Miami beats Atlanta in Butler’s Heat debut
MIAMI — Jimmy Butler made his first four shots and scored 21 in his Miami debut, rookie Tyler Herro scored 29 and the Heat defeated Atlanta 112-97 on Tuesday night in a game where Hawks star Trae Young left early in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle.
The 19-year-old Herro had a 19-point second quarter for Miami, while fellow reserve Goran Dragic scored 21. Bam Adebayo had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Miami and Kendrick Nunn finished with 17.
Young left with 9:56 remaining in the first half, turning his ankle when he landed on the foot of Miami’s Justise Winslow. The reigning Eastern Conference player of the week — who had 102 points in Atlanta’s first three games — finished with five points in 11 minutes.
John Collins scored 30 for Atlanta, including a career-best five 3-pointers, and Jabari Parker finished with 12 for the Hawks.
Butler missed the first three games of the season while celebrating the birth of his daughter Rylee. He was 5 for 11 from the floor, and went 10 for 15 from the line. As a team, Miami was 33 for 45 from the line — compared with 16 for 24 by Atlanta at the stripe.
Herro set a Heat record for points off the bench by a rookie, topping the mark of 28 set by Michael Beasley on March 4, 2009. And Herro and Dragic became the ninth Heat duo all-time to have 20-point games off the Miami bench on the same night.
MAVERICKS 106, NUGGETS 106
In Denver, Maxi Kleber had 14 points, seven rebounds and a key block late to help the Mavericks beat the Nuggets.
Nine Mavericks players scored in double figures on a night their two top scorers were held in check. Luca Doncic scored 12 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Nikola Jokic had his second triple-double of the season, with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and Paul Millsap had 23 points and eight rebounds. Will Barton scored 19 but it wasn’t enough to prevent Denver from losing its first game of the season.
The Mavericks rallied from 11 down in the third quarter on the strength of their support players. They did most of their damage after Denver took a nine-point lead late in the third quarter. Tim Hardaway Jr., who finished with 14 points, hit three 3-pointers and Dorian FinneySmith two during a 30-10 run that gave Dallas a 103-94 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets chipped away at the lead and got within 107-106 on Gary Harris’ 3-pointer and appeared to take the lead with 1:05 left when Maxi Kleber was called for goaltending on Murray’s layup.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle challenged the call and it was overturned after review, keeping Dallas ahead 107-106.
Doncic hit a driving layup and Jokic lost the ball out of bounds with 29.2 seconds left. After Doncic missed two free throws Jamal Murray, who had 16 points, missed everything on his 3-point attempt with 3.8 seconds left.