Takeaways, details from the short-handed Heat’s victory over the Houston Rockets
Takeaways from the Heat’s 113-91 win against the Houston Rockets on Monday night at AmericanAirlines Arena:
▪ Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson continued their sharp-shooting and helped lift the Heat on a night Miami was short-handed.
Nunn was brilliant, scored a season-high 30 points to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds. He tied his career high with six threes, finishing 6 of 12 from beyond the arc and 12 for 20 overall.
Robinson continued a excellent month-long stretch, scoring 19 points on 7 for 14 shooting.
For a team that entered 20th in field goal percentage and 25th in three-point percentage, Robinson’s and Nunn’s simmering shooting has been a huge help in recent weeks.
Nunn entered having made 25 of his 51 shots in five starts since returning to the starting lineup. Monday was undoubtedly his best game of the season and marked just the second 30-point game during the regular season in his two-year career. He scored 36 in a game against Atlanta last season.
To put Nunn’s recent accuracy in perspective, consider that he entered fourth among all NBA guards in shooting percentage since the March 25 trade deadline (minimum 70 attempts).
Since that date, his 54.6 shooting percentage - entering Monday - trailed only T.J. McConnell, Jrue Holiday and Steph Curry among qualifying guards.
He also entered the Rockets game shooting 41.7 percent on threes since the trade deadline (15 for 36). That number went up Monday.
“He was in a great rhythm and flow,” Erik Spoelstra said. “I thought he was in the second half reading the defense and taking his open shots with assertiveness. He has proven at different points in the season he can put a lot of points on the board in a hurry and we needed that.”
Robinson entered having shot a ridiculous 49.5 percent (54 for 109) on three-pointers since the March trade deadline passed, the best accuracy rate for any NBA player who has made at least 30 threes over that period. He’s now 59 for 120 on threes during that stretch.
On Monday, he hit 5 of 11 threes on his 19-point night, thus becoming the first Heat player to hit 200 three-pointers in two different seasons. Wayne Ellington, Damon Jones and Tim Hardaway have each done that once for the Heat.
“It’s humbling to be in any record book,” Robinson said. “I know I’m capable. They let me be me. They let me be aggressive.”
Robinson also passed Dwyane Wade for sixth place on the Heat’s all-time list of made three-pointers.
Robinson - who added five rebounds and four assists - and Nunn helped fuel a 35-17 third-quarter run that broke open a close game. Houston had led 55-54 at the half.
Spoelstra said Robinson is “always a threat and is always going to be defended that way.”
The Heat tied a season high with 19 made threes, closing at 39.6 percent from behind the three-point line.
▪ The Heat played without three former All-Star starters and its top bench scorer.
This was only the fourth time that the Heat played without both Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, who are both dealing with lingering injuries. Miami is now 1-3 in those games, dating to Butler joining the Heat before the 2019-20 season.
Butler missed his second game in a row with a sprained ankle sustained during a game in Phoenix last week. He played through the injury against Denver and Minnesota last week before it worsened.
Adebayo, dealing with right knee soreness, missed his fifth game in the past month because of a knee problem, but his first absence since March 14. This was the first time Adebayo missed a game this season because of right knee discomfort; left knee tendinitis caused him to miss four earlier games. Spoelstra said this was a lingering issue, not a new injury.
Victor Oladipo sat out his sixth consecutive game with right knee soreness, but the team expects him back at some point before the May 16 regular season finale. Oladipo, who does not have a serious injury, will play a large part in the decision about when he plays again.
And Herro sat out with foot soreness, a lingering issue. That means he has now missed 12 games in his second season. Herro entered the game having missed 23 of his past 30 shots over three games.
Spoelstra said Butler, Adebayo and Herro are “day to day.” He declined to offer a timetable for Oladipo.
Without those four, Spoelstra opened with a frontcourt of Trevor Ariza, Andre Iguodala and Precious Achiuwa and a backcourt of Nunn and Robinson.
Goran Dragic, KZ Okpala, Dewayne Dedmon and Max Strus played off the bench, but Spoelstra bypassed Gabe Vincent and Nemanja Bjelica during the first three quarters. Nor did he use Udonis Haslem, who hasn’t appeared in a game this season.
The Rockets played without several rotation players, including Eric Gordon and Daniel House.
▪ The Heat’s elder statesmen, playing both ends of a back-to-back, didn’t look their age.
At 37, Andre Iguodala had his best offensive game of the year, hitting three three-pointers and finishing with a season-high 16 points.
The 37-year-old Iguodala, who once averaged at least 18 points per game in three consecutive years, had reached double figures only five times this season before Monday, with a previous season high of 13 points.
Iguodala shot 6 for 11 and also contributed seven assists and six rebounds. The Heat outscored Houston by 38 points when he was on the court. That’s the fourth highest plus/minus of his career, per the Associated Press.
“Andre was terrific tonight,” Spoelstra said.
Ariza, 35, scored just six (2 for 5 shooting) but had five assists and five rebounds and was typically active defensive.
“Trevor is so steady and fits in so well,” Spoelstra said.
And Dragic, 34, was at his best, scoring 19 points in 28 minutes on 7 for 10 shooting, with six rebounds and five assists.
“Goran really looked alive,” Spoelstra said.
Though Dragic and Iguodala previously sat out the second half of a back-to-back set, Spoelstra said there was no need for them to sit out Monday.
“They passed their protocols and they wanted to play today,” Spoelstra said of Dragic and Iguodala. “Each set of back to backs is treated as its own. We’re not pre-determining before hand.”
▪ Dwayne Dedmon again gave a big boost to the Heat’s power rotation. And Achiuwa fared well in his third NBA start.
In his first two games with the Heat, Dedmon looked like the player who commanded a three-year, $41 million contract from the Sacramento Kings two years ago.
After producing 10 points and 10 rebounds in his first significant Heat action on Sunday, Dedmon produced 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes off the bench on Monday.
His size and rim-deterrence have given the Heat an element Miami was badly lacking.
Spoelstra spoke after the game about Dedmon always being “an extra effort guy.”
Achiuwa, in his third start of the season, chipped in eight points - scoring on three alley-oop dunks - and more importantly, 11 rebounds.
But Achiuwa continues to bite on too many pump fakes, which often has left him in foul trouble.
The Heat -- which was out-rebounded 136-99 in games in Phoenix, Denver and Minnesota last week -- outrebounded the Rockets 52-41.
▪ Former Heat players Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley had nondescript nights against their former team.
Olynyk, starting for the Rockets, missed his first three shots and closed 3 for 8, with 10 points and eight rebounds. He entered averaging 18.5 points and 7.8 rebounds in 13 games for Houston, significantly above his Heat averages this season. Olynyk was a well-liked presence in the Heat locker-room and embraced several former teammates on Monday.
Bradley missed his only three shots in 22 scoreless minutes. After signing for a portion of the Heat’s mid-level exception in November, Bradley appeared in only 10 games for the Heat, missing substantial time with injury. He already has played in 13 games for the Rockets.
The Heat dealt Olynyk and Bradley to Houston for Oladipo, a trade that also included a complicated pick swap that we explained here.
The Heat won its second in a row to move to 30-28. Miami remained seventh in the East, one game behind both No. 5 Boston and No. 6 New York and one game ahead of No. 8 Charlotte.
“It shows you how quickly things can change in a matter of 48 hours,” Spoelstra said of the Heat beating Brooklyn and Houston in 30 hours, after losing three in a row.
This story was originally published April 19, 2021 at 10:09 PM.
