Takeaways and details, as Heat showcases depth to return from break with win over Knicks
How did the Miami Heat’s post-All-Star break schedule begin? With “Let’s Go Heat” chants breaking out inside Madison Square Garden.
So, it was a good night.
The Heat (39-21) came away with a 115-100 road win over the New York Knicks (25-35) on Friday to pick up where it left off after taking a week off for the league-wide break. Miami has won seven of its last eight games and six straight road games.
“I just think that’s all strange,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the pro-Heat chants at Madison Square Garden. “That’s weird to me. You know who my boss is. That was my introduction to this league is those Heat-Knicks battles and everything that came with that, particularly in the Garden.”
With the victory, the Heat moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference. The Chicago Bulls own the same record, but Miami holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
There was some rust early for the Heat, as the Knicks began the game with a 10-0 run. Miami missed its first six shots.
But it didn’t take long for the Heat to find its groove again, as it went on to outscore the Knicks 65-45 after New York scored the first 10 points of the game. Miami entered halftime with a 10-point lead despite 30 first-half points from New York wing RJ Barrett.
The Knicks didn’t go away quietly, cutting the Heat’s lead to one with 41.6 seconds left in the third quarter. Miami responded by scoring the final four points of the period to enter the fourth quarter ahead by five.
Heat star Jimmy Butler helped to keep the Knicks in a trailing position with 14 of his 23 points coming in the third quarter. Butler ended the night with 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Heat went on to extend its lead to as many as 15 points in the final period to run away with the win.
Tyler Herro scored a team-high 25 points while shooting 9 of 18 from the field and 4 of 9 from three-point range and grabbed seven rebounds.
Heat center Bam Adebayo contributed 16 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and four blocks.
Heat guard Kyle Lowry finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Four Heat players scored 16 or more points.
“It makes it fun for us because everybody is involved,” Adebayo said. “You’re not depending on one person to get us 30. So it’s a beautiful game when we play the right way, we share the ball and everybody gets a piece of the pie.”
Barrett finished with a career-high 46 points for the Knicks on 13-of-22 shooting from the field, 6-of-11 shooting on threes and 14-of-22 shooting from the foul line. The rest of the Knicks’ roster combined to score 54 points on 32.1 percent shooting.
“He was on fire,” Spoelstra said of Barrett. “He got some easy clean looks in that first half. A couple in transition, one on a miscue on a pick-and-roll, one on an over help. So he had four threes on open looks. That just kind of got him into a great rhythm.”
The Heat now returns home to host the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) to complete the back-to-back set.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Knicks:
The Heat’s depth is going to create tough rotation decisions for Spoelstra, but it’s also a strength that helped lead to Friday’s victory.
With the Heat’s roster slowly returning to health, 14 players were available in New York.
The usual five — Lowry, Duncan Robinson, Butler, P.J. Tucker and Adebayo — started the game.
But even without backup center Dewayne Dedmon (back tightness), the Heat needed to extend its rotation to 10 on Friday just to get Max Strus in the game.
Herro played in his usual sixth man role, and then Gabe Vincent, Omer Yurtseven and Caleb Martin followed off the bench.
Strus then entered midway through the second quarter as the Heat’s 10th man. But of the regulars, he was the one who seemed to be the odd man out with just seven minutes of playing time off the bench and no playing time in the second half.
As a unit, the Heat’s bench outscored the Knicks’ reserves 49-18.
“The bench was great,” Spoelstra said. “The energy, it was inspiring plays. They were picking up full court, moving the ball, sharing. It was great to see that unit back together. Guys healthy and gave us a really good boost.”
Herro, who missed four of the Heat’s final five games before the All-Star break because of a right knee injury, outscored the Knicks’ bench by himself with 25 points. He finished with a team-best plus/minus of plus-26 in 31 minutes.
Martin, who missed five of the last seven games before the break because of left Achilles soreness, recorded eight points and two steals. He was a plus-14 in 16 minutes.
