Details and takeaways from Heat’s loss to Minnesota. And Morris addresses Jokic, injury
Takeaways from the Heat’s 113-104 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night at FTX Arena:
▪ In a wild game, the Heat was at its best at times and at its absolute worst at times. It was a risky way of doing business against a talented team that has been playing some of its best basketball in years.
After scoring 42 points in the second quarter, the Heat scored just 37 in the second half and couldn’t overcome 6 for 20 shooting in the fourth quarter and three key missed free throws in the fourth (two by Bam Adebayo, one by Kyle Lowry).
In the process, the Heat blew a 17-point lead and fell to 3-2 on this seven-game homestand.
Miami – playing without Jimmy Butler, Victor Oladipo and Caleb Martin - fell behind 9-0 early, opened 0 for 9 on threes and shot three air balls in the first 10 minutes. At one point, Minnesota led 22-10.
A dynamic 42-point second quarter by the Heat not only erased that deficit, but helped Miami go up 17.
But just when it looked like the Heat would glide home with an easy win, everything changed again in the third.
Minnesota, down 67-55 at the half, outscored Miami 34-19 in the third, taking its first lead of the second half with a Taurean Prince three just before the third-quarter buzzer.
The score remained tight until the final two minutes, when Minnesota pushed a narrow lead to nine while Miami missed several open looks.
“Their speed and quickness and ability to play in the passing lanes made them very disruptive,” Erik Spoelstra said. “They have closing speed and quickness to be able to be in two places at once. I thought we had some really good looks. We had open ones that went in and out in that final five minutes.”
The Heat ultimately was undone by backups Naz Reid (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Jaylen Nowell (16 points), among others.
Miami shot just 39.8 percent and 33.3 percent on threes on a night that Duncan Robinson shot 1 for 6, Gabe Vincent 1 for 8 and Kyle Lowry 4 for 12.
“They played great defense,” Lowry said. “We missed a lot of shots.”
▪ Tyler Herro’s strong play continued, and Max Strus was a big help. But each had baskets bounce in and out in the closing minutes.
Herro, the Sixth Man of the Year front-runner, scored 18 of his 30 points in the second quarter, fueling a 27-5 run.
Then, with the score tied at 97, Herro hit a three, giving him 30 on the night. But he cooled late, shooting 2 for 6 in the fourth.
He shot 8 for 19 from the field and 6 for 10 on threes, producing his seventh 30-point game of the season while adding seven rebounds.
The Heat got another big boost from Strus, who had 12 points and four threes during that second quarter, when the Heat shot 8 for 10 on threes.
Even more significantly, he hit a big corner three to draw Miami to within 104-103 with two minutes left. But Miami never went back ahead.
Strus, who briefly left the rotation when Oladipo returned last week, has responded when needed the past two games.
A night after scoring 17 points in 19 minutes against Cleveland, he finished with 19 points in 31 minutes.
“We have great situational players,” Spoelstra said. “Not good, but great. Max is one of those guys where he keeps himself ready.”
▪ Adebayo put up numbers for the second night in a row, and the Heat kept Karl-Anthony Towns mostly in check after a great start. But it wasn’t enough.
A night after producing 30 points and 17 rebounds against talented Cleveland rookie Evan Mobley and others, Adebayo went head to head with Towns and seized on his early foul trouble, closing the night with 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals, but also four turnovers.
Towns, who entered averaging 24.4 points, had 15 points and 10 rebounds, taking only nine shots from the field.
Towns scored 13 early points - with PJ Tucker defending some of them - but left with his third foul midway through the first quarter, with the Wolves ahead 22-10.
From that point, Adebayo scored five points in an 11-point first quarter, then smartly attacked Towns when he returned to the game with three fouls midway through the second quarter.
After hitting three baskets early in the first, Towns didn’t hit another until 3:50 remained, when he hit a short jumper to put the Wolves ahead 102-100.
But Adebayo didn’t take a shot from the field in the final quarter and missed his two free throw attempts in the fourth.
▪ Markieff Morris is back, and he played key fourth quarter minutes after missing 58 games in a row.
The veteran forward, who hadn’t been cleared by the Heat because of medical concerns, was in uniform on Saturday for the first time since sustaining a neck injury on Nov. 8 when Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic shoved him to the court.
“It felt great,” Morris said. “It’s been a long process. Grateful to play the game I love again. I had a lot of fun tonight. I’m upset we couldn’t get the win. I’m [angry] because I feel like we would lose when I get the [expletive] back.”
He entered with five minutes left in the first quarter, scored his first points late in the first on a difficult reverse hook, then hit two baskets in the first 4:30 of the fourth.
But he also missed an open three with the game tied at 100 and just under five minutes left.
He closed with six points, four rebounds and four turnovers in 17 minutes, shooting 3 for 7 from the field and 0 for 2 on threes.
“That was really uplifting,” Spoelstra said of Morris’ return. “Having to be a waiting game [for four months], that was extremely frustrating. He’s been great behind the scenes. That allowed him to play the minutes he played and it looked like he was in really good rhythm.
“He’s going to get that pretty quickly. I’m really happy for him on the human side that he could finally be cleared. He was cleared less than two hours before the game.”
That whiplash injury against Denver, combined with a previous neck injury, made the Heat uncomfortable about playing him in a game.
In January 2019, while playing for the Washington Wizards, Morris was ruled out for six weeks following a bout of neck and upper back stiffness that led to him being diagnosed with transient cervical neurapraxia.
The Heat never cleared him to play but instead asked the NBA to address the issue through a mechanism in place to resolve disagreements about whether a player can safely return to the court.
That mechanism is a Fitness to Play panel, a group of three doctors, including one selected by the NBA, another selected by the players association and another independent doctor.
The panel ruled that he could play, meaning the Heat will not have liability concerns if Morris has another neck injury.
“I’ve been practicing for a while, watching the games all the time,” he said. “I know how most of these guys [play]. I didn’t feel like I missed a beat.”
Spoelstra said Morris has been doing contact work “for a little bit of time.”
Was Morris angry toward Jokic over the past four months?
“For the first two weeks, I probably didn’t sleep based on that happening to me and not being able to control the situation,” Morris said. “One of the first times in my life I couldn’t control something.
“I moved past it. It took me a while. My grandfather called me a bunch of times and told me to move on. That’s what I did.”
Did Jokic call him since the incident?
“[Expletive] no, I don’t want to hear from him,” Morris said. “He did what he did.”
The Morris brothers and Jokic have exchanged trash-talking on social media in the aftermath of the incident.
Morris said he felt no physical pain after the whiplash injury but it took “three to four weeks” to feel back to normal.
▪ Lowry, a reluctant shooter in recent games, was more aggressive offensively but struggled with his shot.
Without Butler, Lowry wisely looked for his own shot more than recent games. Lowry entered with just eight points on 2 for 10 shooting in the past three games.
He scored 10 points in the first half on 3 for 7 shooting but finished 4 for 12 from the field, including 2 for 8 on threes, on a 14-point night.
Lowry explained last month that he believed it was better for him to set up teammates than look for his own offense.
He entered averaging 12.7 points, down from 17.2 last season, and 9.9 field goal attempts per game, down from 13 last season.
He added seven assists, giving him 32 over the past four games.
Was Lowry shooting more a byproduct of Butler being out or something that Lowry felt he needed to do more in general?
“I’m making sure I’m ready to go when it’s time to go,” Lowry said. “The game will dictate what I need to do. I was coming off an absence so I was trying to work myself back to where I need to be.”
He conceded he probably would need to shoot more in the postseason.
This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 10:31 PM.
