Big nights from Butler, Adebayo, Herro lead Heat over Suns. Takeaways and details
Five takeaways from the Heat’s 121-111 win against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday at Kaseya Center:
▪ The Heat changed the tone of the game with a 19-4 run to start the second half, then put it away with a brilliant stretch from Jimmy Butler late.
After the Suns closed to within 103-100, Butler hit a three-pointer with 4:16 remaining, then converted two three- point plays with layups on drives to the basket and free throws. That nine-point run by Butler gave Miami breathing room.
The third quarter was a masterpiece; Bam Adebayo, Butler and Tyler Herro attacked the basket with force and efficiency, and Haywood Highsmith and Duncan Robinson also helped turn a five-point halftime deficit into a 78-66 lead.
With those five players on the court, Miami outscored the Suns 25-8 to start the second half.
Butler finished with 24 points on 9 for 12 shooting, with seven rebounds and four assists.
“Jimmy in the fourth quarter allows you to have those possessions where you can settle in and know you’re going to get a smart decision,” Erik Spoelstra said. “He made every right play going down the stretch.”
Herro converted his first three-pointer with 2:20 left in the game -- keeping alive his 60-game three-point streak -- and finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Duncan Robinson scored 14 of his 19 in the first half, finishing 5 for 8 on three-pointers.
And Adebayo was a menace in the third quarter, playing with an aggressive bent and delivering 12 of his 25 points in the third, including dunks on an offensive rebound and an alley-oop from Herro.
Adebayo - who added 12 rebounds and 8 assists - swished a three to push Miami’s lead to eight with 5:40 left. He finished 9 for 16 from the field.
“Five or six games, he’s had close to a triple double every single game,” Spoelstra said. “It’s a shame people only notice when he’s scoring. His leadership in that third quarter was what I saw. I tried to call a zone and he yelled at me. I love it. I want him to take control of the defense. He’s our voice.”
Entering Saturday, Adebayo had been averaging just 4.0 free throw attempts per game, compared with 6.1, 5.4 and 5.5 the previous three seasons. So it was particularly encouraging to see Adebayo create contact and get to the line for eighth free throws in the third quarter after a first half in which Miami attempted just two free throws (both by Butler).
“It was one of those things where they were calling fouls for me, I guess,” Adebayo said.
Adebayo began the fourth with another offensive rebound and tip in. Of his 12 rebounds on Saturday, four were offensive boards.
Phoenix - playing without star Kevin Durant and center Jusuf Nurkic - hit 11 threes on 46 percent three-point shooting in the first half, but then cooled considerably, hitting only five threes in the second half.
Bradley Beal (15 points, 5 for 18 shooting) and Devin Booker (21 points, 6 for 16 shooting) both struggled with their jump shot.
The Heat -- which shot 52 percent from the field in moving to 11-10 -- hopes to carry the momentum into Sunday’s 6 p.m. home game against Cleveland.
▪ Herro, one of the NBA’s best three-point shooters this season, extended his three-point streak late and victimized Phoenix with his off-the-dribble game.
Herro entered the weekend with 86 three-pointers, fourth in the league behind Anthony Edwards (98), Donovan Mitchell (89) and Jayson Tatum (87).
On Saturday, he missed his first two three-point attempts but hit his third, a pull-up three. Though Herro said he wasn’t thinking about the streak late, Heat teammates seemed very much aware that the three-pointer extended it.
Herro has hit at least one three in 55 consecutive regular season games (14 short of Robinson’s franchise record set in 2021) and 60 in a row overall including playoff games.
He did nearly all of his damage on forays to the basket, shooting 6 for 7 in the paint and finishing 8 for 12 from the field and 1 for 4 on threes.
“It shows some of his maturity,” Spoelstra said of Herro’s game on Saturday. “When he shoots a pull-up, he’s looking at me, ‘Should I? Can I?’ I don’t want it to get to that. I trust him. [Phoenix] was fully committed to getting him off the three point line.”
Spoelstra said he would like Herro to shoot 10 threes a night but “this league is well scouted. Teams come up with schemes that get you off what you do. He was really effective.”
▪ In one measurement, the Heat’s starting group has become its best lineup, while its previous starting lineup was its worst.
The quintet of Butler, Adebayo, Herro, Highsmith and Robinson entered with a 5-2 record as a starting group and having outscored teams by 18 points in 92 minutes. That was the best pure plus/minus on the team to begin the weekend and it’s even better after Saturday, standing now at a plus 37.
Against Phoenix, that group was a plus two in the first half, then was exceptional to begin the third quarter, turning a 58-53 halftime deficit into a 78-66 lead before Spoelstra made his first substitutions with 4:08 left in the third quarter.
The previous starting lineup of Butler, Adebayo, Herro, Nikola Jovic and Terry Rozier was outscored by 41 points in 91 minutes, the worst plus/minus on the team and one of the worst in the league at the time that Spoelstra made a change.
The disparity in shooting between those two lineups is striking.
The Heat’s new starting lineup entered Saturday shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 41.9 percent on threes when they play together.
The former starting lineup shot 41 percent as a group and 36.9 percent on threes.
Jovic, after playing off the bench initially after the lineup change, now has gone seven games in a row without playing. Spoelstra suggested he might play on Saturday with Pelle Larsson sidelined, but that didn’t happen.
“I’ll be evaluating attention to small things,” Spoelstra said of Jovic’s work in practice.
▪ With the rookie Larrson out, Spoelstra gave many of his minutes to Dru Smith, who again justified the faith.
The guard on the two-way contract has earned trust because of pesky defense, generally sound ball-handling and improved shooting (6 for 11 on threes this season).
Going into the weekend, Smith had held the player he was guarding to 36.1 percent shooting (13 for 36). Those same players shoot 45.1 percent overall.
Smith was helpful again on Saturday, contributing seven points (on three for five shooting), four rebounds and two steals in a career-high 29 minutes.
Smith has earned such trust that Spoelstra played him alongside Butler, Adebayo, Herro and Highsmith down the stretch.
“He was getting his hands on the loose balls, making it hell for anybody he’s guarding,” Butler said of Smith. “And he’s a shot maker, can step in and make some shots.”
Larrson was ruled out before the game after twisting his ankle at Friday’s practice.
▪ The Heat keeps vanquishing opponents missing All Stars and continues to show improvement against playoff teams.
Saturday’s win against a Suns team missing future Hall of Famer Durant follows earlier victories this season against a Philadelphia team missing All Star Tyrese Maxey and a Dallas team playing without All NBA guard Luke Doncic.
Last season, the Heat was 14-26 in the regular season against teams that made the playoffs and 15-30 overall against playoff teams if you include the five-game first-round loss to Boston.
This season, Miami opened 0-4 against last season’s playoff teams but is now 6-7 against those teams.
And there’s this: Last season, when Butler, Adebayo and Herro were all in uniform, Miami was 3-9 against 2023-24 playoff teams. This year, the Heat is 4-5 against last year’s playoff qualifiers, including Wednesday’s 134-93 stomping of the Lakers.
This story was originally published December 7, 2024 at 10:29 PM.
