Reliving wild Heat win that included NBA history, an ejection and a Jimmy Butler game-winner
Less than two hours before Tuesday’s game tipped off, coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about the challenge the injury-depleted Miami Heat faced with just nine available players.
“This really kind of seems like our norm,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t say that in jest. But we’ve had guys in and out of the lineup and we’ve been able to win games with different guys available. That’s how we’re approaching this game tonight with that kind of mindset. We have enough to win this game tonight.”
It turns out the Heat only needed eight available players after center Dewayne Dedmon was ejected in the second quarter for throwing a Theragun onto the court. A visibly angry Dedmon stormed off the bench following a heated discussion with Heat coaches, throwing the device onto the court while play was already underway before making his way to the locker room.
The short-handed Heat (22-20) still found a way to escape with a 112-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at FTX Arena to open the second half of the regular season.
It was a wild night that not only included Dedmon’s bizarre ejection, but also a 35-point effort from Heat star Jimmy Butler and an NBA record-setting display at the foul line.
“It’s just a normal Tuesday night with the Miami Heat,” Spoelstra joked, with the Heat continuing its four-game homestand with a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “I think this is when we feel most alive, when everything just happens and when all of our competitive juices get out there. That’s the team we all can relate to. That’s the team I like for better or worse. I just love the passion and we had to really gut it out.”
The Heat needed every single contribution on a historic night in a few areas just to come away with the one-point win:
▪ The Heat finished the win a perfect 40 of 40 from the free-throw line, which set an NBA record for the most free throws made by a team in a game without a miss. The previous NBA record was set by the Utah Jazz, when went 39 of 39 from the foul line in a Dec. 7, 1982 loss.
The Heat outscored the Thunder 40-14 at the free-throw 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.”
▪ Behind a 23-of-23 finish from the foul line, Butler scored 35 points despite shooting just 6 of 17 from the field. Butler became the first player in NBA history to make fewer than seven field goals while scoring 35 or more points.
▪ The 23 points at the foul line marked the most free throws Butler has made in a game in his NBA career and also tied Dwyane Wade for the most free throws made in a game by a Heat player in franchise history. Only one player in league history besides Butler has made more free throws in a regular-season game without a miss and that’s James Harden, who went 24 of 24 while with the Houston Rockets in a Dec. 3, 2019 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
“Jimmy was just relentless with his attacks. Relentless,” Spoelstra said. “Going against a really big physical matchup, and he was just finding a way to get to the rim. Look, if we’re not going to get a call at the end of the game, we’re going to make you have to make a decision every single time in this game. And that’s what Jimmy did and that takes a lot of calories burning just to have that kind of effort to get there.”
Butler 23rd and final free throw on Tuesday was the game-winner, as he completed the three-point play after making a layup while being fouled with 12.9 seconds to play.
All of this was enough for the Heat to overcome an otherwise inefficient shooting performance, as it shot just 39.2 percent from the field and 10 of 33 (30.3 percent) from three-point range.
The Heat’s half-court offense was awful in the one-point win, scoring a season-worst 72.8 points per 100 half-court plays on Tuesday. It only marked Miami’s second win in the last four seasons with a half-court offensive rating worse than 73 points scored per 100 half-court plays.
“It was in the mud, it was,” Butler said of the victory. “We always talk about finding a way to win. Attacking the paint, being together on both sides of the ball is important. I think from here on out, I hope that it gets a little bit easier whenever we start getting guys back and we start to string together some wins.”
The Heat was without seven players, including four starters, in Tuesday’s win. Butler was the only player from Miami’s preferred starting lineup who played against the Thunder.
Starters Bam Adebayo (right wrist contusion), Tyler Herro (left Achilles soreness), Kyle Lowry (left knee discomfort) and Caleb Martin (left quadriceps strain) all missed the game, but the hope is they will all return sooner rather than later. Their injuries are not considered to be long-term issues.
The Heat was also missing Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) against the Thunder. Jovic, Robinson and Yurtseven are not expected to return until February at the earliest.
All of these absences left the Heat with just two available players Tuesday who were drafted, Butler and Victor Oladipo. The remaining seven available Heat players went undrafted, as two-way contract forward Jamal Cain ended up logging 33 minutes and playing the final 10:11 of the game at center despite standing just 6-6 and 191 pounds.
“Honestly, I think that’s tough as a team. But I can only feel for Spo,” Butler said when asked about navigating the Heat’s ongoing injury issues. “Because he really doesn’t know who’s going to be where whenever we’re going through walk-through or shootarounds. So many guys are banged up. He’s working with the guys that he has and he’s doing the best that he can. You’re playing Cain at the five, you know what I’m saying. So he’s a great coach for a reason.”
Spoelstra admitted that he “kept on forgetting who’s available and who’s not” during Tuesday’s game because of how many players the Heat was missing.
This has been the theme of the Heat’s season. Miami entered Wednesday with the second-most missed games in the NBA (169 missed games) this season due to injury, according to Spotrac.
“Nope,” Butler said when asked if he’s been a part of a season filled with so many injuries. “But I think that’s part of the NBA. I think that’s what I signed up for, being able to play at a high level no matter who we have alongside each other. I don’t have the hard job. Spo does. He’s got to try to like mix and match guys, make guys feel comfortable while trying to tell them where to be on the floor and how to run what play, when to run what play.”
Tuesday’s victory was far from perfect for the Heat. Miami needed every free throw, steal and defensive stop just to get the one-point win.
But the bottom line is the Heat has now won 10 of its last 15 games after a rough 12-15 start to the season.
“I feel something,” Spoelstra said. “I think the locker room feels something, but we also have to prove it. We know that. So a lot of it just ends up being talk at this point. But we feel encouraged. Even with all the moving parts and injuries and missed games, we feel like something is happening and I like that feeling. I like that feeling going into a locker room, when you feel a team starting to come together from the adversity.”
