Heat drubs Wizards for fifth win in row. Takeaways from good nights from Adebayo, Herro
Takeaways from the Heat’s 120-94 drubbing of the dreadful Wizards on Monday in Washington, pushing Miami’s winning streak to five:
▪ The Heat took control early and was never seriously challenged by the Eastern Conference’s worst team.
Fueled by Bam Adebayo’s best first quarter of the season, the Heat unleashed an early 17-2 run, surged ahead 34-17 and 36-23 after one. The Wizards closed the first half on a 16-8 spurt to close to within 58-47 at the break.
Washington pulled to within 10 early in the third, but the Heat pushed its cushion to 92-75 after three, despite Jordan Poole scoring 18 in the quarter.
The Heat’s two best players were at the epicenter of Monday’s dominant win, Miami’s fifth in a row by double digits. Adebayo was stupendous early; Herro was magnificent in the second half.
“The guys follow their energy, their disposition, their urgency,” Erik Spoelstra said. “The team is gaining a lot of confidence. We have a lot of guys out right now. It’s really a collective energy right now and guys are pouring life into each other, following Tyler and Bam, and then other guys are contributing.”
Adebayo closed the first quarter with 16 points (tied for his highest point total of the season in any quarter) on 7 for 10 shooting with six rebounds and two assists. He went to the half with 20 and finished the night with 28 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in 31 minutes.
Herro, meanwhile, had a slow start (3 for 10 from the field; four first quarter points) but came alive in the second half and delivered 27 points (9 for 19 shooting) with five rebounds, five assists and three steals in 33 minutes.
The Heat got good work from its bench, which was playing without Davion Mitchell, and from rookie Pelle Larsson, who had 15 points (7 for 13 shooting), seven rebounds and five assists and a steal.
What’s gratifying about this winning streak is “just how we rallied around each other,” Herro said. “It feels like we’re really connected. It feels like everyone’s covering for each other and we’re all playing really well off each other right now.”
Miami opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Herro, Kel’el Ware, Larsson and Alec Burks for the second game in a row.
The Heat scored a season-high 68 points in the paint against a Washington defense that seemed disinterested at times. “Well, our aggressiveness was there, for sure,” Spoelstra said. “Almost 70 in the paint, 22 in transition, 15 offensive rebounds. These are the things that we really have been emphasizing and we put it together.”
Poole scored 35 points for the Wizards, who entered the night tied with Utah for fewest wins in the league at 16.
▪ The Heat’s simmering distance shooting cooled off, but it hardly mattered.
Miami entered having shot 52 percent on threes in the previous four games, considerably better than its 36.6 average for the season, which ranks 14th in the league.
On Monday, Miami shot just 3 for 17 from distance in the first half, then missed its first two threes of the second half and finished the night 9 for 32 (28.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
Herro, who had shot 15 for 24 on threes in his past four games, shot 0 for 6 on threes.
Burks, who shot 16 for 30 on threes over the past four games, shot 1 for 5.
But the Heat shot 50.5 percent overall, getting to the basket virtually anytime it pleased. Miami shot 38 for 61 on two-point attempts.
Errant three-point shooting from the Heat’s wings is usually a problem in losses, but it wasn’t against a putrid team on Monday.
“Just finding different ways to score,” Herro said of the team compensating for Monday’s three-point struggles. “Obviously, we have an identity we want to get to offensively. We have a bunch of guys that when you run them off the three-point line or shots are not falling, we can get into the paint and make plays for each other. And obviously having Bam and Kal’el down there, offensive rebounding, second-chance points are also key when shots aren’t falling.”
Miami still reached 120 points, well above its 109.5 average for the season, which ranks 26th in the league.
The Heat averaged 118.5 points (compared to 99.5 for the opposition) during the first four games of this win streak.
▪ Larsson continues to impress.
The 44th overall pick was impactful during his second consecutive start, scoring the Heat’s first four points and again delivering across the board contributions.
“The numbers now are also matching the intangibles,” Spoelstra said. “But he does a lot of things that really contribute and move the needle.”
Larsson has a penchant for making heady plays. On Monday, there was a lob to Adebayo for a thundering dunk and a pinpoint 60-foot outlet pass to Ware for a hook shot.
Larsson also has a knack for making timely cuts; he did it for three baskets in a two-minute stretch on Monday.
