Butler, Crowder lead way in Heat win at Warriors. Five takeaways
Nothing, apparently, is going to come stress-free for the Heat on this road trip, not even against a woeful Warriors team missing its two perennial All Stars. That’s life in the NBA, and at least Miami survived on Monday.
Ahead by 23 in the second quarter and by 19 at the half, the Heat watched Golden State pull to within four multiple times late in the third quarter, before order was restored and Miami emerged with a 113-101 win at 5-month-old Chase Center.
The night began with sentimentality, with the Warriors honoring new Heat swingman Andre Iguodala.
Then the evening morphed into a shellacking, as the Heat stormed to a big lead thanks in large part to Jae Crowder, who had 16 in the first half and 21 for the game.
But the big lead evaporated, with Andrew Wiggins and Damion Lee fueling a Warriors comeback that drew Golden State to within 79-75 after three.
But the Heat’s revamped bench - in combination with Duncan Robinson - pushed the lead back to 18 in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.
In the process, Miami snapped a three-game losing streak - its longest of the season - and improved to 1-3 on a road trip that ends with Wednesday’s pre-All Star break meeting with the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
Jimmy Butler returned to the lineup after missing two games with a shoulder injury and made an expected and immediate difference, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
Throw in Crowder’s good work, 17 points from Duncan Robinson, 15 from Goran Dragic and a career-high 11 assists from Kelly Olynyk, and that was plenty to overcome a lottery-bound Warriors team that remains without injured Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Bam Adebayo had 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
How quickly life can change in the NBA. The Warriors - a team that made the past five NBA Finals - are now assured of a losing record this season, which is pretty remarkable considering we haven’t even hit the All-Star break.
And the Heat (35-18) will go to the All-Star break with just three or four fewer wins than it had all of last season, depending on the result of Wednesday’s game at Utah.
The Heat - which had allowed an absurd number of three-pointers in the first three games of this road trip (24, 19 and 19) - limited the Warriors to 11 for 34 shooting from beyond the arc.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s win at Chase Center:
▪ Spoiler alert: This is a far better team with Butler in the lineup.
Butler immediately put his imprint on this game with eight points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal in the first eight minutes.
He helped stymie Golden State’s rally late in the third, going to the fourth quarter with 19 points, then re-entered with six minutes left in the game and the Heat comfortably ahead.
He shot an efficient 9 for 15, bypassing any three-point attempts.
“He’s been working at this the last two days,” Spoelstra said of Butler’s return from the shoulder injury sustained in last Wednesday’s Clippers game. “Was he 100 percent? No. But you know how much that meant to everyone in the locker room, that he was going to go out there to prove to everybody how important these last two games were.
“He’s been going around the clock treatment. We look like a totally different team when our max player is out there. He makes it looks smoother, a little more settled, ball gets to the right places, he finds a way to get to the free throw line. All these things that are necessary when you want to win on the road.”
▪The Heat - for the first time this season - went without a second natural power rotation player in the starting lineup.
Though 6-6 Derrick Jones Jr. has experience playing power forward, this was the most undersized starting lineup the Heat has used this season.
Bam Adebayo and Meyers Leonard started the first 49 games together, and Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk had started the past three, all losses.
So Spoelstra went small, starting a quintet (Butler, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, Jones and Adebayo) that had very good results as a unit in fairly limited minutes over the first four months of the season.
That Heat starting group entered having played 63 minutes together this season and outscored teams by 32 (171 to 139) in those minutes, while shooting 57 percent from the field and 43.9 percent from three-point range.
That group opened against a Warriors frontcourt featuring 6-6 Draymond Green, 6-8 Andrew Wiggins and 6-9 Marquese Chriss. And those five sprinted to a 16-8 lead before Erik Spoelstra made his first substitution (Goran Dragic for Robinson).
But then that Heat starting group was outscored 14-7 to begin the third quarter, their last action on the floor together.
Jones played decently, with eight points (including a particularly electrifying dunk, off a nifty pass from Kendrick Nunn) and a block, but just one rebound and no assist.
“Derrick had been starting and been giving us good minutes,” Spoelstra said. “With the speed and quickness we’ve been facing with a lot of teams, it felt like we could defend with a little more efficiency. Meyers [Leonard] is out; that starting lineup is one of the best starting lineups in the league. But we’re not going to be able to get to that for the foreseeable future [with Leonard out with an ankle injury]. I will probably go the same way the next game.”
