Heat rest starters in 120-107 win in Detroit, with all eyes now on Bucks

It was the rare night when it was acceptable to be looking ahead.

So in a game with no impact on their playoff seeding, the Miami Heat gave Sunday off to Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn and Goran Dragic, among others.

Ultimately, against an opponent seemingly only focused on increasing their draft-lottery odds, there still was more than enough, with a 120-107 victory over the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena closing out a 40-32 regular season.

The next time the Heat hit the court, it will be with a complete complement of those who helped build that record, and it will come against the Milwaukee Bucks at next weekend’s start of the NBA playoffs.

With a victory earlier Sunday by the New York Knicks locking the Heat into the No. 6 seed, and then with an ensuing victory by the Brooklyn Nets locking the Bucks into No. 3, the postseason road for Erik Spoelstra’s team will begin in Milwaukee.

While there were 21 points Sunday from Nemanja Bjelica, 16 points and a season-high 11 assists from Tyler Herro, and a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds from Precious Achiuwa, this Heat exercise mostly was about emerging injury free for what is to follow. Ultimately, that wasn’t necessarily the case, with Herro twisting his ankle late but remaining in the game.

The Heat also got 20 points from Max Strus, 17 from KZ Okpala and 15 points and 10 assists from Gabe Vincent, with Okpala ejected late for a Flagrant 2 foul. Okpala’s ejection led to the return by Herro, which is when he then twisted his ankle.

Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday’s game:

1. What comes next: The plotlines will run deep in Heat-Bucks.

First, there’s the Heat 4-1 domination in last season’s Eastern Conference finals, when Giannis Antetokounmpo limped to the finish with a severely sprained ankle.

Then there was the Bucks locking up Antetokounmpo to an extension when the Heat were clearing cap space for a potential run at the All-Star big man in this summer’s free agency.

Beyond that, there is the injection of Jrue Holiday into the Milwaukee mix.

Yes, the Bucks won the season series 2-1, but all three games were played in the injury absence of Butler.

2. Step back?: The Heat wound up as a No. 6 seed after climbing to the NBA Finals as a No. 5 seed last season.

Spoelstra said he did not necessarily see it as a step back.

“You can’t compare this year to any other year,” Spoelstra said of the impact of the pandemic. “We’re really grateful to have another opportunity to get into the playoffs and compete against the best teams. As competitors, this is what you want, are these kind of opportunities, and you don’t ever want to take it for granted, just getting into the playoffs, first and foremost.

“If you’re going to set a big-time goal, you have to get into the playoffs first to be able to take the first step to try to achieve it.”

3. Adebayo one shy: With their playoff seed locked in, the Heat gave the night off to Butler, Adebayo, Nunn, Dragic, Trevor Ariza and Andre Iguodala.

That left the Heat without eight players, with Victor Oladipo recovering from quadriceps surgery and newcomer Omer Yurtseven not with the team.

It also left Adebayo one assist shy, until next season, of becoming the third frontcourt player in the franchise’s 33 years to record 1,000 assists as a member of the team. It was previously done by LeBron James and Grant Long.

Adebayo also would have become the team’s youngest player to 1,000 assists with one more this season. Instead, that distinction will remain Dwyane Wade’s.

4. All 72 for Robinson: One of the nine players available for the Heat, Duncan Robinson became the team’s lone player to appear in all 72 games in the pandemic-shortened season, extending his streak to 147 consecutive appearances, 27 from the franchise-record run of Glen Rice that ended in 1994.

“He doesn’t leave any stone unturned, in terms of trying to maximize every bit of talent that he has inside of him,” Spoelstra said. “And he’ll continue to grow because of that work ethic. But his conditioning, his functional durability, I think is underrated. But he’s put in a lot of time behind the scenes.

“He’s not the same physical player as he was when he first showed up in our building. There’s a lot of sweat and work he’s put in behind the scenes to his body to prepare for long seasons.”

Robinson, on his first attempt, in the first quarter extended his streak with at least one 3-pointer to 48 consecutive games, nine off the franchise record he set last season.

5. As for Sunday: Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Sunday’s game was Herro stepping forward with his playmaking and removing the bad taste for Saturday’s three-point, 1-of-9 performance in the loss in Milwaukee.

There also was encouraging double-double aggression from Achiuwa and heartening 3-point shooting from Bjelica.