Takeaways from Heat’s win over Thunder behind Jimmy Butler and historic night from foul line
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 112-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder (18-23) on Tuesday night at FTX Arena to open the second half of the regular season and improve to 1-1 on its four-game homestand. The Heat (22-20) closes the homestand with back-to-back games against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday and Saturday:
The Heat was missing four starters and began the game with just nine available players, but overcome that adversity behind Jimmy Butler and a record-setting night from the free-throw line.
The Heat was without starters Bam Adebayo (right wrist contusion), Tyler Herro (left Achilles soreness), Kyle Lowry (left knee discomfort) and Caleb Martin (left quadriceps strain) on Tuesday. Butler was the only available player from the Heat’s preferred starting lineup.
The Heat was also missing Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) against the Thunder.
But the Heat somehow still won despite all of those absences.
The Thunder looked to be on its way to the win with a five-point lead with 1:28 to play until the short-handed Heat responded by closing the game on a 6-0 run to rally for the victory.
“I just love the passion and we had to really gut it out,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Look, we’ve been dealing with a lot of moving parts. I kept on forgetting who’s available and who’s not. ... The rotations have been so different game to game that once we got into it in the second half and things were moving really quickly. But the guys just focused on the task at hand.”
Heat guard Victor Oladipo began the game-deciding spurt by hitting a three-pointer with 42.9 seconds on the clock to cut the deficit to two points.
Thunder forward Kenrich Williams was fouled with 22.3 seconds to play, but he missed both free throws to keep the Heat’s deficit at two points and leave the door open for the comeback.
The Heat took advantage.
After Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins looked to come away with a crucial offensive rebound following the second missed free throw, Oladipo stole the ball and sprinted up the court to find Butler in the post against Jalen Williams. Butler spun to his left and put up a pump fake to get Williams in the air before going up and making a layup while drawing the foul on Williams to tie the game at 111 with 12.9 seconds left.
Butler then hit the game-winning free throw to complete the three-point play.
“Vic got down the floor so fast and rolled that bad baby into the post,” Butler said. “I had no idea that he saw me and I scored a bucket and made a free throw, and that’s the game.”
On the final possession, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed a three-pointer with 5.7 seconds to play before a jump ball was called as both teams battled for the rebound. But with the jump ball called with less than a second to play, it wasn’t enough time for the Thunder to put up another shot attempt as the final buzzer sounded.
The Heat finished an incredible 40 of 40 from the free-throw line, which is an NBA record for the most free throws made by a team in a game without a miss. Miami closed with a 40-14 edge over Oklahoma City in points at the foul line.
“I didn’t realize we had not missed a free throw,” Spoelstra said. “But we’ve been a good free-throw shooting team, actually a very good free-throw shooting team, all year. But that’s crazy.”
Butler led the Heat with 35 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 23-of-23 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks. It marked the most free throws Butler has made in a game in his NBA career, as he also tied Dwyane Wade for the most free throws made in a game by a Heat player in franchise history.
“Whatever it takes to win,” Butler said of leading the injury-depleted Heat to the win. “I actually feel like I still played the same way I always play. Attack the paint, get to the rim, pass the ball whenever I’m not open and hope and know that my guys are going to make shots. I always have a lot of faith in those guys.”
The Heat’s success at the foul line allowed it to overcome an inefficient 39.2 percent shooting night from the field. Miami also shot just 10 of 33 (30.3) percent from three-point range.
Along with Butler’s strong performance, Max Strus added 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Heat. Oladipo was also a catalyst with 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, including the steal and assist that led to Butler’s game-winning basket.
Tuesday’s fourth quarter included six lead changes and three ties, as the Heat played its league-leading 29th clutch game (one that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter) of the season. Miami improved to 16-13 in those situations.
The Heat ended the game with only eight available players after center Dewayne Dedmon was ejected following a bizarre sequence of events.
Dedmon was thrown out of the game with 9:15 left in the second quarter for unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing a Theragun onto the court as he walked back to the Heat’s locker room.
A video shown on the TNT broadcast shows Dedmon arguing with Spoelstra and assistant coach Caron Butler during a timeout. A visibly angry Dedmon then left the Heat’s bench as play resumed, tossing the Theragun onto the court as he walked through the tunnel that leads to the team’s locker room.
“It’s the Miami Heat,” Spoelstra said when asked about the incident. “We’re all a bunch of gnarly personalities. That part [throwing an object onto the court] was unfortunate. Everything before that, that’s the Miami Heat. That part was unacceptable.”
The expectation is the NBA will fine and/or suspend Dedmon for throwing something onto the court while play was already underway.
Dedmon finished Tuesday’s game with two points and three rebounds in five minutes before being ejected.
Dedmon has been used as the Heat’s backup center for most of the season, but he has struggled as he continues to play through plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The Heat has been outscored by 10.1 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon on the court this season.
Heat two-way contract center Orlando Robinson has begun to receive more minutes as the backup center recently amid Dedmon’s struggles. Robinson started on Tuesday with Adebayo out.
Dedmon, 33, becomes trade eligible on Jan. 15. He’s on a $4.7 million salary this season and his $4.3 million salary for next season is fully non-guaranteed, which is a contract that could be attractive to teams looking for salary cap relief.
The Heat is hopeful that Adebayo and Herro will be able to return soon.
Adebayo re-aggravated a lingering wrist injury during Sunday’s loss to the Nets, with an MRI on Monday confirming a wrist contusion. He called the pain he felt during that game “excruciating.”
“A little bit more relief,” Spoelstra said Tuesday of the MRI confirming nothing worse than a wrist contusion for Adebayo. “But he couldn’t catch in traffic or shoot comfortably.”
As for Herro, he slipped on a wet spot on the final possession of Sunday’s defeat and was listed as out for Tuesday’s contest because of left Achilles soreness.
“When I walked in for the [postgame] presser [on Sunday], I had not even see the replay. I was shocked,” Spoelstra said Tuesday of Herro’s injury. “I didn’t know what happened to Tyler. I just saw him on the floor. But thankfully, he just kind of jammed and tweaked his ankle. He’s made progress in the last 24 hours, but not good enough to play tonight.”
It marked the fifth game that the 25-year-old Adebayo has missed and the 10th game that the 22-year-old Herro has missed this season.
“They’re young, hopefully they’ll heal fast,” Spoelstra said.
As for Lowry, he’s considered to be day-to-day with his left knee injury.
Lowry, 36, was held out of Tuesday’s game because of left knee discomfort. It marked the sixth game he has missed this season.
“His knee was a little bit sore at the end of the road trip and he’ll be day-to-day from here,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll see.”
Lowry averaged just 6.5 points on 14-of-45 (31.1 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-31 (19.4 percent) shooting from three-point range, 2.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in his last six games.
Along with Adebayo, Herro and Lowry, the fourth Heat starter who missed Tuesday’s win was Martin, who sat out his third straight game because of a strained left quadriceps.
Because of its ongoing injury issues, the Heat used its 18th different starting lineup of the season.
The Heat opened Tuesday’s game with a lineup of Gabe Vincent, Strus, Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Robinson.
That left Oladipo, Dedmon, Jamal Cain and Udonis Haslem as the only four reserves available for the Heat.
Cain, one of the Heat’s two-way contract players, closed the win with a career-high 12 points to go with five rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes. He played the final 10:11 of the game at center after Robinson ran into foul trouble.
Haslem was the only available Heat player not used in Tuesday’s game.
Only two of the Heat’s nine available players against the Thunder were drafted: Butler and Oladipo.
This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 10:15 PM.