▪ Iguodala had a quiet second game with the Heat after being showered with love from appreciative Warriors fans.
The Warriors honored Iguodala - a key member of their past five Finals teams - with a stirring pre-game video featuring some of his highlights with the team, eliciting a loud and long standing ovation.
Injured Warriors guard Klay Thompson took the mike and said: “We’re indebted to this man,” calling him “one of the greatest players in the history of this organization. Will be great to see your jersey in the rafters someday.”
Iguodala then took the mike and thanked the Bay Area fans.
“I told him I hoped he isn’t too old that he didn’t have goose bumps and a pit in his stomach” during that presentation, Spoelstra said. “I did.”
Once the game started, Iguodala received another loud ovation when he entered. He played eight first-half minutes, without a shot attempt, point, rebound or assist.
After going 12 minutes without taking a shot in his first game Sunday, Iguodala went 13 minutes on Monday before dunking on his first shot attempt. He finished with two points, five rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes.
“It was strange to see him in another uniform, but I was really happy to see him out on the court,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game. “I think he landed in a great spot. I’m happy for him. I’m happy, for selfish reasons, that the timing worked out and we get to see him tonight and honor him.”
Iguodala said before the game that “I wasn’t trying to outsmart anybody” in the mutual decision to stay away from the Memphis Grizzlies and that “being patient helped me more than anything” in landing with the Heat.
▪ Crowder’s first two games have been pretty remarkable.
After closing with 18 points and 11 rebounds in his Heat debut, Crowder somehow topped that on Monday, producing 16 points and 4 rebounds in 10 first half minutes, then helping push the Heat lead back to a comfortable margin in the fourth quarter.
And here’s what’s amazing: Crowder - who went five for five on three-pointers - has gone from shooting 29 percent on threes in Memphis (78 for 266) to hitting 10 of his first 13 with the Heat. He also had eight rebounds and three on Monday.
As perspective, Crowder reached 17 points in only 7 of his 45 games (all starts) for the Grizzlies this season, including a season-high 27 in a 26-point win at the Clippers.
And once again, the Heat played very well with Crowder on the court. Miami outscored the Warriors by 15 when he was in the game, and he’s now a plus 24 in two games with the Heat.
“You can see why the Miami Heat likes those kind of [Marquette] guys,” Spoelstra said. “They’re competitors, edgy and Jay fits right in. When he played in Boston, we thought he was one of our kind of guys. He defends with a physicality and attention to detail. When he’s spacing the floor, we want him taking those [threes] with confidence.”
Crowder said it was fun to play with Butler for the first time since they were teammates one year at Marquette (2010-11).
“Surreal moment to share the court with him again,” Crowder said. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s an honor to share the court with him today.”
With Spoelstra opting for Jones over Olynyk in his starting lineup, the Heat used a bench of Dragic, Crowder, Iguodala and Olynyk, who had 12 points to go with his 11 assists. Miami remained without Leonard and injured guard Tyler Herro.
Spoelstra’s new rotation Monday meant no Chris Silva until garbage time. Silva had played meaningful minutes Sunday in Portland.
Kendrick Nunn remained mired in a shooting slump, opening 0 for 7 and finishing 2 for 13 from the field. He entered Monday shooting 15 for 54 on this road trip.
▪ Regardless of the outcome of Wednesday’s game at Utah, the Heat will go into the break fourth in the East.
Miami now stands 2.5 games behind No. 3 Boston and 2.5 games ahead of No. 5 Philadelphia.
Two developments in the past couple of weeks: Toronto’s ongoing 15-game winning streak has elevated the Raptors to second, two ahead of Boston and 4.5 ahead of the Heat.
Meanwhile, even after getting Victor Olapido back from injury, the Pacers have lost six straight, and Miami now leads No. 6 Indiana by 4.5 games.
So if the season ended today - and I’m not sure why it would - it would be a Heat-76ers first-round series, even more delicious amid Monday’s Instagram exchanges between buddies Butler and Joel Embiid. Homecourt advantage would be vital in that series comes to fruition, with those teams a combined 46-5 at home and 22-34 on the road.
Please click here for my Monday Heat six-pack, including one announced carrot the Heat got in the Memphis trade.
Please click here for my Iguodala/Crowder story from Monday, including some telling quotes
Please click here for my Monday Canes six-pack, including interesting stuff from Manny Dia
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 12:53 AM.
