Takeaways from Heat’s 21-point home loss to Suns, and latest on Caleb Martin’s knee injury
The Miami Heat owns the top record in the Eastern Conference, but learned on Wednesday night why the Phoenix Suns hold the NBA’s best record.
Despite playing without All-Star point guard Chris Paul and on the second night of a back-to-back, the Western Conference-leading Suns (53-13) cruised to a 111-90 win over the East-leading Heat (44-23) in a nationally televised game.
The Heat was also without an All-Star, as Jimmy Butler missed the game because of sinus congestion.
“They wanted to really make a statement tonight and they just outplayed us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Suns. “They’re a really well-coached team. They know what they’re trying to get to.”
The Heat started strong, pulling ahead by 11 points with 6:34 left in the first quarter behind a 5-of-6 start from three-point range. But the Suns responded immediately, closing the period on a 15-2 run to enter the second quarter with a 29-27 lead.
The back-and-forth affair continued in a second quarter that included four lead changes and five ties. The first half ended with the Suns ahead by two.
But Phoenix took complete control with a dominant third quarter. The Suns opened the second half on a 12-3 run to build an 11-point lead and outscored the Heat 34-19 in the period to enter the fourth quarter with a 17-point advantage.
Miami shot just 7 of 24 (29.2 percent) from the field and 1 of 8 (12.5 percent) on threes in the third quarter.
Devin Booker, who returned after missing the previous four games while in COVID-19 protocols, led the Suns with a game-high 23 points to go with eight rebounds and nine assists.
With Butler out, the Heat got 17 points, six rebounds and five assists from Bam Adebayo and five points, five rebounds and 10 assists from Kyle Lowry.
Duncan Robinson totaled 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting on threes and Tyler Herro contributed 17 points on 7-of-20 shooting from the field for Miami.
After shooting 50 percent from the field and 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) on threes in the first half, the Heat shot just 29.5 percent from the field and 2 of 15 (13.3 percent) in the second half.
“You definitely have to give them some credit,” Robinson said of the Suns’ defense. “They make it difficult, switch a lot of stuff, blow up different actions and then also [Deandre] Ayton and JaVale [McGee] in the paint are pretty good paint and rim protectors.”
The loss wasn’t the only painful aspect of Wednesday’s game for the Heat. Caleb Martin injured his left knee in the second quarter and did not return.
The Heat, which sits two games ahead of the second-place Milwaukee Bucks in the East standings, continues its season-long seven-game homestand on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Heat is 2-1 during the homestand.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Suns:
The Suns dominated the rebounding battle, and the Heat could not overcome that deficit.
The Suns finished with 11 more shot attempts with the help of a 55-38 rebounding advantage.
Phoenix grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to outscore Miami 14-4 in second-chance points. Miami finished with six offensive rebounds.
McGee led the charge for the Suns, finishing with 15 total rebounds and seven offensive rebounds. Ayton ended the night with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“I think they were just first to the ball a lot,” Robinson said. “They were definitely the aggressor in a lot of those box out matchups. Just flying around, first to the ball. Obviously, unacceptable. We’ve been pretty good about it all year, but definitely a learning experience that now we know that definitely can’t happen.”
This is unusual for the Heat, which has been a solid rebounding team this season. Miami entered with the NBA’s fifth-best rebounding percentage (the percentage of available rebounds a team grabs), eighth-best offensive rebounding percentage and ninth-best defensive rebounding percentage.
Meanwhile, the Suns have been just an average rebounding team this season with the league’s 13th-best rebounding percentage, 22nd-best offensive rebounding percentage and 16th-best defensive rebounding percentage.
“I think we’re better on the glass than what we showed tonight, but we’re also better in a lot of different areas than we showed tonight,” Spoelstra said. “That’s not taking anything away from Phoenix. They were terrific tonight.”
Victor Oladipo again was on a minutes restriction in his second game in 11 months.
After totaling 11 points and four assists in 15 minutes in his season debut on Monday, Oladipo followed it up with another encouraging performance.
Oladipo, who returned this week after undergoing surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee last May, finished Wednesday’s loss with four points on 2-of-5 shooting, two rebounds and three assists in 16:39.
“I’m not even close,” Oladipo said when asked if he feels back in rhythm after his first two games of the season. “It’s going to take time. It’s going to take time. I’m patient and I just got to keep playing, keep getting better. Eventually it’ll get comfy out there.”
