Heat move up in East standings
There was no celebration, just appreciation of the subtle gains.
With Sunday night’s 121-111 victory over the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center the Miami Heat clinched no worse than a berth in the NBA’s play-in tournament and, with the Boston Celtics’ home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, moved into the No. 6 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
But after advancing to last season’s NBA Finals, this is about more than a last-chance pre-playoff tournament or even a middling playoff seed.
Still, after one of the team’s most complete performances of the season, the Heat are five games over .500 for the first time.
It basically was a case of something from just about everyone.
Jimmy Butler closed with 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, for the second consecutive night afforded the luxury of sitting out the fourth quarter.
Then there were 20 points, a season-high 10 assists and seven rebounds from Bam Adebayo.
And on it went, with 19 points from Kendrick Nunn, 18 points from Goran Dragic a 14 points and eight rebounds from Dewayne Dedmon.
“You need that,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the across-the-board contributions. “And when everything starts to raise and go to a different level, you’re going to need a lot of guys contributing and putting their fingerprints on a win. And you saw that tonight.”
As for Sunday’s moment, it also left the Heat with an identical record to the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks in the East, but the Hawks have clinched that tiebreaker.
The top six seeds in each conference advance directly to the best-of-seven opening round of the playoffs. The next four seeds participate in a play-in round. What Sunday’s win assured was the Heat will play on beyond their May 16 regular-season finale.
“Definitely we want to be in the top six, try not to play in the seeding games,” Dragic said, with seven games left for the Heat in the regular season.
Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday’s game:
1. Pace maker: Butler set the tone by setting the table in a first half that he closed with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, required for just 27:52 of action.
“To me it just shows how much we’ve grown, being able to build and sustain out leads,” he said of being able to sit out the fourth quarter. “I have the utmost confidence and belief that these guys can play with or without me in the rotation.
“It feels good to sit back and mess with some people on the bench.”
To Spoelstra, it was a tone-setting performance.
“Your most talented players are the ones that are able to create the most confidence out of your team,” he said.
Butler’s lone steal of the night gave him 100 for the season. That gives Butler eight consecutive seasons with at least 100, tying James Harden for the NBA’s longest active streak.
2. Dragic a go: The day started with the Heat listing Dragic as questionable due to back and knee recovery. He then was listed as available two hours prior to tipoff, instead of being given the second night of the backto-back off.
“We didn’t make the decision until he moved around and spent some time in the training room this morning and he said he felt good to go,” Spoelstra said. “We gave him the thumbs up and he was fantastic tonight.”
That allowed Spoelstra to maintain bench strength, with Tyler Herro (foot) and Victor Oladipo (knee) still out.
Dragic responded with a team-high 14 first-half points, allowing the Heat to take a 65-58 lead into the intermission. The 14 points were his high for a first half this season.
“The last few games, I feel awesome, my legs were there,” Dragic said. “I was driving the ball more.”
3. Dedmon walking: Dedmon again provided a jolt of energy off the bench, including 10 points and five rebounds in the third quarter, when the Heat outscored the Hornets 35-22 to take a 100-80 lead into the fourth.
“He brings that energy, brings that intensity. We need that,” Adebayo said. “And he does it at critical moments, like today. “He’s just another version of me.” The Heat are now 7-3 with Dedmon in the mix.
4. Adebayo efficient: Adebayo made it a personal-best 50 consecutive games scoring in double figures, efficient with his offense and rebound.
Adebayo’s double-double tied Brian Grant for eighth on the Heat’s all-time list, at 89.
“We’re still working toward trying to play 48 minutes of Miami Heat basketball,” he said. “Our defense is really leading us home.”
5. Not again: After scoring 68 points in the teams’ previous meetings, a pair of Hornets victories, accounting for two of his three career 30-point games, Charlotte guard Malik Monk this time was kept in check, with his 11 points and three 3-pointers not a factor.
Monk had shot 14 of 22 on 3-pointers in the teams’ two prior meetings.
The Hornets not only remained without Gordon Hayward, but then lost starting small forward Cody Martin in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle.