Heat opens homestand with win over Rockets. Takeaways and the latest on Kyle Lowry’s injury

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 120-113 win over the Houston Rockets (18-17) on Monday night at Kaseya Center to kick off a four-game homestand. The Heat (21-15) continues the homestand on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder:

The Heat has labeled this homestand as “important.” It’s off to a strong start.

The duo of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro delivered a strong second half to lead the Heat to the victory.

Adebayo totaled 18 points and 10 rebounds in the second half on the way to finishing the win with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting from the foul line, 12 rebounds, three assists and one steal.

Herro recorded 16 points in the second half on the way to closing the victory with 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field and 5-of-10 shooting from three-point range, three rebounds and three assists.

“Bam and Tyler led us tonight,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The Heat led for most of the first half and pulled ahead by eight points with 1:45 left in the second quarter. But the Rockets closed the first half on an 8-0 run to enter halftime tied with the Heat at 59.

Despite being outscored 24-14 in the paint by the Heat in the first half, the Rockets were able to keep up by shooting an efficient 10 of 20 (50 percent) from three-point range in the first two quarters.

But the Rockets went cold and got sloppy in third quarter, shooting 2 of 9 from behind the arc and committing four turnovers in the period. The Heat took advantage to extend its lead to nine points entering the fourth quarter.

The Rockets made a late run to cut the deficit to six points with 3:08 to play, but that’s the closest they got in the final period.

After making 10 threes in the first half, the Rockets shot just 4 of 21 (19 percent) from three-point range in the second half.

Meanwhile, the Heat shot an efficient 15 of 36 (41.7 percent) from deep in the win to improve to 9-4 this season when shooting better than 40 percent on threes. The Heat also dished out 30 assists to improve to 8-1 this season when finishing with 30 or more assists.

Two games after eight Heat players finished with double-digit points in Wednesday’s road win over the Los Angeles Lakers, six Heat players scored double-digit points on Monday.

“That just shows we have depth and it shows guys are on the same page and guys have the same mentality,” Adebayo said of the Heat’s balanced effort. “It shows guys want to win. We’re willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to get that W.”

The Rockets were led by a game-high 32 points from Fred VanVleet.

The Heat again played without multiple rotation players, as its injury issues continued.

The Heat did not have rotation regulars Jimmy Butler (right toe MP joint sprain) and Caleb Martin (right ankle sprain) against the Rockets.

It marks the fourth straight game that Butler has missed and the sixth straight game that Martin has missed.

With Butler also missing four games recently with a strained left calf, Monday marked the eighth game that he has sat out in the last nine games. There hope that Butler will be able to return this week during the Heat’s homestand that ends Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets.

With Monday’s win, the Heat improved to 6-2 in the last eight games that Butler has missed.

In addition, RJ Hampton (stomach illness), Dru Smith (season-ending knee surgery), and Cole Swider (G League) were also unavailable for the Heat on Monday.

Injuries have been a season-long problem for the Heat, which entered Monday with the fourth-most missed games in the league this season due to injury at 117 games, according to Spotrac’s tracker.

The Heat also has a new injury to monitor, with guard Kyle Lowry exiting Monday’s game early with a sprained left hand.

Immediately after blocking a layup attempt by VanVleet with his right hand, Lowry grabbed his left hand in clear discomfort early in the third quarter.

When a teammate passed Lowry the ball on the other end, he caught the ball with his right hand and immediately tossed it back to a teammate while unable to use his left hand.

Lowry then walked straight to the locker room with a team physician during play, forcing the Heat to foul on the defensive end to stop play with 8:18 left in the third quarter.

Lowry returned to the Heat’s bench minutes later with a large wrap on his left hand, but never re-entered the game. The initial scan on Lowry’s injured hand returned clean and he’s day-to-day, according to the team.

“He’s played through more things than probably anybody currently playing in this association,’ Spoelstra said of Lowry. “And then when he basically ran off the court, yeah I was very concerned. The initial scan is clean. We’ll just see how he feels tomorrow.”

Before Lowry’s night ended early, he recorded six points, two rebounds, one assist and two blocks in 16 minutes in Monday’s win.

Lowry, 37, has been durable this season, missing just four of the Heat’s first 35 games. It remains to be seen if this hand injury will force him to miss time.

Those ongoing injury issues led the Heat to use a starting lineup that included second-year forward Nikola Jovic for the third straight game.

The Heat opened Monday’s contest with a lineup of Lowry, Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jovic and Adebayo. It marked the third consecutive game that this group has started for the Heat.

Jovic made an immediate impact in his third straight start, totaling two points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks while playing 10:21 in the opening quarter.

Jovic, 20, stuffed the box score in Monday’s win with six points and eight rebounds while recording career-highs in assists (6), steals (2) and blocks (2) in 21 minutes despite an off shooting night. He shot 2 of 9 from the field, 1 of 5 on threes, and 1 of 4 from the foul line.

“Niko in his minutes was really good,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t know what his stat line was, but he was able to generate a lot of easy opportunities for us in the open court, loosen things up in kind of random situations where he’s at his best.”

While starting the last three games, Jovic has averaged eight points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, one steal and 0.7 blocks in 24.6 minutes per game. This three-game stretch has represented the most consistent playing time Jovic has received this season.

“I love Niko,” Herro said. “I told Niko, I’m starting a Nikola Jovic fan club led by Tyler Herro. I just love the way he plays. He’s so skilled. I really think he’s really, really good. So I’m excited for him to get out there and continuing to build on the minutes and opportunities he’s getting.”

Adebayo also raved about his teammate.

“Niko is special in his own way,” Adebayo said. “He can dribble, he can shoot, he can pass, he’s 6-10 and he’s 20.”

Jovic, who the Heat drafted with the 27th overall pick last year, has now played 20-plus minutes in three straight games. Prior to this three-game span, Jovic had logged 20-plus minutes in just two of the Heat’s first 33 games of the season.

That’s because Jovic has been out of the rotation. But he has flashed his growth during this opportunity to play extended and consistent minutes while the Heat continues to deal with injuries.

“This playing time that he’s gotten in the last several games has been really important,” Spoelstra said. “And when we get to practice tomorrow, it will be much more relevant when we’re going through the teaching points.”

The good news on the injury front for the Heat is forward Haywood Highsmith was back in the mix, providing further depth off the bench.

Highsmith, who missed the previous three games while in the NBA’s concussion protocol, returned to finish Monday’s win with three points and three rebounds in 16 minutes.

“It was good to have him back out there,” Spoelstra said of Highsmith. “There was not a [minutes] restriction. But he gives us great versatility, particularly defensively and we’re going to need that as this week goes on.”

Highsmith was part of another quality effort from the Heat’s bench, which combined to outscore the Rockets’ reserves 44-29.

Off the Heat’s bench, Kevin Love totaled 15 points, Duncan Robinson scored 14 points and Josh Richardson added 12 points.

Robinson also matched a career-high with seven assists, as five of them resulted in baskets for Adebayo.

The only available Heat players who did not get into Monday’s game were Thomas Bryant, Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson.