Takeaways from Heat’s much-needed win over Clippers behind Adebayo, Butler, strong fourth
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 115-110 win over the Los Angeles Clippers (14-13) on Thursday night at FTX Arena to end a two-game losing skid and move to 1-1 on its three-game homestand. The Heat (12-14) closes the homestand on Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs:
The Heat played another close game, but escaped with a much-needed win behind a strong fourth quarter led by star Jimmy Butler.
In a game that included 25 lead changes and 11 ties, the Heat was able to finally pull away with a strong late-game display. Miami outscored Los Angeles 31-23 in the fourth quarter to turn a three-point deficit entering the final period into a five-point victory.
“I feel like we got the ball where it was supposed to go. It was just a very fluid fourth,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “I feel like we never got worried. We kept trying to put points on the board. I feel like in the fourth quarter sometimes people get complacent and stop attacking so they can keep the lead. But I feel like we did a great job of taking what the defense gave us and shots were going in for us.”
The Heat trailed by two points with 7:55 to play, but closed the game on a 22-15 run to seal the win.
It marked the 17th clutch game that the Heat has played in this season, which is tied for the most in the NBA. A clutch game is defined as a game that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Heat improved to 9-8 in clutch games this season.
In Thursday’s fourth quarter, the Heat shot 12 of 20 (60 percent) from the field and limited the Clippers to 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) shooting from the field. Miami, which entered with the NBA’s sixth-worst fourth-quarter offensive rating of 105.2 points scored per 100 possessions this season, scored 124 points per 100 possessions in Thursday’s fourth quarter.
Thursday not only represented a bounce-back win after two straight losses, it also was a bounce-back fourth-quarter performance after being outscored by 15 points in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons.
“On both sides of the floor, it was much better,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Thursday’s fourth quarter. “We certainly had some good activity defensively, some timely stops to give us that lead and then very intentional going down the stretch. Jimmy obviously made some big buckets going down the stretch.
“But I thought the spacing, the execution, what we were trying to get accomplished to get him in his strength zone, I thought was pretty intentional on the players’ part.”
Butler, who returned after sitting out Tuesday on the second night of a back-to-back set, scored the Heat’s final eight points on Thursday. He also contributed three rebounds, two assists and one steal in eight fourth-quarter minutes.
Butler entered the final period with the score tied at 95 and 7:43 to play, and he played the rest of the game as the Heat outscored the Clippers by five points down the stretch to come away with the five-point win.
“Obviously, having Jimmy back helps,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “You can throw the ball to him and he can make a play, whether it’s for himself or others, toward the end of the game. Happy to have him back and just to finish the game.”
Butler ended the night with 26 points on an ultra-efficient 10-of-12 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 shooting on threes, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals in 34 minutes.
Herro also scored eight fourth-quarter points on Thursday. Herro finished the win with 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The Heat won despite the Clippers shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 17-of-36 (47.2 percent) shooting from three-point range in the game.
Miami did it by scoring 22 points on 16 turnovers from Los Angeles. Pair that with only eight turnovers for the Heat and Miami closed with a 90-80 edge in field-goal attempts.
“We finished. I think that’s the main thing,” Herro said of the Heat’s strong fourth quarter. “We were able to get stops and turn those into easy buckets on the other side, and then guys made shots at the end.”
The encouraging trend of Adebayo playing a more aggressive and assertive style on the offensive end continued.
Adebayo finished Thursday’s win with a game-high 31 points on 14-of-21 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, 10 rebounds and four assists. He shot 8 of 8 at the rim and 6 of 13 on non-rim paint shots, with each of his 21 shots coming from inside the paint.
It marked the third time that Adebayo has scored 30 or more points in a game in the last seven games. Three of the 12 games in Adebayo’s NBA career with 20 or more field-goal attempts have come during this seven-game span.
Adebayo has averaged 26.9 points on 18.4 field-goal attempts per game in the last seven games. This dominant stretch has led opponents to start doubling Adebayo in the post more frequently.
“For us, a win is a win,” Adebayo said. “It doesn’t matter who’s the most assertive. It was me tonight. The next game, it might be Jimmy, it might be Tyler. But at the end of the day, we care about wins.”
Kyle Lowry was the only Heat player who played in each of the first 25 games of the season. But he got a well-deserved night off on Thursday.
Lowry, 36, missed his first game of the season for what the team listed as “rest.” Entering Thursday, he had logged the fifth-most minutes in the NBA at 907 minutes.
The Heat was also without Jamal Cain (G League), Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) against the Clippers. Cain is with the Sioux Falls Skyforce as part of his two-way contract and Yurtseven is still in the early stages of his recovery from ankle surgery that’s expected to keep him out until at least March, but Vincent is the one Miami hopes returns soon.
Thursday marked the second straight game that Vincent missed because of his left knee issue. It’s the seventh game he has missed in the last 11 games because of the injury.
“Not extended time,” Spoelstra said when asked Thursday whether Vincent would need to miss an extended stretch to rest his knee. “But we don’t want a game on, game off, that kind of situation. He’s definitely making progress. Pretty soon he’ll be day-to-day.”
As for Lowry, the Heat is simply taking a big-picture approach like it did with Butler earlier this week.
“Each decision is different,” Spoelstra said of how he handles rest situations with players. “Jimmy was just coming back and the back-to-back just didn’t make sense, particularly with travel. And as we all know and we’re all aware, Kyle has been logging quite a few minutes and we’re pushing and trying to make up some ground this season. But we also have to be responsible, we have to be smart. And his load has been pretty heavy, which he can handle. He likes it. But again, we do have to be responsible and think big picture, as well.”
The Clippers were without Moussa Diabate (G League), Kawhi Leonard (right knee injury management) Terance Mann (concussion protocol), Jason Preston (G League) and Norman Powell (left groin strain) on Thursday.
But the Clippers did have Paul George, who finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Thursday’s win included the highest-scoring quarter of Heat forward Caleb Martin’s career.
Martin, who entered shooting a team-best 40.7 percent from three-point range this season, finished the victory with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 shooting on threes, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Martin only scored one point in the second half. But he totaled 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting on threes in Thursday’s second quarter to record the highest-scoring quarter in his NBA career.
Martin also posted a team-best plus/minus of plus-18 in Thursday’s win, as he was tasked with defending George late in the game.
“Caleb is a really good basketball player,” Spoelstra said. “I think that’s the most important thing. The guy impacts winning. If anybody is paying attention, down the stretch he was the one at the point of attack against Paul George. He just makes a lot of plays defensively. He’s rock solid and he’s an offensive talent. He does a lot of different things for us.”
With Lowry out, the Heat started two-way contract guard Dru Smith in his place.
It marked Smith’s first start and fifth appearance in his NBA career. Smith finished with two points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field, one rebound and three assists in 22 minutes.
The move to start Smith over other options kept the Heat’s usual bench rotation of Max Strus, Victor Oladipo and Dewayne Dedmon intact. That’s important for a team searching for some stability amid injury issues over the last few weeks.
Along with Strus, Oladipo and Dedmon, the Heat used forward Haywood Highsmith off the bench to complete its nine-man rotation on Thursday. But it looked like the original plan was to go with an eight-man rotation, with Highsmith entering for his first action with 3:43 left in the third quarter after Martin was called for his fourth foul.
It marked the 11th straight game that Highsmith has played in after beginning the season out of the Heat’s rotation.
The only available Heat players who were not used Thursday were Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic and Udonis Haslem.
This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 10:02 PM.
