A Butler injury update and details and takeaways from Heat’s win in Washington
The last time the Heat visited the nation’s capital the day before New Year’s Eve, Miami allowed 28 points in 29 minutes to someone named Garrison Matthews and sustained its first genuinely deplorable loss of the season.
There have been far too many of those bad losses since - eight against teams with losing records since Jan. 9 - but Miami avoided such a fate Sunday, riding an enormous game from Bam Adebayo and rallying from an eight-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Washington, 100-89, at Capital One Arena.
Already playing without Tyler Herro and Meyers Leonard, the Heat lost Jimmy Butler for good late in the third quarter with a left toe injury. Butler was oddly passive - attempting just four shots and not producing a rebound or assist in 24 minutes - before departing with the injury.
Butler, who scored nine points, said he doesn’t believe the injury is serious or would keep him out longterm, but isn’t sure if he will play Wednesday against Charlotte. “Little bit of rest and we will see where we are at come tomorrow,” Butler said. “Couple days to get this thing right and get back to hooping. I aggravated it a little bit last game.”
He said he couldn’t have come back in the game in the fourth quarter because “I couldn’t move the way I wanted to move.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra said Butler’s “foot is just sore. He sprained his ankle the previous game and he started to overcompensate. You could just see he was not moving well. He was ready to keep on grinding through it and [trainer Jay Sabol] and I made the call to send him to the locker-room.”
Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson broke up a close game with huge three-pointers in the final 2:12, including two by Robinson and Adebayo assisting on all three of them. Nunn delivered the first of those three three-point daggers, putting the Heat up six.
The Heat, which improved to 14-19 on the road, had entered with 10 losses in its previous 13 road games.
The Heat got 23 points from Robinson - including seven threes - and a monster night from Adebayo (27 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists). Adebayo assumed point guard duties for much of the fourth quarter with Butler out and Goran Dragic in foul trouble.
“He willed us to victory,” Robinson said.
And Nunn, who missed most of the third quarter after picking up his fourth foul, scored 18, including the big late three.
The Wizards got 23 points from Bradley Beal (who shot just 8 for 24) and 27 from former Heat point guard Shabazz Napier.
Five takeaways:
▪ The Heat’s defense was very good in the second half.
Miami held Washington to 18 points in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth and 10 for 39 shooting in the second half. Beal was 1 for 14 in the second half, including 1 for 9 on threes.
“We had foul trouble everywhere we looked and we had to do things on the defensive end and that’s what we’ve been talking about for a long time on the road, especially if the flow or rhythm is not going as you want it to,” Spoelstra said.
Washington shot 8 for 25 on threes in the second half.
“They do a great job putting their hands on you throughout the game and they make you work,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “You have to exert a lot of energy to get open and good looks. They’re athletic, they’re long, they can switch and they got aggressive athletes on the perimeter.”
“This was a big step in the right direction for us.” Butler said. “I’m proud of the group.”
▪ Bam Adebayo was spectacular, filling the box score and schooling a center who was starting against him for the first time.
With Butler sidelined and Dragic playing only one minute of the fourth quarter because he had five fouls, Adebayo took over point guard duties and had 11 points, 7 rebounds and five assists in the final 10 minutes.
“Jimmy and Goran were both out at that time, and we put the ball in Bam’s hands and ran our offense through him and he was tremendous down the stretch,” Spoelstra said. “It shows you how much his game is growing. Since Goran and Jimmy were out, he was our point guard. He was helping his head coach get everybody organized.
“We tried to simplify and throw it to him at the elbow and play offense through him. He was very poised. It gave us a similar type of confidence when we have the ball in Jimmy’s or Goran’s hands, just in a different way. He made every right play going down the stretch.”
Adebayo said he looked for his offense in the fourth quarter more than he typically would. He shot 9 for 13 from the field and 9 for 12 from the line.
“Spo kept going to me, just making plays down the stretch and trying to be a leader on this team,” he said.
Adebayo wore a Beal jersey after the game because of his respect for the Washington guard, who is signed with the Wizards through 2021-22, with a player option for the following season. They spoke after the game, but Adebayo said it was not about playing together.
Beal said of Adebayo: “He’s an All-Star; that’s self-explanatory. He’s a specimen with the way that he’s built. Coach Spoelstra has ultimate confidence in him. His teammates do too. He plays like a guard almost in a big’s body. He’s very versatile. He’s a huge piece of their team. I respect him every way for sure.”
Thomas Bryant has made 73 NBA starts, but this was his first against Adebayo.
“He better be ready,” Brooks said of Bryant before the game. “The guy [Adebayo] is going to attack and make plays. He’s a great passer. That’s what makes him a special player.”
As Brooks predicted, Adebayo was aggressive from the outset, driving for baskets and dunking off two alley-oops in a 14-point, 4-rebound first half.
Bryant, who entered averaging 12.3 points and 6.9 rebounds, went scoreless in the first half and later fouled out with two points and three rebounds in 16 minutes.
▪ Robinson’s magical season continued with another record.
Robinson hit a three in the first minute, equaling Rafer Alston’s franchise record for consecutive games with at least one three-pointer (49).
In the first six minutes, Robinson hit two threes, a nifty driving layup and a beautiful pass to Adebayo for a dunk. Nothing, apparently, is out of Robinson’s range. His third three-point conversion came from 33 feet.
He shot 7 for 11 on threes and is shooting an absurd 45 percent on three-pointers this season. He even added two blocked shots and seven rebounds Sunday.
But he fell short of matching Steph Curry’s and Damian Lillard’s NBA record of hitting at least eight three-pointers in three consecutive games.
▪ Erik Spoelstra again went to Solomon Hill in the absence of Jae Crowder and the bench generally was less productive than it had been in recent weeks.
Crowder wanted to play but was held out due to the NBA’s concussion protocol system, even though he had no symptoms. He said he expects to be able to play on Wednesday.
In his absence, Spoelstra gave 30 minutes to Hill, who played just 23 minutes in his first month with the Heat. Hill had five points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks. The Heat’s second unit, which had played very well recently, shot just 5 for 17 collectively, with Dragic shooting 3 for 10.
▪ The Heat drew closer to third in the East.
The Heat’s win - combined with Boston’s overtime loss to Oklahoma City - left Miami 1.5 games back of the third-seeded Celtics.
Meanwhile, No. 5 Indiana won at Dallas and remained two games back of Miami, which is 41-23. The 76ers are three games back of the Heat.
Also, the Heat guaranteed that for the 10th time in 12 seasons under Spoelstra, Miami will not have a losing record. That’s tied for the third most .500-or-better seasons in the NBA over that span, behind Houston and San Antonio (11 each).
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 9:34 PM.
