Heat fallout, reaction from another bad loss. Miami is 31-31 past two years with Big Three
The hope was that the long-awaited reunion of the Heat’s top three players would galvanize the team and propel Miami up the Eastern Conference standings.
But getting Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro on the court in unison has hardly been a panacea.
Friday’s 109-108 loss to an underachieving Hawks team that was missing star Trae Young – on the heels of Wednesday’s drubbing by a rebuilding Toronto team - left Miami with a 5-6 record this season when Butler, Adebayo and Herro all suit up.
Last year, Miami was 26-25 when what the Heat calls its “Big Three” played. So that’s 31-31 the past two seasons.
But don’t blame the Heat’s three best players for Friday’s game, which was lost on Dejounte Murray’s transition 27-foot three-pointer with two seconds left.
Butler, Adebayo and Herro all did their part. Butler hit 8 of 10 from the field and 9 of 10 from the line on a 25-point, 6-assist night.
Herro hit a big three-pointer that put the Heat ahead by four with 35 seconds left, en route to scoring 25 points (10 for 19 shooting) with six rebounds.
Adebayo had 21 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and his usual impactful defense.
Instead, Friday was another example that more talent is needed to augment Miami’s three best players.
Aside from Duncan Robinson’s 14 points, the other six Heat players who logged minutes (Nikola Jovic, Caleb Martin, Kevin Love, Josh Richardson, Kyle Lowry, Haywood Highsmith) shot a combined 8 for 30.
There were the usual exasperating offensive droughts, including one stretch late in the third quarter and early in the fourth that the Heat mustered just two points in 7:45.
The offense has been a slog for large segments of the past three games against losing teams; Miami won the first (against Brooklyn) but dropped the past two, against Toronto and Atlanta. The Heat is 9 for 47 on three pointers in the first half of the past three games.
Why is the offense sputtering even with Miami’s three best players back?
The absence of rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. -- who missed the past three games with a groin injury and is out for Sunday’s game against Orlando -- is one reason for the offensive struggles. He’s averaging 14 points on 51.3 percent shooting. But there’s more to it.
“Teams are doubling Bam and Jimmy every time they touch it in the post,” Herro said. “To be able to watch the film, make adjustments to our spacing, I think we’ll be fine. [We’re] just getting comfortable with everyone back in the rotation.”
Adebayo said there’s a re-acclamation needed with the Heat’s Big Three playing three consecutive games together for the first time since early in the season.
“You get used to one guy being out there or two and we have all three of us,” Adebayo said. “We’re all trying to play the right way, but also be aggressive. There are going to be some rough patches and we just need to keep working through it.”
The Heat (24-18) has dropped to 20th in offensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions) at 113.8, ahead of only Orlando and nine teams with losing records.
Kyle Lowry, who played off the bench for the first time this season on Friday, said “trying to get everyone on the same page is something that has to be done.”
More fallout from Friday, as the Heat turns its attention to Sunday’s 6 p.m. game at Orlando on Bally Sports Sun:
▪ Murray - who rebounded Herro’s missed 13-footer with 8.2 seconds left, dribbled downcourt and hit the pull-up three - said: “I wanted to go win it. I feel like I’m built for those moments.”
When Herro missed a difficult 13-footer with 8.2 seconds left, Murray got the long rebound, took several dribbles and hit the game-winning three in transition.
“He hit an extremely tough shot,” Erik Spoelstra said. “I thought our best guy on him, Caleb [Martin], didn’t back up. He picked him up at about halfcourt and tried to level him off. He got him to back up just a count. That’s a [27] foot shot. [A] mistake I made is I think I could have called a time out” before Herro’s miss on a difficult fadeaway 13-footer with 8.2 seconds left.
“We got a little jammed up there; Tyler in the corner,” Spoelstra added. “We went a little early on that. There were still four or five seconds left on the clock. Just to get a little organized and get something in the middle of the floor [would have helped].
“That might look a little bit different if there are four less seconds and Caleb picks [Murray] up where he did. It might get rushed a little more; he might not necessarily get to his spot on that. It’s just shocking.”
After a timeout with two seconds left, Miami couldn’t even get a shot off before time expired. Butler received the in-bounds pass in the corner and passed to Martin, who couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.
“It’s one of those plays when I’m going through it in my head; I’m thinking there would be an advantage in that corner [where Butler got the ball] and it didn’t play out that way,” Spoelstra said. “Two seconds left and I wanted to see if he could get some space and shoot it over the top. That was a poor play call. I’m disappointed in my call on that. I had something else in mind.”
Butler said “I probably should have shot it, to be brutally honest. I guess I could have. I felt like I saw him take a step my way to come double, so I passed the ball to Caleb. I think I put him in a terrible position because I should be the one to take and make that shot.”
▪ The Lowry drama. Yanked from the starting lineup, Lowry made clear that he would like to be reinserted.
“Spo wanted to see something different, wanted to have me come off the bench,” he said. “Hopefully I’m starting on Sunday. I felt like I’ve done a good job as a starter.”
Spoelstra, asked if the move was made for an ‘administrative’ (disciplinary) reason, said: “With Jaime out, there are some moving parts with this. I’m not going to be just experimenting in the second half. This is about winning right now. Having Kyle anchor that second unit while Jaime is out is important.”
▪ Fans left unhappy on a night that Udonis Haslem’s jersey was retired.
“I’m sick we lost this game just because he embodies winning,” Adebayo said. “He’s one of those people, truth be told, during the date when they told him when [the jersey retirement] was, he called me right away and was like: ‘Hey, man, the only thing that’s going to make me happy is if we get the win.’”
Said Murray: “Congratulations to Haslem, He’s a real vet, real professional. I call him the OG. We wanted to spoil that night.”
