in franchise history, matching seven-game stretches away from home last season, during the 2005-06 season and during the 1990-91 season.
And it looks like the Heat will be without at least Adebayo, Dedmon, Haslem, Lowry, Morris, Oladipo and Strus for the start of the trip. There’s a chance Tucker could return soon, though, as Spoelstra said he went through the team’s morning shootaround Tuesday before being ruled out for a fourth straight game.
The Heat’s next home game is on Jan. 14 against the Hawks.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 9:56 PM.
