Takeaways from Heat’s much-needed win over Warriors behind familiar formula of threes, zone
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 116-109 win over the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors (3-5) on Tuesday night at FTX Arena. The Heat (3-5) is right back at it on Wednesday, playing host to the Sacramento Kings (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun):
The Heat’s three-point volume was down through the first seven games, but it used the power of the three-pointer to earn a much-needed win on Tuesday.
The Heat made 16 of its 42 (38.1 percent) three-point attempts to survive a competitive game against the Warriors that came down to the final minutes. The 16 three-point makes are a season-high and the 42 three-point attempts are one short of a season-high for Miami.
Heat players have spent last few days speaking about the team’s desire to put up more threes. That’s because the Heat’s three-point volume was down from 38.6 percent last season to 34.9 percent of its shots coming from deep this season through the first seven games.
The Heat made the three-pointer a bigger part of its offensive attack on Tuesday, with 47.7 percent of its shots coming from behind the arc in its win over the Warriors.
“There’s a lot of different factors to that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the uptick in three-point attempts on Tuesday. “I think there was a little bit more poise during the middle of possessions when we cough up some maybe quick shots or ill-advised shots where we don’t know whether that can turn into something else. Jimmy [Butler] getting quite a few attempts up helps. Those guys launching them.
“All of it was kind of in our strength zones. We also were getting into the paint, getting to the rim, attacking. That’s first and foremost for us. It’s a symbiotic relationship. We have to be assertive, we have to be aggressive getting into the paint first.”
Duncan Robinson, whose playing time has been up and down to start this season, hit a team-high five threes on Tuesday. He finished with a season-high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range in a season-high 26 minutes off the bench.
Max Strus finished with a team-high 24 points with the help of 4-of-10 shooting from deep.
Kyle Lowry contributed 13 points while shooting 3 of 8 on threes, five rebounds and nine assists.
Butler ended the night with 23 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 2-of-7 shooting from three-point range, six rebounds and eight assists.
The Heat’s outside shooting in the fourth quarter was especially crucial, as it shot 5 of 13 (38.5 percent) from three-point range in the period. That helped Miami win the fourth quarter 30-15 to erase an eight-point deficit at the start of the period.
“That’s definitely been Spo’s point of emphasis,” Strus said of the team’s desire to shoot more threes. “Just trying to unleash Duncan and I in that group and get us open more. I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
With the game tied at 109 with 2:07 to play, the Heat scored the final seven points of the contest to complete the comeback win. Butler began the run with five straight points: an and-one layup to put the Heat ahead by three with 1:48 to play and a 16-foot midrange jumper to extend the Heat’s lead to five points with 9.5 seconds remaining.
Warriors star Stephen Curry finished with a triple-double that included 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists. He shot 4 of 10 on threes.
Curry could have scored three more points if it wasn’t for a successful challenge from the Heat.
With 1:39 to play and the Heat ahead by three, Butler was called for a foul on a Curry three-point attempt. But officials reviewed the play following the Heat’s challenge and ruled that Butler blocked the ball before hitting Curry’s hand, overturning the foul at a crucial time.
“I don’t know all of the rules. Kyle does,” Butler said of convincing Spoelstra to use his challenge on that play. “I know I hit the ball first and then, yeah, a little bit of hand after the follow through. So I told Spo, ‘Hey look man, I think you should challenge it because I did hit the ball first.’ Then Kyle was like, ‘Did you hit the ball first?’ ‘Yeah, I hit the ball first, Kyle.’ Then Kyle was like, ‘I know the rules. It’s our ball.’ So that’s how that went down.”
A heavy dose of zone defense also helped the Heat hold off the Warriors in the fourth quarter.
With the Heat’s defense struggling through the first two weeks of the season, Spoelstra turned to its 2-3 zone look against the Warriors.
The move worked.
The Heat ran zone on 41 possessions during Tuesday’s victory, including 13 possessions in the fourth quarter, according to Second Spectrum. Golden State scored just 0.97 points per possession against Miami’s zone compared to 1.22 points per possession against its man defense.