Adebayo added that the Heat has “to give [Oladipo] time to really get in the flow of getting back and playing basketball. I feel like he still has those butterflies, those jitters because it’s his second game back.”
Oladipo again played on a minutes restriction of 15 minutes against the Suns, but ended up playing nearly 17 minutes. That playing time came in two stints — one in the first half and another in the second half.
Oladipo’s first-half court time lasted 7:14, as he entered with 1:24 left in the first quarter and went back to the bench with 6:10 left in the second quarter. He totaled four points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field and two assists during that time.
The two first-half makes were a one-legged midrange jumper from 9 feet away with 7:56 remaining in the second quarter and a reverse layup off a backdoor cut just 51 seconds later.
Oladipo’s second stint began with 4:30 left in the third quarter and ended with 7:05 left in the fourth quarter. He missed both of his shots during this stretch, a 46-foot heave at the end of the third quarter and a reverse layup.
“I felt really good today. I felt like I was moving better even than the first game,” Oladipo said. “I’m starting to get more and more comfortable in my body and just being out there and playing the game and the speed of the game. It’s going to take time, but I’m going to stay patient and stay persistent as well.”
Just when it looked like the Heat’s roster was approaching full health, Martin went down with an injury on Wednesday.
Martin was fouled by Suns forward Mikal Bridges on a drive to the basket and landed awkwardly with 5:37 left in the first half. He spent a few seconds grabbing his left knee before getting up and immediately limping to the locker room with a Heat trainer by his side.
“We’ll find out tomorrow,” Spoelstra said after the game when asked for an update on Martin’s knee. “Right now it’s a hyperextended knee, but we’ll see how he is tomorrow after sleeping and resting and go from there.”
It hasn’t been determined if Martin will need an MRI on his injured knee, with that call expected to be made based on how he feels on Thursday.
Martin, who has been playing for the past few weeks despite left Achilles soreness, recorded two points on 1-of-5 shooting, three rebounds, one steal and two blocks in 9:40 before exiting the game. His one made shot was a highlight dunk over McGee.
Martin has been an important part of the Heat’s bench rotation this season, averaging career-highs in points (9.5), rebounds (4) and minutes (23.1) while shooting 52 percent from the field and 39.6 percent from three-point range.
“He’s an important piece for us,” Adebayo said. “He does so many things defensively and Caleb has an offensive game. So that hinders us. You never want to see one of your brothers go down, obviously. But he’ll bounce back.”
On Wednesday, Miami played forward Max Strus in Martin’s place in the rotation in the second half. Strus, who did not play in the first half, finished scoreless in 12 minutes.
Without Butler, the Heat went small and started guard Gabe Vincent in his place.
With Vincent in Butler’s spot, Miami used its 18th different starting of the season on Wednesday. The Heat started Vincent alongside Lowry, Robinson, P.J. Tucker and Adebayo.
Considering it was a 21-point loss, the five-man lineup held its own Wednesday. In the group’s 13 minutes together, the Heat and Suns each scored 37 points.
Vincent finished with five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting on threes, two assists and two steals.
“They have the ultimate plug-and-play system,” Suns coach Monty Williams said of the Heat before the game. “They play the same way every night, no matter who is out there. Whoever they play in their rotation, those guys play hard and shoot the ball well. They have it all, and that’s one of the reasons why I watch a ton of their games, because I admire the way that Spo goes about his business.”
But the Heat struggled without Butler on Wednesday. Miami fell to 13-8 without him this season.
Along with Butler, the Heat was also missing Kyle Guy (G League), Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning) and Javonte Smart (G League) against the Suns.
Wednesday’s matchup could be a preview of the 2022 NBA Finals.
Not only is the Heat leading the East and the Suns leading the West, but the advanced metrics even prove their dominance. The Heat and Suns entered as two of only three teams with both a top-nine offensive rating and defensive rating this season, along with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Miami won the first matchup in Phoenix 123-100 on Jan. 8 despite having just 10 available players in that game. Adebayo, Butler, Dedmon, Udonis Haslem, Morris, Oladipo and Vincent were among the Heat players who missed that contest.
The Suns earned revenge on Wednesday with a 21-point road win of their own.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 9:57 PM.
