South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Heat regain Butler, lose 3-point touch
The Miami Heat’s lesson from this past week? No team is as dangerous as a humiliated opponent.
Last Sunday, the Milwaukee Bucks were blown out by 20 by the New York Knicks and then routed the Heat by 47 two nights later at American Airlines Arena in their following game.
After enduring that blowout, the Heat rebounded a night later to push past the visiting Bucks by 11 on Wednesday night.
All of which delivered the Heat on Friday night to Dallas against a Mavericks team that lost its previous game by 19 to the Charlotte Hornets.
So perhaps the Heat’s 93-83 loss Friday night to the Mavs at American Airlines Center wasn’t nearly as surprising as their 0-for-14 start from the 3-point line.
Even with Jimmy Butler back after missing the previous two games with a sprained right ankle, the Heat fell behind by 24 before a too-little, too-late run got it closer.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said it was a fail on both ends.
“For the most part of the game they were pretty comfortable,” he said of the Mavericks’ offense. “And then offensively, we didn’t do things with enough detail or energy to get the kind of shots we wanted.”
Luka Doncic, who had been struggling, led the Mavericks with 27 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists, supported by 18 points from Tim Hardaway Jr.
For the Heat, there were 19 points and 11 rebounds from Bam Adebayo, 15 points from Avery Bradley and 11 from Tyler Herro. The Heat closed 7 of 33 on 3-pointers. “I feel like we were just running around and seeing who was going to make the first shot,”’ Adebayo said. “But they got hot and we didn’t.”
Five Degrees of Heat from Friday’s game: 1. Half empty: The Heat trailed 46-32 at halftime, 0 for 14 from the 3-point line over the opening two periods. It was the first time the Heat went without a 3-pointer in a half in two seasons.
The Heat went 0 for 7 on threes in each of the first two periods, with Duncan Robinson closing the first half 0 for 5 on 3-pointers.
“It’s always a challenge when the shots don’t go in,” Robinson said. “But we’ve won games without shots going in.”
Overall, the Heat closed the first half 9 of 36 from the field. Herro went 4 of 7 over the opening two periods and Adebayo 3 of 5, with the rest of the Heat 2 of 24.
The Heat’s first 3-pointer came on a Robinson conversion with 9:07 left in the third period, the Heat’s first attempt of the second half. It was the lone conversion for Robinson, who finished 1 of 8.
“Our game isn’t built on whether we make threes or not, only,” Spoelstra said. “We have much more complexity than that.”
2. Butler struggles: Out of action since halftime of last Friday’s Christmas Day victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, Butler missed all six of his shots, still attempting to find his legs.
He closed with two points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and three turnovers in 26:49, sitting out the fourth quarter, with the Heat down 73-53 after the third quarter.
Butler not only had played just 52 minutes this season prior to Friday night, but previously sat out both of the Heat’s exhibitions. He then hurt his ankle in the first half of the Dec. 23 season-opening loss in Orlando.
“We have enough familiarity,” Spoelstra said. “We know what our system is. We know what we have to do to be successful. We just didn’t do enough of it.”
3. Deck shuffled: For the fifth time in as many games this season, the Heat opened with a different lineup.
This time, with Butler back, he was flanked at the outset by Adebayo, Herro, Robinson and Andre Iguodala, who made his second start as a member of the Heat.
That alignment lasted just over three minutes, when Iguodala was called for his second foul while defending Doncic. He was replaced by Avery Bradley, who also was forced out quickly after being called for two fouls against Doncic.
4. Doncic resurfaces: Doncic entered 2 of 21 on 3-pointers for the season but then went 2 of 5 from beyond the arc in the first half, standing with 13 points at the intermission.
“Luka’s going to get there. He’s busting his tail. He’s working hard,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said after Friday’s game. “Everything for him right now is trending in a positive direction conditioning-wise.”
Going in, Spoelstra downplayed Doncic’s struggles.
“It’s still early, so the shooting is aberrational. Everybody knows that,” Spoelstra said.
5. Sleepy New Year’s: With the loss, the Heat dropped 6-2 all-time on New Year’s Day.
As for New Year’s Eve in Dallas for the Heat? A bit sleepy.
“Pretty uneventful,” Spoelstra said. “An hour difference between here and Miami. I talked to my wife about 10:30 Eastern time, 9:30 here. And I would say by 10:05 time here, I was already asleep. So it was pretty uneventful.”
With pandemic protocols the options would have been limited, anyway.
“We may be able to figure that,” Spoelstra said. “But that’s not totally off-limits. But we just want to be absolutely responsible right now, as much as possible, and just get more comfortable with the routine and the protocols and traveling. And once we get comfortable with that, we possibly may be able to add more.”