Heat opens trip with win over Grizzlies, but loses Herro to ankle injury. Takeaways and details

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 108-102 win over the Memphis Grizzlies (1-7) on Wednesday night at FedExForum to begin a four-game trip. The Heat (4-4) has now won three straight games and continues the trip on Saturday against the Hawks in Atlanta:

The Heat used a quality defensive performance and another monster effort from Bam Adebayo to begin the road trip with a win despite losing Tyler Herro to an ankle injury.

The Grizzlies played without a large chunk of its roster, missing Steven Adams (knee), Brandon Clarke (Achilles), John Konchar (hip), Ja Morant (league suspension), Derrick Rose (knee) and Xavier Tillman (knee) against the Heat.

And the Heat took advantage, holding the injury-depleted Grizzlies to an inefficient 102 points on 38.9 percent shooting from the field and 11 of 37 (29.7 percent) shooting from three-point range on its way to posting a season-best defensive rating of just 103 points allowed per 100 possessions on Wednesday.

That defensive effort had the Heat playing with the lead for most of the night. There was still second-half drama, though.

The Heat led by as many as 12 points in the first half and entered halftime ahead 54-46 despite Herro’s first-quarter exit.

The short-handed Grizzlies kept pushing, winning the third quarter 30-23 to enter the final period trailing by just one point. The Heat’s offense slowed in the third quarter, shooting just 10 of 24 (41.7 percent) from the field and 2 of 8 (25 percent) from three-point range while committing six turnovers in the period.

Santi Aldama then hit a three-pointer to put the Grizzlies ahead by two points just 14 seconds into the fourth quarter, giving Memphis its first lead since going ahead 2-0 to begin the game.

The Grizzlies took a four-point lead when Jaren Jackson Jr. hit a jumper on the next possession.

The Heat ended the Grizzlies’ run there, responding with a game-deciding 28-13 spurt to re-gain the lead and pull ahead by 11 points with 1:55 to play.

Memphis wouldn’t go away, though, getting back in it with eight unanswered points to cut the deficit to three with 35.5 seconds remaining.

“We were sloppy there at the end,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We definitely need to clean that up.”

But the Heat, which entered with the NBA’s worst fourth-quarter net rating, avoided another late-game disaster when rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. hit a game-clinching open corner three to extend Miami’s lead to six with 18.4 seconds to play.

The Heat’s defense limited the Grizzlies to 36.4 percent shooting from the field and 2-of-8 shooting on threes in the fourth quarter.

It also helps that the Heat shot an efficient 8 of 15 (53.3 percent) from the field to total 31 points in the final quarter.

Heat center Bam Adebayo was the catalyst, scoring 16 points with the help of 10-of-12 shooting from the foul line in the fourth period. He followed up his triple-double performance in Monday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers with 30 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 14-of-16 shooting from the free-throw line, 11 rebounds and three blocks in Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies.

With the Grizzlies sagging off of Adebayo to protect the rim, Adebayo took just one shot from within the restricted area. But he took advantage of the space to shoot 6 of 10 on non-rim paint shots.

“I’ll live with it,” Adebayo said. “If they’re going to let me shoot it, I’ll take my shots. That’s in my wheelhouse.”

Jimmy Butler added 15 points, and Kyle Lowry contributed season-highs in points (17), rebounds (11) and assists (nine) for the Heat.

“He was assertive,” Spoelstra said of Lowry. “He was aggressive on his catches at the three-point line but also his catch-and-gos getting into the paint.”

That was enough for the Heat to overcome Herro’s absence and a 19-turnover performance on Wednesday.

It was also enough to overcome the Heat’s subpar offensive rating of 108 points scored per 100 possessions on Wednesday. The Heat went 8-17 last regular season when finishing with an offensive rating of 108 points or fewer scored per 100 possessions.

Jackson led the Grizzlies with a team-high 28 points.

Wednesday marked the Heat’s first road win of the season.

“Momentum from here,” Adebayo said. “Being able to get this one mattered. It’s our first one on the road.”

The Heat is now dealing with an injury to one of its best players.

