Herro, Love still out for Heat Sunday, Adebayo struggling, Mills makes impact in debut
While the Miami Heat returns home after a winless two-game trip to host the Washington Wizards on Sunday, the returns of Tyler Herro and Kevin Love will have to wait.
Herro (right foot medial tendinitis) and Love (right heel bruise) have been ruled out for the matchup at Kaseya Center (6 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).
It will mark the eighth straight game that Herro has missed and the sixth straight game that Love has missed with their respective injuries. Along with Herro’s foot issue, he also has dealt with a hyperextended left knee.
The Heat will also be without Josh Richardson
(season-ending right shoulder surgery), Jamal Cain (G League) and Alondes Williams (G League) on Sunday.
Without Herro, who has started in each of his 36 appearances this season, the Heat has used a starting lineup of Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo
for the past six games.
Without Love, who has established himself as a very effective backup center, the Heat has rotated between Orlando Robinson and Thomas Bryant at center when
Adebayo has been on the bench. But in Friday’s loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City, neither Robinson nor Bryant were used.
The Heat instead played Jovic, who is usually used as a forward, at center.
ADEBAYO’S SHOOTING STRUGGLES
During the Heat’s 0-2 road trip, Adebayo was at the center of both opponents’ defensive game plans.
The Mavericks and Thunder sent extra defenders at Adebayo and made things tough for him in the paint, and it affected him.
Adebayo scored a season-low five points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field on Friday. It marked just the second game in Adebayo’s NBA career that he has not made more than one shot when putting up nine or more field-goal attempts; the other came in a 1-of-10 shooting performance against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 12,
2018, during his rookie season.
Adebayo also struggled to make shots in Thursday’s loss to the Mavericks, scoring 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
During this two-game stretch, Adebayo shot just 1 of 11 (9.1 percent) on non-rim paint shots. He is shooting 49.5 percent on those shots for the season.
“Sometimes these things happen,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But he’s a competitor. He knows how to impact the game. They were committed to take the ball out of his hands, particularly out of the post. In the pick-and-rolls, they were switching so we couldn’t necessarily get him the ball in his sweet spots. So he wasn’t able to get some easy relief points. But he did a lot of good things.”
To Adebayo’s credit, he still totaled 19 rebounds, nine assists, four steals and two blocks during the two-game trip.
MILLS MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT
On Wednesday, veteran guard Patty Mills signed a minimum contract to join the Heat for the rest of the season.
On Friday, Mills made his Heat debut and made an immediate impact with his ability to hit outside shots. He recorded 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting on threes in 16 minutes off the bench.
That 13-point performance matched his highestscoring game of the season, as he also scored 13 points for the Atlanta Hawks in a Jan. 24 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
“That was great to see him finally do it in a Heat uniform instead of against
us,” Spoelstra said, referring to the Heat’s NBA Finals battles against Mills and the San Antonio Spurs in 2013 and 2014. “We’ve seen that for too many years. You can see why he’s been able to do what he does. He’s ignitable, he’s smart, he’s been in a lot of very good systems so he knows how to fit even though he hasn’t had a practice.”
The 35-year-old Mills was lifted into a playing role with three Heat rotation players out.
“Anytime you get to have a chance to get on the floor is always good,” said Mills, who is in his 15th NBA season. “It’s a disappointing loss . ... But yeah, just great to stretch it out, get on the floor and be with this team.”
THIS AND THAT
Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. shined in Friday’s loss, scoring 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field in 31 minutes off the bench. It marked Jaquez’s thirdhighest scoring performance of the season.
“Like I’ve said a million times, just having a team that trusts and a coaching staff that trusts me and puts me in those positions, it’s a great feeling,” Jaquez said.
The Heat entered Saturday with the NBA’s 22nd-ranked offensive rating and eighth-ranked defensive rating this season.