Kyle Guy, Udonis Haslem, Haywood Highsmith and Javonte Smart were the available Heat players who did not play on Friday.
Dedmon’s eventual return is expected to push Yurtseven out of the rotation.
Then the potential return of Markieff Morris and/or Victor Oladipo will create more challenging rotation decisions for Spoelstra.
Robinson did something Friday that he has never done before in his NBA career, and it wasn’t a positive accomplishment.
Robinson was called for three fouls in a single first quarter on Friday for the first time in his NBA career.
The first foul came with 10:12 left in the opening quarter. Then the second foul was called with 6:27 left in the period.
Following a timeout, Spoelstra left Robinson in the game with two fouls.
Robinson picked up his third foul less than a minute later with 5:47 left in the first quarter and was quickly subbed out. He did not play again in the first half.
Robinson played 7:27 in the second half, but finished Friday’s win scoreless in 14 minutes. He missed each of his five three-point attempts.
Robinson’s bad luck with fouls spilled over into the second half. Spoelstra challenge a foul call on Butler with seven minutes left in the third quarter, and the challenge was successful but only to switch the foul call from Butler to Robinson for his fourth of the game.
Robinson inadvertently tripped Barrett on the play to pick up the foul.
Early foul trouble is nothing new for Robinson, as opposing offenses usually work to go at Robinson early and often with four elite defenders (Lowry, Butler, Tucker and Adebayo) surrounding him in the starting lineup. Robinson has now been called for at least two first-quarter fouls in 13 games this season.
“I think whenever in doubt, call it on Duncan Robinson and then we should just throw him out of the game,” Spoelstra joked. “He should get two technicals, throw him out. He’s an easy target.”
The Heat remained without Morris and Oladipo, and Dedmon was also a late scratch.
Dedmon was not on the injury report leading up to the game, but Spoelstra ruled Dedmon out about 90 minutes before tipoff because of lingering back tightness.
Dedmon, 32, also missed the Heat’s second to last game before the All-Star break because of lower back tightness. He then was held out of the final game before the break because of personal reasons.
Dedmon, who witnessed the birth of his second son on Sunday, practiced on Thursday and received pre-game treatment on Friday before he was formally ruled out.
“His back is still tight,” Spoelstra said. “He practiced yesterday just to see how he would feel and got a lot of treatment today. He’s not quite ready, but he is getting better.”
Friday marked the 10th game that Dedmon has missed this season.
Dedmon, Morris and Oladipo were the only three Heat players out on Friday.
The good news for the Heat is Friday marked the front end of a back-to-back. The bad news is the back end of a back-to-back looms.
The Heat improved to 7-3 on the first night of back-to-backs and 12-1 when playing a game coming off of two or more days of rest this season.
But the Heat is just 2-7 on the second night of back-to-backs, with Saturday’s matchup against the Spurs in Miami falling in that category.
Also, the Heat won its fifth straight game against the Knicks on Friday. Miami has won nine of its last 10 matchups against New York.
The Heat plans to bring back Highsmith for another 10 days.
Highsmith’s first standard 10-day deal with the Heat expired following Friday’s game, and the team’s plan is to bring him back on a second 10-day contract as it continues to figure out what the long-term solution is to fill the final spot on its 15-man roster.
NBA teams are allowed to sign a player to two standard 10-day contracts before they are forced to sign them for the rest of the season if they want to retain them.
Once Highsmith’s second standard 10-day deal expires, the Heat will need to make a decision on whether to part ways with him or use the final spot on its 15-man roster to invest in him for the rest of the season.
Highsmith, 25, also signed a 10-day deal with the Heat on Dec. 30, but that doesn’t count toward the NBA limit because it was to bring him in as a COVID-19 replacement.
As a developmental forward, Highsmith has averaged 13.6 points while shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from three-point range, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and one block in 17 games with the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats this season.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 10:20 PM.