In one sequence, he slithered for a layup on a feed from Haywood Highsmith. In another, he lulled the Wizards into mental paralysis and then cut hard to the basket for a dunk on a pass from Adebayo. Then he caught the Wizards napping and sliced to the basket for a layup on a dish from Herro.
“He came in as a plug-and-play veteran college player that had already played that role; he excelled in that role,” Spoelstra said. “His role really impacted winning. Those guys are hard to find. So it’s not like his role right now; it’s much different than what he was doing at Arizona. He has a savviness about him. His competitive spirit no question fits our personality. But he’s a high IQ player and I think that’s a credit to all the coaching he got in college and the role that he filled, excelled in.”
Ware, meanwhile, outplayed fellow 7 foot rookie Alex Sarr early in the game before being sidetracked by foul trouble. He picked up his fourth foul in the first minute of the third quarter and closed with six points and 11 rebounds in 22 minutes.
▪ The Heat played without four rotation players - Andrew Wiggins, Duncan Robinson, Mitchell and Nikola Jovic.
Mitchell was ruled out with a stomach illness before the game.
Monday’s game at Washington marked Wiggins’ 11th missed game, compared to 15 Heat appearances, since his February addition.
Wiggins’ sore hamstring, which has him back in Miami during this ongoing three-game trip, is the fourth injury or illness that has shelved Wiggins since the trade.
Spoelstra on Monday declined to say if he will return anytime soon. Will he he back before the end of the regular season April 12? “I don’t have an update,” Spoelstra responded.
Could he be back sooner rather than later? “I don’t have any timetable on it,” Spoelstra said. “But he’s definitely making some progress.”
Miami is 5-10 when Wiggins plays. He’s averaging 19.9 points and shooting 46.5 percent since joining the Heat.
“We feel really good about where our game is when he’s available,” Spoelstra said. “So we’re just focused on getting his body feeling right.”
Robinson remains back in South Florida because of a back issue that stems from “dysfunction” between the triangular bone at the base of his spine and two large bones that form the sides of his pelvis.
Spoelstra suggested this injury isn’t as problematic as the back issue that sidelined Robinson for nine of the Heat’s final 14 games last season.
“It’s different than last year,” Spoelstra said. “We think we will be able to manage it. We want to be responsible and give as much treatment and then appropriate ramp-up.”
It remains unclear if Jovic will make it back this season from a broken hand.
With Wiggins, Mitchell and Robinson sidelined, Spoelstra played Terry Rozier and Jaime Jaquez Jr. off the bench. Both had fallen out of the rotation recently and both had some good moments Monday.
Rozier had 15 points, six assists and five rebounds.
“One thing a lot of people don’t know because there’s a lot of BS that be going on outside the locker room is, we have a great locker,” Rozier said late Monday. “It’s easy to cheer the person next to you. It made my time when I wasn’t playing easier when you’ve got guys very supportive and I’m doing the same.”
Jaquez chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds, and Kyle Anderson scored 10.
“Things might not always be going your way,” Jaquez said of losing his rotation role recently. “But as long as you stay in the gym and stay ready, you never know when opportunity might call. You just got to be ready for that moment.”
▪ The ninth-seeded Heat moved to within 1 1/2 games of No. 8 Orlando and moved a full game ahead of No. 10 Chicago in jockeying for Eastern Conference play-in position.
Miami (34-41) took a full game lead over the No. 10 Bulls, who were blown out in Oklahoma City.
Chicago already has clinched the tiebreaker with Miami based on the Bulls’ two wins against the Heat in the first two games of their season series. Miami likely would need to win their third and final meeting, April 9 in Chicago, to have a strong chance of finishing with the ninth seed.
Meanwhile, the Heat pulled to within 1 1/2 games of the No. 8 Magic, which lost to the Clippers on Monday.
The ninth and 10th seeds will play an elimination play-in game on April 15 or 16, with the loser going home and the winner playing the loser of the 7-8 game for the right to play top-seeded Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.
For Chicago, Monday’s game concluded a stretch of nine in a row against Western Conference teams. The Bulls’ schedule gets easier from here; Chicago closes with Toronto and Portland at home; games at Charlotte and at Cleveland; then Miami and Washington at home and then at Philadelphia.
The Heat’s remaining schedule is a bit more difficult: at Boston and home to Memphis, Milwaukee and Philadelphia; then at Chicago, at New Orleans (which will be without Zion Williamson and CJ McCollom for the remainder of the season) and home to Washington.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 9:18 PM.
