Adebayo’s return, Butler’s triple-double push Heat to win over Raptors. Takeaways and details
It was a productive Monday night for the Miami Heat.
It began with star center Bam Adebayo’s return and ended with a 104-99 win over the Toronto Raptors (21-20) at FTX Arena. The Heat (28-16), which has won 14 of its past 19 games, moved into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference and within percentage points of the first-place Chicago Bulls.
“We got the win and that’s always good in your first game back, and that’s the thing that matters the most,” Adebayo said.
It was a back-and-forth affair that included 22 lead changes and 10 ties, but the Heat took control in the fourth quarter.
Already ahead by two points with 6:57 to play, Miami used a quick 7-0 run to take a nine-point lead with 5:33 left.
The Raptors managed to cut the deficit to three with 1:48 to play and had possession with a chance to tie the game in the final minute. That’s when Heat guard Gabe Vincent came through with a big defensive play to force a jump ball that ended up going to Miami.
P.J. Tucker then sealed the win by hitting a corner three-pointer off a pass from Jimmy Butler to put the Heat ahead by six with 20.7 seconds on the clock.
After Raptors guard Fred VanVleet made a three-pointer of his own with 14.7 seconds left to trim the Heat’s lead back down to three, Adebayo was intentionally fouled and made both free throws for the final points of the game.
Adebayo, who missed the previous 22 games after undergoing surgery on a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb, finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 32 minutes in his first game action in seven weeks.
Butler finished with a triple-double stat line that included 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He clinched the triple-double by grabbing the final rebound of the game with 0.4 seconds to play.
Only counting regular-season games, it’s the 13th triple-double of Butler’s NBA career and his ninth triple-double as a member of the Heat. Butler’s nine triple-doubles in a Heat uniform ties him with LeBron James for the most in franchise history.
Tyler Herro scored a team-high 23 points off the bench for the Heat.
Heat guard Kyle Lowry was unavailable Monday in what would have been his first game against his former team since he left the Raptors to sign with the Heat as a free agent last offseason. He missed the contest because of personal reasons.
The Heat closes its four-game homestand on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Heat is 2-1 during the homestand.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Raptors:
Finally, Adebayo made his return for the Heat.
With tape wrapped around his surgically repaired right thumb, Adebayo returned to the Heat’s starting lineup. He played the final 7:14 of the game, scoring five points and grabbing four rebounds during that critical stretch.
It marked Adebayo’s first game action since injuring his thumb during a Nov. 29 home loss to the Denver Nuggets. Adebayo missed 22 straight games, with the Heat posting a 14-8 record during his absence.
“Today was about trying to get back in the groove,” Adebayo said. “My teammates tried to get me involved, but we just played ball and figured it out.”
Adebayo started slow, finishing his first stint of the game scoreless. He missed both of his shots attempts — a six-foot hook shot and layup blocked by former Heat teammate Precious Achiuwa — but did grab three rebounds and dished out an assist while playing the opening 8:58.
Adebayo scored his first points of the game on a driving and-one layup with 4:12 remaining in the second quarter. He made the free throw to complete the three-point play.
Adebayo entered halftime with seven points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 17 minutes.
“Just from the human side of it, it was just great to have him back out there,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was so anxious and so excited and he has been beside himself for like the last week, and you can see his energy out there.”
With Adebayo back, rookie center Omer Yurtseven again found himself out of the rotation.
The Heat stuck with veteran Dewayne Dedmon as its backup center behind Adebayo, with Yurtseven receiving his first DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) since Nov. 27.
“That’s the role that he has been in,” Spoelstra said of Dedmon playing off the bench ahead of Yurtseven. “We’re just trying to get to this as quickly as possible. But Omer is fully on our minds and there were a couple times in this game where I thought about throwing him in there. He’ll continue to work and prepare, and he’ll be ready for his next opportunity.”
Yurtseven, who spent the first month of the season out of the rotation, played in each of the 22 games that Adebayo missed and started in 10 straight games before spending the entirety of Monday’s win on the bench.
Yurtseven certainly didn’t make Spoelstra’s decision easy, as he grabbed double-digit rebounds in each of the previous 14 games. That’s the longest such streak by a rookie in Heat history and stands alone as the second-longest overall streak in Heat history behind only Hassan Whiteside’s string of 19 consecutive games in 2017.
It’s also the longest such streak by a rookie since Karl-Anthony Towns grabbed double-digit rebounds in 15 games in 2016.
In his 10 starts during the previous 10 games, Yurtseven averaged 13.6 points, 13.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
But Dedmon has provided quality minutes off the bench since he signed with the Heat late last season. He did it again Monday, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes.
The Heat relied on the power of the three-pointer to survive life without Adebayo. But with Adebayo back, it didn’t need to make many threes to win Monday.
The Heat shot 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) from three-point range against the Raptors. It marks the fewest threes that Miami has attempted since Dec. 6 and the third-fewest threes it has attempted in a game this season.
While it’s only one game, that’s a drastic shift from the offensive style the Heat used while Adebayo was out. Miami was 0-3 in games with nine or fewer threes made during Adebayo’s absence and averaged 38.2 three-point attempts per game in the 22 games he missed
The Heat made up for its lack of threes on Monday with 19 made free throws and 54 paint points.
Lowry shouldn’t have to wait too long for his next chance to play against the Raptors.
Lowry will have another opportunity to play against his former team soon with the Heat again hosting the Raptors on Jan. 29. The Heat then travels to take on the Raptors in Toronto on Feb. 1 and April 3, with Lowry speaking earlier this season about how emotional he expects his first game back in Toronto to be for him.
“I wanted to see him. I understand he’s not here. So I wanted to see him, obviously,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I think that you go in and you always want to compete against the best players. I was kind of looking forward to seeing what that was going to be like, but we’re going to have to put that on hold right now and just hope whatever the personal issues are nothing too bad that he can’t handle.”
Along with Lowry, the Heat was without Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning), KZ Okpala (wrist sprain), Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery) and Chris Silva (ineligible to play) on Monday.
Vincent started in Lowry’s place and impressed with 15 points, two steals and two blocks in 27 minutes.
The two players the Heat dealt to the Raptors to acquire Lowry through a sign-and-trade: Goran Dragic and Achiuwa. Dragic remains away from Toronto because of a personal matter, but Achiuwa started and finished Monday’s game with six points and 15 rebounds.
Duncan Robinson returned to the starting lineup, but did not play in the fourth quarter.
Robinson, who played the previous five games in a bench role after starting in his first 35 appearances this season, finished with eight points on 2-of-5 shooting on threes, three rebounds and tied a career-high with three steals in 18 minutes in his first start since Dec. 28. He spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench, though.
“We have to make some decisions right now to get everybody comfortable, confident and in rhythm,” Spoelstra said of moving Robinson back into the starting group. “I want to get back to that lineup whenever we can, when Kyle gets back here, and then just give that a chance. We’ll build our rotation from there. Then we have the depth to be able to adjust or manage it as needed.”
Robinson, who shot just 3 of 20 from deep in the previous three games, is shooting 34.8 percent from three-point range this season.
With Robinson back in the starting lineup, Max Strus returned to a bench role and finished with six points, five rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes. Strus played 11 minutes in the fourth quarter.
This story was originally published January 17, 2022 at 10:09 PM.
