Heat ends three-game skid with win over Nets, but loses Dru Smith. Takeaways and details
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 110-95 win over the Brooklyn Nets (11-18) on Monday night at Kaseya Center to snap a three-game losing streak. The Heat (14-13) now enters a two-day break before traveling to take on the Magic on Thursday for the second time in six days:
The Heat shook off Saturday’s crushing loss in Orlando and got big nights from Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and several young players.
Adebayo finished with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds and seven assists.
“Bam anchored everything defensively and then he was really good offensively,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Herro not only scored 17 points, but added 12 rebounds, nine assists and one block.
“He read the game, managed the game very well tonight,” Spoelstra said of Herro.
Duncan Robinson added 17 points, shooting 7 of 10 from three-point range.
The Heat also got important contributions from its last three first-round picks: Nikola Jovic (season-high 18 points to go with four rebounds and four assists), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (nine points and five rebounds) and Kel’el Ware (nine points, seven rebounds, two steals and one block).
After entering halftime with a one-point lead, the Heat broke the game open in the second half to pull ahead by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter. The Nets’ final lead of the night came in the first quarter.
The Heat shot 17 of 41 (41.5 percent) from three-point range in the victory, improving to 7-4 this season when shooting better than 40 percent from behind the arc.
But it was the Heat’s second-half defensive effort that was the driving force behind the victory, limiting the Nets to 38 points on 34.1 percent shooting from the field and 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) shooting on threes in the final two quarters. The Heat is now 7-0 this season when holding its opponent under 100 points.
“Basically holding them under 40 for the half with a lot more efforts, a lot more physicality, better rebounding,” Spoelstra said. “That was encouraging for the head coach to see.”
Both teams entered missing key players and in the middle of rough patches.
The Heat, which entered on a three-game losing skid after blowing a 22-point fourth-quarter lead in a loss to the Magic on Saturday, did not have Jimmy Butler (stomach illness), Terry Rozier (left knee inflammation) and Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation).
The Nets, which entered with losses in seven of their last nine games, were without Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot injury recovery), Dorian Finney-Smith (left calf contusion), De’Anthony Melton (left knee ACL tear), Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain), Trendon Watford (left hamstring strain) and Ziaire Williams (left knee sprain).
The Heat will now have two days off before taking on the Magic in Orlando on Thursday.
“We just want to get everybody feeling good physically,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve had a stretch, not of a ton of games, but guys have just been dealing with some minor things. So we just want everybody feeling good and we’ll get ready for a big game in Orlando.”
Dru Smith has become an important part of the Heat’s rotation with his strong play this month. But Smith’s status for the foreseeable future is now in question after leaving Monday’s game with a lower left leg injury.
While setting up the offense and dribbling on the perimeter early in the second quarter, Smith planted his left foot and his leg buckled. Smith immediately fell to the court and lost the ball out of bounds.
Smith just sat on the court for a few seconds after the play, seemingly in disbelief. He was then helped up by teammates and hobbled back to the locker room with some assistance.
After exiting with 8:18 left in the second quarter, the Heat ruled Smith out for the rest of Monday’s game because of a lower left leg injury.
While the severity of the injury is not yet known, it appeared serious based on the replay and Smith’s reaction while down on the court. But the Heat did not comment further other than labeling it as a “lower left leg injury,” which raises concern about a potential Achilles tendon injury.
Spoelstra said Smith will undergo an MRI on Tuesday.
“Obviously, the air went out of the building seeing him fall like that,” Spoelstra said. “It wasn’t a contact injury. I don’t know the extent fully right now. I don’t want to pontificate until we get the MRI. But, yeah, we were all messed up for a while.”
The timing is unfortunate for Smith, who was on track to be promoted from a two-way contract to a standard contract in the coming days.
After the Dec. 15 trade of Thomas Bryant left the Heat with 13 players on standard deals, NBA rules require the Heat to sign a 14th player to a standard contract by Sunday. The thinking has been that Smith would be moved to a standard contract to fill that spot, but his injury may force the Heat to look elsewhere.
Smith, who will turn 27 on Dec. 30, entered having played double-digit minutes in eight straight games before leaving Monday’s contest in the second quarter. He has turned into a big part of the Heat’s rotation after playing in just five of the team’s first 18 games this season, averaging 9.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game while shooting 53.2 percent from the field and 56 percent on threes in eight games this month prior to Monday’s injury.
Smith already spent most of the last year rehabbing from a serious injury. He underwent season-ending ACL reconstruction surgery after hurting his right knee in November 2023, returning to full-contact basketball work just in time for training camp in October.
“He’s one of my favorite teammates, one of my favorite players to play with,” Herro said of Smith. “It’s really heartbreaking.”
With Butler again out, the Heat continued to cycle through different starting lineups.
The Heat went with a starting lineup of Herro, Smith, Robinson, Jovic and Adebayo on Saturday against the Magic.
On Monday against the Nets, the Heat used a starting lineup of Herro, Robinson, Jaquez, Haywood Highsmith and Adebayo. It marked the second game this season that this group has started together, as this five-man combination also started for the Heat in its Dec. 2 loss to the Boston Celtics that Butler was also unavailable for.
This group outscored the Nets by two points in 11 minutes together during Monday’s win.
Even with usual backup center Kevin Love returning from a one-game absence, the Heat used Ware as its backup center on Monday.
With Love unavailable on Saturday because of personal reasons, Ware filled that void in the rotation in the Heat’s loss to the Magic after being held out or on G League assignment in the previous nine games. Ware took advantage of his first game action with the Heat since Nov. 27, making a positive impact with eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks while posting an eye-opening plus/minus of plus 26 in 14 minutes off the bench on Saturday.
Love returned to be available on Monday, but Ware was still used as the Heat’s backup center for the second straight game.
Ware, who the Heat selected with the 15th overall in this year’s draft, was again very good in his 17 minutes. The 20-year-old 7-footer made a three, threw down multiple alley-oops and provided rim protection.
“Kel’el is giving you just a little bit of a wow factor right now,” Spoelstra said. “There’s something that he’s doing every day, whether it be a blocked shot, a changed shot, a lob or some kind of burst in transition. We just want to build on that right now.”
The Heat outscored the Nets by seven points when Ware was on the court.
“Man, I’m glad we’re using him,” Adebayo said of Ware. “Big fella can definitely make plays and that’s what we need. We need that instant energy shift. It’s a different way of how we play, a different style. So it’s great to have that in the second unit.”
Meanwhile, Love did not play and received his first DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season on Monday.
Ware was part of a five-man bench rotation that also included Jovic, Pelle Larsson, Alec Burks and Smith against the Nets. The Heat then emptied its bench late in the double-digit win.
Burks played Monday in his first game since Dec. 2, snapping a streak of seven consecutive DNP-CDs. He closed with 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range in 24 minutes.
“I think AB gave us some rock solid minutes tonight,” Spoelstra said. “He does a lot of right things and he’s in the right place a lot.”
Jaquez has struggled to make threes this season, but he made his first three in nearly three weeks.
Jaquez entered Monday’s game having missed 12 straight three-pointers — a slump that dated back to the Heat’s Dec. 4 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Jaquez also entered shooting just 23.3 percent from three-point range on two three-point attempts per game this season. Among NBA players who have attempted at least two threes per game and have played in at least 10 games this season, Jaquez came into Monday with the fifth-worst three-point shooting percentage.
But Jaquez made his first three-point shot of Monday’s game, snapping his 0-of-12 slump by hitting a three just 2:20 into the contest.
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 9:56 PM.