Herro was off to a strong start on Wednesday, totaling six points, one rebound and two assists in his first 8:10 on the court. But his night ended early, hobbling off the court with 55 seconds left in the first quarter with a sprained right ankle and never returning.

Herro turned his ankle when he went up for a floater over Jackson and landed on Jackson’s foot. Herro remained down on the court in pain for a few seconds before getting up and quickly hobbling back to the Heat’s locker room without putting any pressure on his right leg.

An X-ray of Herro’s ankle returned clean and an MRI will be taken on Thursday. Herro, who walked around the Heat’s locker room on crutches following the game, said he expects to be out “a couple weeks.”

With Herro out for the final three quarters of the game, guard Dru Smith logged 14 minutes off the Heat’s bench. It marked Smith’s first action since the Heat’s Oct. 28 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, as he had received four straight DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) prior to Wednesday’s opportunity.

The Heat then started Duncan Robinson in Herro’s place to begin the second half on Wednesday.

Herro entered Wednesday as the Heat’s leading scorer, averaging a career-high 25.3 points on 44.6 percent shooting from the field and 41 percent shooting from three-point range in his second season as a full-time starter.

The Heat was already missing one rotation player. Forward Caleb Martin sat out his seventh straight game because of left knee tendinosis.

The Heat was also without Jamal Cain (non-COVID illness), Nikola Jovic (non-COVID illness), Cole Swider (G League assignment) and RJ Hampton (G League assignment) on Wednesday.

Butler has made the three-pointer a bigger part of his offensive game early this season.

Butler finished the win with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes, three rebounds and two assists.

Butler is now shooting 7 of 14 from three-point range through the first eight games of the regular season and has made six threes in his last three games. At this pace, Butler would finish the regular season with 61 made threes.

This is notable considering Butler has done most of his scoring from the midrange, paint and free-throw line since joining the Heat. The most three-pointers Butler has made in a season since landing with the Heat is 36 and that happened last regular season.

Butler, who is in his fifth season with the Heat, shot just 26.6 percent on 1.9 three-point attempts per game in his first four seasons with the Heat.

Making his third straight start for the Heat, forward Haywood Highsmith continues to impress.

Highsmith, who replaced Kevin Love as the Heat’s starting power forward last week, entered Wednesday averaging 7.3 points per game with the help of efficient 6-of-12 shooting from three-point range.

Highsmith continued his strong start to the season in the Heat’s win over the Grizzlies, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes.

But it was Highsmith’s defense that stood out on Wednesday, as he recorded three blocks and two steals.

Each of Highsmith’s three blocks came in a 56-second span in the first quarter. He blocked a Kenneth Lofton Jr. jumper with 3:27 left in the first quarter and then blocked two layup attempts around the rim from 7-footer Santi Aldama a few possessions later.

“There’s a lot of little winning plays that he does,” Spoelstra said of Highsmith. “Defensively, he can do a lot of different things. He fits very well with what we like to do. He can switch, he can guard bigger guys. He can also can play traditional coverages, which he was doing tonight.”

The Heat improved to 3-0 since Highsmith was moved into the starting lineup. He’s also posted a positive plus/minus of plus 23 this season.

Love has not played since being pulled from the starting unit, receiving his third straight DNP-CD.

Next up for the Heat: more road games.

Wednesday’s contest marked the start of a brutal 10-game stretch that includes nine road games and has the Heat on the road for 17 nights in a 19-day span.

The Heat continues its current four-game trip on Saturday against the Hawks in Atlanta before facing the Spurs in San Antonio on Sunday and ending the trip with a matchup against Hornets in Charlotte on Tuesday.

The Heat then returns to Miami for one game against the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 16 before hitting the road again for a five-game trip.

That five-game trip includes matchups against the Bulls in Chicago on Nov. 18 and 20, Cavaliers in Cleveland on Nov. 22, Knicks in New York on Nov. 24 and Nets in Brooklyn on Nov. 25.

The Heat’s 12 road games in its first 17 games of the season is the most road games for any NBA team during this span.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for our team to rally around each other, rally around the schedule where we’re on the road away from home for a good deal of time,” Spoelstra said before Wednesday’s game. “These are moments during a season when you can start to put things together and get to a different level.”