Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
No game is for the faint of heart
MIAMI — You want easy? Then you don’t want Miami Heat basketball. Especially not this past week.
Even in victory, there has been little that has been heartening.
Instead, mostly harrowing.
Having previously blown large late leads earlier in the week in losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves, and nearly doing so Friday night before recovering against the Dallas Mavericks, Erik Spoelstra’s team was at it again Saturday night at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Brooklyn Nets.
This time the lead was 14 with 8:31 to play … and then it was down to one with 11.4 seconds remaining.
Ultimately, even with Jimmy Butler missing a key late free throw that could have made it a three-point game, the Heat held on for a 116-113 victory thanks to a late Nets turnover.
“I’m encouraged by the two games,” Spoelstra said. “They’re not perfect games, but competition isn’t.”
It reached the point where Butler and Bam Adebayo seemingly said enough was enough.
So in a game when neither moved the needle for much of the night, the Heat’s leading men decided it was time to lead. That helped salvage the night.
“We got it done,” Spoelstra said, “and we’re gaining experience.”
Kendrick Nunn led the Heat with 21 points, with Goran Dragic adding 19 and 10 assists, including a key late jumper. The Heat got 16 points 8 assists and 6 rebounds from Buter, and 16 points and 12 rebounds from Adebayo.
“We just keep on working on it,” Spoelstra
said of the Heat’s finishing school.
Spencer Dinwiddie led the Nets with 25 points.
“I think the more you go through these experiences together … you’ll get better doing this, if your heart is in the right place,” Spoelstra said.
Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday’s game:
With a 3-pointer with 10:20 left in the third period, his second of the night, Nunn moved past Mario Chalmers for the most 3-pointers in a season by a Heat rookie.
Chalmers’ record of 114 had stood since 2008-09.
Nunn and Chalmers are the only Heat rookies to have converted more than 100, although sidelined rookie Tyler Herro currently stands at 99.
Nunn closed 3 of 7 from beyond the arc. “His scoring has meant a lot to us,” Spoelstra said. “He’s fearless. He can get his own.”
2. The Jones conundrum: Spoelstra stayed with Derrick Jones Jr. as the Heat’s opening power forward, which also allowed for Kelly Olynyk to provide a spark off the bench.
The Nets spent the night laying off Jones on the perimeter, which included an 0 for 3 first half from beyond the arc.
While Jones eventually came around with his shot in a 10-point third quarter, he simply is not a floor spacer, which often resulted in the Nets’ packing the paint, especially against Butler.
“He’s really improving rapidly with his wide-open three,” Spoelstra said, with Jones closing 2 of 6 from beyond the arc.
3. Speaking of: A night after playing with an aggressive bent against the Mavericks,
Butler was mostly deferential with his play Saturday night.
To his credit, he still managed to fill the box score, rarely forcing the action when shots weren’t there.
“I just felt like, get in the paint and make a play for somebody else,” Butler said.
It nonetheless added up to 5 of 14 night from the field.
4. Another buzzer beater: For the second consecutive night, Dragic closed out firsthalf scoring with a 3-pointer.
On Friday night, it was a 27-foot pull-up shot with 2.2 seconds left in the second quarter, off an inbounds pass with 6.9 seconds left in the period, for a 63-55 halftime lead on the Mavericks.
This time, after a Nets basket with 5 seconds left in the second period, Dragic threw in a running, off-balance shot that beat the buzzer and was confirmed on replay for a 57-49 halftime lead.
It turned out, those points were significant each night.
“Finally, we got two in a row,” he said.
5. Back-to-blahs: Both teams were playing on the second nights of back-to-back sets, and it showed, with extended stretches of lethargic play.
“We’ve still got to get better in a lot of areas,” Butler said.
The Heat were coming off Friday’s home victory over the Mavericks, the Nets off Friday’s road loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Heat have two back-to-back sets remaining, another set of homes games on March 13-14 against the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, and then an April 13 road game against the Charlotte Hornets and April 14 home game against the Toronto Raptors to close out the regular season.