The Heat’s 41 zone possessions against the Warriors are the most used in a game by any team this season. It would have been the ninth-most last season.
“Coach made a great adjustment and went zone,” Lowry said. “A great adjustment. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.”
Zone has been a big part of the Heat’s defensive arsenal for a few seasons now, and it again proved to be an effective change-up in an important early-season game.
Heat starting guard Tyler Herro left Tuesday’s win midway through the second quarter and did not return. But he hopes to play on Wednesday.
While battling for a loose ball, Warriors guard Moses Moody seemed to inadvertently poke Herro in the eye. Herro immediately went down to the ground in pain and was subbed out seconds later at the next stoppage of play with 6:01 left in the second quarter.
Lowry helped guide Herro to the Heat’s bench. Heat head athletic trainer Wes Brown then walked Herro to the locker room.
“It was just that my eye was black when I was looking out. I couldn’t see anything,” Herro said.
Herro never returned, as he missed the rest of the game with a left eye contusion. He contributed two points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field, one rebound, one assist, one steal and one block in 10 minutes before exiting the contest.
Strus started in Herro’s place to begin the second half.
But Herro is hopeful that he’ll be able to play on Wednesday against the Kings.
“It’s better now,” Herro said as he stood in front of his locker after the game. “It just took some time, honestly. I probably could have gone in. I was sitting here at my locker watching the game. In the fourth quarter, I probably could have played. But just needed a little bit more time for the blurriness and the vision to get back. But I’m good.”
After a two-game absence, veteran Dewayne Dedmon returned to the Heat’s bench rotation and turned in his best performance of the young season.
Dedmon missed the previous two games because of left foot plantar fasciitis and a non-COVID illness, but was able to play in his usual role of backup center against the Warriors.
It has been a rough start to the season for the 33-year-old Dedmon, but he was as active as he has been all season on Tuesday. He finished with nine points and five rebounds in 11 minutes while posting a plus/minus of plus-7 off the bench.
“Dedmon gave us some really good minutes tonight,” Spoelstra said. “I just felt like he had a live body tonight. I think those extra days really helped him.”
Dedmon’s best stint of the night was his first one, as he recorded four points and four rebounds in 4:51 of playing time in the first quarter. He was a plus-8 during that stretch, entering with the Heat trailing 13-9 and subbed out with the Heat holding a 28-24 lead.
Winning the 14 or so minutes when starting center Bam Adebayo isn’t on the court has been an underrated aspect of the Heat’s winning formula.
Dedmon was successful in accomplishing that in the previous two seasons after joining the Heat as a free agent late in the 2020-21 season. Miami outscored opponents by 17.1 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon the court in the 16 games he played with the Heat in 2020-21 and outscored opponents by 3.5 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon the court last season.
But entering Tuesday, the Heat had been outscored by an ugly 20.8 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon on the court this season.
Dedmon’s outing against the Warriors was a step in the right direction. It was actually a good night for the Heat’s bench, in general.
Each of the four Heat reserves used Tuesday finished with a positive plus/minus. Along with Dedmon, Strus was a plus-5, Gabe Vincent was a plus-29 and Robinson was a plus-19.
Meanwhile, each of the five Warriors reserves who played posted a negative plus/minus against the Heat.
The Heat’s busy early-season schedule continues on Wednesday.
When the Heat takes on the Kings on Wednesday at FTX Arena, it will mark the end of Miami’s third back-to-back set and the season is just two weeks old. After Wednesday, the Heat, Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons will be the only teams in the league to have already played three back-to-back sets, with the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns yet to play one back-to-back up to this point.
No team has played more games this season than the Heat (8) through Tuesday. The Pistons, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Utah Jazz, Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Warriors, Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves have also already played eight games this season.
The good news for the Heat is that Wednesday’s opponent will be missing one of its best players, as the Kings have already ruled out guard De’Aaron Fox because of a bone bruise in his right knee. Plus, five of the Heat’s next six games come at home.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 10:15 PM.
