Jimmy Butler leads depleted Heat past Rockets: ‘That was a fun night.’ Takeaways from the win
The Miami Heat needed to add COVID-19 replacements just to have enough available players to play Friday.
But it turns out the Heat had more than enough in Houston, defeating the struggling Rockets 120-110 on Friday night at Toyota Center to enter 2022 with a 23-13 record this season. Miami has won nine of its last 11 games.
“That was a fun night and it was fun seeing these new guys contribute and look like they’re enjoying themselves out there,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Our vets enjoyed them playing well and contributing to the win.”
Just two days after Wednesday’s game against the Spurs in San Antonio was postponed because the Heat didn’t have enough players amid COVID-19 and injury issues, Miami entered Friday’s game against Houston (10-26) with just five roster regulars available: Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin and Omer Yurtseven.
To have the minimum of eight available players required by the NBA to play, the Heat signed six players to 10-day contracts in recent days as COVID-19 replacements.
The Heat overcame all of that behind an efficient offensive performance that included 120 points on 46.5 percent shooting from the field, 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) shooting on threes and 26-of-31 (83.9 percent) shooting from the foul line. Miami scored 74 points in the first two quarters for its highest-scoring half of the season.
Butler led the way for Miami with a season-high 37 points while shooting 12 of 21 from the field, 2 of 3 on threes and a perfect 11 of 11 from the foul line.
The Heat was in control for most of the game, as the Rockets’ final lead came in the first quarter. Miami led by as many as 25 points before Houston made a late run to cut its deficit to just five points with 4:41 to play.
But the Heat responded by closing the game on a 13-8 run to hold on for the victory.
The Heat continues its six-game trip on Sunday against the Sacramento Kings. Miami is 1-0 on the trip.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Rockets:
Even with so many regulars out, the Heat still had a quality core of Butler, Herro and Lowry available. That proved to be the difference.
On the way to his highest-scoring game of the season, Butler totaled 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting on threes and 5-of-5 shooting from the foul line in the first half.
Butler followed that up with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting in the third quarter and 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Lowry, who missed the previous two games while in health and safety protocols, took a morning flight from Miami to Houston to rejoin the team. He finished Friday’s win with 12 points, three rebounds and thee assists.
The Heat is 11-6 in games that Butler and Lowry have both played in this season.
It was an off shooting night for Herro, who scored 16 points on 5-of-17 shooting. But he contributed six rebounds and a team-high nine assists.
The Heat outscored the Rockets by six points in the 24 minutes that Butler, Herro and Lowry played together, including a 19-13 edge in eight fourth-quarter minutes together.
“We had enough of our core guys that it helps, so everybody understands what we’re about and what we’re trying to get accomplished,” Spoelstra said. “Looking back at it, you hope that these can be meaningful experiences that can help you down the line.”
The Heat’s bench was made up of six players who were signed by the team in the 48 hours leading up to Friday’s game.
With each of the five available Heat regulars starting, the six COVID-19 replacement players signed to 10-day contracts in recent days were the six available bench players against the Rockets: Mario Chalmers, Kyle Guy, Haywood Highsmith, Aric Holman, Chris Silva and Nik Stauskas.
They combined to enter Friday’s game with only 13 NBA minutes played this season. In fact, Chalmers has not played in the NBA since 2018, Highsmith has not played in the NBA since 2019, Holman has never played in the NBA and Stauskas has not played in the NBA since 2019.
But the Heat’s six 10-day contract players still combined to provide 34 bench points, including 17 points from Guy and nine points from Highsmith.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Spoelstra said when asked about the Heat’s new players. “That’s the thing about this. You just want to be open minded to it. We kind of had a shell of an idea of what the rotation would be and we would go deeper if necessary. But all the new guys that played tonight really just did a great job of impacting the game.”
Four of Miami’s six COVID-19 replacements played on Friday. Chalmers and Holman did not appear in the game.
Guy took advantage of the opportunity and turned in the best performance of his NBA career in his first game with the Heat.
Guy was hot from the start with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range in the first quarter on Friday. It marked the most points he has ever scored in a single quarter during his NBA career.
Then Guy proceeded to finish the first half with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from deep. It’s the most points he has ever scored in a single half during his NBA career.
Guy ended up tying a career-high with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting on threes in 24 minutes on Friday.
“Nothing surprises me. I come in as a confident player,” Guy said of his performance. “I trust my abilities. I put in the work, so whenever the opportunity comes and I finally get some minutes to prove myself, I’m going to take advantage of that.”
Guy did more than just score, though, as he grabbed four rebounds and dished out four assists.
“Kyle, obviously, came in there and was a spark right away just knocking down shots and getting into the paint and making some nice dishes,” Spoelstra said. “He even was pretty pesky on the defensive end. Historically that’s who he has been. He’s a gamer and usually rises to the competition.”
Who is Guy?
He’s a 24-year-old guard who was selected in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft out of Virginia. He has appeared in 34 NBA games during his career, all with the Sacramento Kings.
Guy averaged 2.8 points while shooting 28.3 percent on threes, 1.1 rebounds and one assist in 31 games with the Kings last season.
In the G League this season, Guy 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 Cleveland Charge.
Guy’s 10-day contract expires after the Heat’s Jan. 8 game against the Phoenix Suns. He mentioned that he was forced to turn down other 10-day offers prior to signing with Miami because he was recovering from COVID-19 and was in protocols until Dec. 27.
With seven players in health and safety protocols, the Heat is optimistic that it will get most of them back in the coming days.
Lowry returned Friday after a six-day quarantine and his teammates who are currently in protocols could be back even faster than that.
ESPN reported on Friday that the NBA and National Basketball Players Association agreed to shorten the quarantine period from six days to five days for asymptomatic and vaccinated players to return to play if testing data shows they’re no longer at risk to be infectious.
With seven players currently in protocols, that’s good news for the Heat. It’s now possible for all seven to clear quarantine in time to rejoin the team during its current trip that ends Jan. 12 against the Atlanta Hawks.
Udonis Haslem and Max Strus’ five-day quarantine runs through Sunday; Zylan Cheatham, P.J. Tucker and Gabe Vincent’s five-day quarantine runs through Monday; and Marcus Garrett and Duncan Robinson’s five-day quarantine runs through Tuesday.
“The new adjustment that came out this morning, I think has been really thoughtful,” Spoelstra said of the shorter quarantine required for players. “We still want to make sure that we’re ensuring safety of all the players and family members and friends that are in our circle. But we also understand that this landscape has been changing, pretty consistently for the last two years. And in the last month or so, you’re seeing more and more vaccinated, boosted players who are asymptomatic, who are sitting out an inordinate amount of time. I think this is a good solution now. It’s a good step forward.”
The Heat was without an additional five players on Friday because of injury.
Bam Adebayo (thumb surgery), Dewayne Dedmon (knee sprain), Markieff Morris (whiplash), KZ Okpala (wrist sprain) and Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery) missed the Heat’s win over the Rockets. Morris and Oladipo did not travel with the team to Houston, but the rest of Miami’s injured players are on the trip.
While Adebayo, Dedmon and Okpala are the injured players currently with the team, Dedmon and Okpala are the closest to returning. Dedmon was expected to miss one to two weeks and he has already been out for a week and Okpala is considered day-to-day.
Adebayo is not expected to return until mid-January.
This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 9:36 PM.
