Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
DUNK SEASON
Miami pushes past OKC to complete 4-3 trip
Two shades of fatigue were on display Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
For the Miami Heat, it was the final stop on a seven-game trip that began Feb. 11.
For the Oklahoma City Thunder, the second night of a back-to-back set that included an overnight trip back after a road victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Turnovers and missed shots ensued.
Ultimately, so did a 108-94 Heat victory that ended the Heat’s trip at 4-3, with a three-game winning streak traveling back to South Florida for Wednesday night’s start of a four-game homestand.
From the depths of a blowout loss to the Utah Jazz, falling to a Los Angeles Clippers team lacking Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and then blowing a 19-point lead in an overtime loss against the Golden State Warriors, it ended with wins over the Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, and, now, the Thunder.
“You want to grow through your experiences,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And sometimes your experiences are tough or painful. At that’s what we had at the start of this trip. But we came in the next day, to the Sacramento walkthrough, it was all business. It was just about the approach to bounce back, do things better.”
That included opening Monday night’s fourth quarter with a 15-0 run, all while stifling the Thunder’s offense in the process, the Heat loading up with late 3-pointers to pull away.
“You just keep building of this three-game streak and keep streaking,” center Bam Adebayo said.
With Adebayo and Jimmy Butler helping fill the box score, the Heat overcame shaky early offense and eight third-quarter turnovers, with enough offense to offset the 27 points of emerging Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Adebayo finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds, Butler with 15 points and nine assists, afforded the luxury of being able to sit out the entire fourth quarter.
They were supported by 22 from Duncan Robinson, 20 points from Kendrick Nunn, 11 from Kelly Olynyk and 11 from Max Strus.
Beyond it being the Heat’s 13th consecutive day on the road, the Heat played in the injury absences of Tyler Herro, Goran Dragic and Avery Bradley, among others, forcing coach Spoelstra to get creative with his rotation.
Herro was sidelined by the hip contusion sustained in the first half of Saturday night’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.
Through it all, make it seven victories in the past 10 games.
“The second efforts that we give on a lot more plays now, it’s the difference in the game,” Butler said. “If you let you[r] guard down, bad things happen.
“We’re in it together. We win together, we lose together, but let’s keep winning together.”
Five Degrees of Heat from Monday’s game:
1. Power play: With Al Horford given the night off on the second night of the Thunder’s back-toback, it left Adebayo with minimal resistance in the paint, on the way to his 17th double-double of the season.
He maximized the advantage, playing in attack mode on a night Butler and Nunn took care of the assists, closing 7 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line.
“My whole mindset was, got to keep being aggressive like I have,” Adebayo said.
Along the way, with his fourth point, Adebayo passed Steve Smith for 20th place on the Heat’s all-time scoring list.
“I’m ready to get a home-cooked meal,” Adebayo said.
2. Revised rotation: The absence of Herro had Spoelstra in search mode with his rotation.
That included Strus playing as sixth man, with Strus then 1 of 6 in the first half, each of the shots a 3-pointer.
It also had KZ Okpala entering midway through the second period, after playing only five minutes in the previous 11 games.
The Heat bench was outscored 15-6 in the first half, which also was the margin of the Heat’s halftime deficit at 54-45.
3. Kept going: To their credit, Robinson and Strus persevered after uneven starts from beyond the arc, with Strus 1 of 6 on 3-pointers in the first half, Robinson 2 of 6 and the Heat 6 of 21 as a team over the opening two periods.
Strus then made both of his third-quarter 3-point attempts, including one that was part of a four-point play. Strus’ points came during a 19-5 Heat run late in the third period, which ended with the Heat up 79-77.
Robinson went on to close 6 of 13 from beyond the arc, with the Heat finishing 15 of 40.
“Their teammates want them to be aggressive,” Spoelstra said. “Secondly, you want to get shots in your wheelhouse, and we’ve been getting a lot more of those in the last few weeks.
“Our 3-point shooters are vital to the spacing, but also being aggressive. You have to play the odds on that. As long as you get good, clean looks, we want them to take those.”
4. Active hands: While his stat line was nominal over his 23 minutes, 21 seconds of action, reserve forward Andre Iguodala stepped up with late defense to help keep the Thunder at bay.
The Heat outscored the Thunder 63-40 in the second half.
“He’s almost the anti modernday analytic player,” Spoelstra said, after Iguodala closed with eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“Because you can’t at all gauge his impact on winning just by those box score numbers.
“He does so many things that go unnoticed. It’s the extra pass, the spacing. It’s being able to initiate offense, being in the right spot defensively, rebounding or tipping balls, playing big underneath. It’s just a great luxury to have an experienced champion like him on your squad.”
5. Additional meaning: The Thunder had a bit of extra incentive, with the Heat’s unprotected 2021 first-round pick belonging to Oklahoma City.
The pick initially was sent to the Phoenix Suns by the Heat in the 2015 acquisition of Dragic. It since traveled from the Suns to the Philadelphia 76ers to the Los Angeles Clippers and then the Thunder.