Despite missing Butler, Heat bounces back in win
There was a lot working against the Miami Heat entering Tuesday’s matchup against the Boston Celtics.
Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler was ruled out for the game because of right ankle soreness.
Miami was playing its third game in four days and on the second night of a back-to-back set following Monday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors.
And the game was against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, as Boston owns the third-best record in the
East.
But the shorthanded Heat (43-25) overcame all of that to defeat the Celtics 112-106 on Tuesday night in its third of eight seeding games at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. It marked the end of Miami’s lone back-to-back set during seeding play.
Boston (44-23) never led, with Miami controlling the game for most of
All-Star Jimmy Butler missed Tuesday’s win over the Boston Celtics because of an ankle injury. But the Heat’s other All-Star, Bam Adebayo, stepped up with 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the way.
the night.
But after the Heat’s lead ballooned to 16 points in the second quarter, the Celtics opened the third quarter on a 17-6 run to cut the deficit to just one point.
Miami responded well, closing the third period on a 22-15 run to enter the final quarter with an eightpoint lead.
With the Celtics again making it close to pull within four with 4:41 to play, the Heat got two big three-pointers from Duncan Robinson to push its lead back up to 10 with
1:43 remaining.
Boston kept fighting, though, cutting Miami’s lead to three on a threepointer from Kemba Walker with 13 seconds to play. But that’s the closest the Celtics would get.
Boston was led by AllStar wing Jayson Tatum, who finished with 23 points and seven rebounds.
Next up for Miami is another game against one of the East’s best, with a Thursday matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks looming. The Bucks own the top record in the conference, but they enter the game on a two-game losing skid.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Celtics on Tuesday at HP Field House...
After logging 33 minutes of playing time in Monday’s loss to the Raptors, Butler was held out on the back end of the back-to-back set because of right ankle soreness.
Butler, 30, played in the Heat’s first two seeding games at Disney, averaging 19 points on 50 percent shooting from the field, 5.5 rebounds and six assists in 31.6 minutes. He finished Monday’s loss to the Raptors with 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks in 33 minutes.
It’s still unknown if this is a one-game issue or if Butler will be forced to miss multiple games. Miami’s next seeding contest comes Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks, with the playoffs set to begin on Aug. 17.
Obviously, the Heat is a better team with Butler on the court.
Butler, a five-time AllStar is averaging teamhighs in points (20.2), assists (6.1) and steals (1.7) in his first season with the Heat. Miami has outscored opponents by 227 points with Butler on the court and has been outscored by one point when Butler is not playing.
Butler missed Sunday’s practice with what the team termed as an “excused absence.” But that absence is unrelated to the ankle injury he’s currently dealing with.
Tuesday marks the 12th game Butler has missed this season. The Heat has posted a 6-6 record without Butler.
But the Heat’s other All-Star was available, and he led the way against the Celtics.
Center Bam Adebayo was a force on both ends, finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 32 minutes.
The 23-year-old Adebayo was relentless, scoring 11 points at the foul line on a career-high 18 free-throw attempts.
It was a strong bounceback performance for Adebayo, who was relatively quiet in Monday’s loss to the Raptors with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting and zero free throw attempts to go with eight rebounds and four assists.
It looks like Adebayo is quickly working his way back to form after arriving at Disney two weeks later than the team because of a COVID-19 diagnosis.
Entering Tuesday’s dominant showing, Adebayo averaged 16 points, 8.5 rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes during the first two seeding games.
Without Butler, the Heat had to use its 12th different starting lineup of the season. The rotation looked a little different, too.
Miami moved Kelly Olynyk into the starting lineup in Butler’s place alongside Kendrick Nunn, Duncan Robinson, Jae Crowder and Adebayo.
The Nunn-RobinsonCrowder-Adebayo-Olynyk combination had played just three minutes together entering Tuesday’s contest.
With Olynyk playing as a starter, the Heat’s bench rotation included (in order of when each player entered the game): Derrick Jones Jr., Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala, and Tyler Herro.
Jones, who logged just 16 seconds of playing time Monday against Toronto, played 21 minutes against Boston with Butler unavailable. Jones finished with six points and two rebounds.
After totaling 56 points in Monday’s loss to the Raptors, the
Heat’s bench continues to prove it’s a real strength. And Dragic continues to impress in the bubble.
Even with Olynyk moved from the bench to the starting lineup because of Butler’s injury, Miami’s reserves still combined for 43 points against the Celtics.
In the first three seeding games, the Heat’s bench has scored a total 143 points. That’s an average of 47.7 points per game.
Dragic followed up his 25-point performance against the Raptors with 20 points against the Celtics. But he limped off the court with 5.2 seconds to play and went straight to the Heat locker room.
Before Tuesday’s game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens praised the Heat and said Miami has the potential to be a “scary team in the postseason.” The Heat’s record against the East’s best is further proof of that.
Stevens said: “I think when you look in the last 12 months or so, adding Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala, Duncan Robinson at 6-8, like they’re long and versatile. Tyler Herro, 6-6. They still obviously got all the great qualities of a Miami Heat team. They just have a lot more versatility and flexibility. I think that they’re a scary team in the postseason because they can play a number of different ways. They can play Adebayo and Olynyk together. They can play one of those guys. They can go super small and be really versatile.”
The Heat dropped its first two matchups against the Celtics this season, but was able to avoid the season sweep Tuesday. Each of the Miami’s three matchups against Boston this season have come on the second night of a backto-back set.
With the victory over Boston, Miami has posted an impressive 10-4 record this season against the other East teams that have already clinched a playoff spot (2-0 vs. No. 1 Bucks, 2-1 vs. No. 2 Raptors, 1-2 vs. No. 3 Celtics, 2-0 vs. No. 5 Pacers and 3-1 vs. No. 6 76ers).
The Heat currently stands in fourth place in the East, 1.5 games behind the third-place Celtics and one game ahead of the fifth-place Pacers.
“The Heat are without question really good,” Stevens said. “Beating them four times in seven games is going to be exceptionally difficult. They’re just a good team. And then I’d say that Spo is one of the best coaches I’ve seen. I think he’s terrific. Obviously, they had the great runs with [LeBron] James and [Chris] Bosh and [Dwyane] Wade, and all the shooters around those guys. But in each of the last few years, you know what you’re getting every single night with regard to effort, intensity, playing together, playing with speed, playing purposefully. They have a way about them.”