Notes, takeaways from the Heat’s win against Utah
The Heat won’t play on Christmas for a fourth consecutive season after being scheduled 11 of the previous 12 years on the holiday.
But you can assuredly expect Miami to return to the NBA’s marquee Christmas ledger in the years ahead.
The Heat will enter the holidays with the NBA’s fourth-best record, with Miami moving to 22-8 at the 30-game mark after a highly entertaining 107-104 victory over the Utah Jazz at AmericanAirlines Arena.
For parts of three quarters, Jazz center and two-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert generally served as the 7-foot-1 embodiment of a traffic cone, blocking or deterring Heat forays to the basket, with five blocks and 20 rebounds.
But down seven late in the third, the Heat - fueled by maniacal defense - erupted on a 21-4 run to take a lead it would never again relinquish.
Bam Adebayo was at the epicenter, shaking off a 2 for 10 start to close with 18 points (including eight in the fourth quarter), 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks.
Tyler Herro (17 points on 7 for 13 shooting and six rebounds) hit three huge baskets (two floaters and a turnaround jumper) in the final 3:57, including twice after Utah had cut Miami’s lead to four.
Jimmy Butler was again very good, with 20 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Goran Dragic (15 points) had two baskets during that fourth-quarter run, Kendrick Nunn chipped in 10 and Meyers Leonard had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Miami entered the fourth quarter shooting just 37.7 percent from the field (26 for 69) but made 8 of its first 11 -- including 3 for 5 on three pointers - to open the fourth quarter and closed at 41 percent from the field.
The Heat, which improved to 13-1 at home, overcame a season-high 27 points from Joe Ingles and did good work defensively on Donovan Mitchell, who was held to 13 on 5 for 18 shooting.
As a reward, the Heat won’t practice the next two days. “I didn’t want to be the Grinch and have some brutal Christmas Eve film session,” Spoelstra cracked.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s win:
▪ Adebayo struggled early offensively against one of the NBA’s best interior defenders but kept at it and ended up having another enormous impact.
Instead of being thrown off by a 2 for 10 start, Adebayo instead stuck with it and again filled the box score.
With a four-inch height disadvantage, Adebayo initially tried - largely unsuccessfully - to shoot over Gobert.
Adebayo opened 0 for 4 and shot 2 for 8 in the first half.
But Adebayo eventually found his way, scoring eight points early in the fourth and in a signature play of the game, hustled for a steal to set up a Herro drive downcourt and three-pointer with 7:35 left, to put the Heat up five.
And as is often the case, Adebayo’s energy and defensive zeal ignited the Heat.
“I couldn’t buy a basket,” Adebayo said. “That’s some length [from Gobert] - 7-1 and 7-9 wingspan. You’ve got to use different things [against that]. It was hard for me to figure it out in the first half, but in the second half I got it going. Mentally you have to be stable” through adversity.
Said Spoelstra: “Gobert is the best in the business. [But Adebayo] is going to continue to compete and find different ways to impact the game.”
▪ Herro continues to show poise that belies his youth.
Herro shook off an 0 for 3 start to erupt for eight in a three minute stretch of the second quarter, then did his best work in the fourth, hitting four big baskets on a variety of creative offensive moves and blunting two Jazz rallies that had cut Miami’s lead to four.
Herro scored nine points in the fourth quarter on 4 for 6 shooting.
What’s more, Herro was Miami’s primary ball-handler for parts of that fourth quarter. “It felt good my teammates trusted me with the ball in that position,” Herro said.
Spoelstra isn’t surprised by his 19-year-old rookie: “When the game is on the line - those plays he was making - what was important about those plays is Goran and Jimmy were on the court at the same time and we were running our offense through him and they were fully confident in him because he was attacking that coverage better than anybody else.”
And that poise? Butler called it “special.”
Herro said he has “always been poised” but the game “is really slowing down for me.”
Said Spoelstra: “He has that [poise]. He had that in college. These are qualities you can’t really define. You know it when you see it.”
Afterward, Mitchell said: “He kicked my [butt]. He capitalized on my poor defense. I’ll take the blame for that. It’s on me. He kicked my [butt] on three straight possessions. We’ll see him again” in Salt Lake City in the final Heat game before February’s All-Star break.
Herro entered as the NBA’s sixth-leading scorer among rookies. And he shot 3 for 5 on threes and is now shooting 38 percent on three-pointers.
▪ Butler was more aggressive with his shot, and Duncan Robinson picked a good spot for his only basket and only free throws.
A game after taking just three shots from the field against the Knicks, Butler attempted 15, making seven.
Along the way, Butler overcame an inadvertent head butt from Ingles, who leaned his head back and sent Butler flailing.
And as usual, his defense was an asset.
Robinson, in the midst of a scorching three-point shooting stretch, left six minutes into the game with his second foul and attempted only two shots in the first three quarters.
But he then hit a three early in the fourth to put the Heat ahead.
It was his only field goal of the game on three shots, but it couldn’t have come at a more important time.
And Robinson hit two free throws - his only attempts from the line - to push Miami’s lead to 105-100 with eight seconds left.
Robinson had drained 29 three-pointers over his previous six games.
▪ The Heat once again made ample use of a zone, with mixed results.
Miami has had some success with the zone this season, including in its win at Philadelphia last Wednesday.
And shortly after going to a zone on Monday, with Miami up 23-20, Butler made a steal and fed to Meyers Leonard for a dunk.
But the Jazz - especially Emmanuel Mudiay - eventually found holes in the middle of the zone to go up seven in the third quarter.
Mudiay passed to Jeff Green for a dunk on one of those sequences. Green was released after the game.
The Heat moved away from the zone in the fourth quarter and did its best defensive work in that period, holding Utah to 9 for 25 shooting and 3 for 13 on threes.
“It’s good to throw in zone because guys get to catch their breath,” Butler said. “It should be easier to rebound.”
▪ Improved free-throw shooting is making a difference.
The Heat made 24 of 27 from the line on Monday, including 6 for 6 in the fourth quarter. That’s critical in a close game.
Adebayo was 8 for 10, with Butler going 6 for 7.
Miami entered only 18th in the league on free throws at 76.6 percent. But that’s a huge improvement over last season, when the Heat was last in the league from the line, at 69.5 percent.
Monday aside, the Heat’s clutch free throw shooting still needs work. Miami entered 41 of 62 from the line in the final five minutes of games with a margin of five points or fewer, than 66.1 percent third-worst in the league.
But this roster clearly has better free-throw shooters than recent Heat teams.
Derrick Jones Jr. said “we hold each other accountable” with free throws, with players required to make 10 free throws in a row at each of the nine baskets on the Heat’s court after practices.
Here’s my piece with Monday night’s news on Dion Waiters.
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 10:06 PM.
