Takeaways as Heat’s second-half collapse vs Timberwolves spoils return of Adebayo, Herro

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 112-108 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday at the Kaseya Center.

▪ The Heat dominated the top team in the Western Conference early before collapsing in the second half: The Heat led Minnesota by as many as 17 points in the first half and went into halftime up 66-54. It was the second-biggest deficit at the half for Minnesota this season and the third-most first-half points the Timberwolves allowed.

Miami trailed for all of 20 seconds in those opening 24 minutes, and that came when Minnesota took a 4-2 lead with 9:14 left in the first quarter.

Beyond that, the was was tied three times — at 6-6, 8-8 and 10-10 — before the Heat went on a 14-2 run to push its lead to double digits in the early going.

But Minnesota (20-5) wasn’t going to go down easily and showed why it’s the NBA’s top defensive team.

The Timberwolves held Miami (15-12) to just 42 points in the second half. The Heat shot just 36.4 percent (16 for 44) from the field in the second half after making 58.1 percent (25 for 43) of its shots in the first half.

That allowed Minnesota to start its comeback. The Timberwolves cut Miami’s lead to just six points, 83-77, by the end of the third quarter and outscored the Heat by 10 points in the fourth quarter (35-25) to pull away.

“Just didn’t get enough stops down the stretch,” Duncan Robinson said, “and their interior defense was solid down the stretch, too. We’ll look at it and figure it out.”

Anthony Edwards paced all scorers with 32 points, 17 of which came in the second half and 10 of which came in the fourth quarter.

“Anthony Edwards was really just terrific down the stretch,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “and he did it in a lot of different ways. It wasn’t as if we could send a second defender on every single situation. ... He basically hit all the options on the menu to have the kind of night that he had and he had some big ones down the stretch.”

The Timberwolves outscored the Heat 42-22 at the rim. Minnesota shot 21 of 28 at the rim, while Miami shot just 11 of 17 at the rim.

And the Heat went cold on non-rim twos in the second half, making just 6 of 18 attempts.

▪ Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro make their presence instantly known in their return to the lineup...: Despite the loss, the Heat’s lineup got a noticeable boost with two of its top playmakers returning. Herro was back in the lineup after missing 18 games with a sprained right ankle, while Adebayo had missed nine of the past 12 games, including seven in a row, with a left hip contusion.

The two were immediately put back in the starting lineup along with Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin and Kevin Love, and both looked like they hadn’t missed a beat.

Herro led the Heat with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting while adding three rebounds, two assists and two steals. He had a game-high 17 points in the first half.

“Obviously my wind was still needing to catch up, but I felt good,” Herro said. “I felt more rhythm than I anticipated, but I thought I did a good job. ... I knew I’d be back and I didn’t want to fall out of the routine. I stuck with it and tried to prepare myself as best as possible to come back.”

Adebayo had 22 points of his own with six rebounds and six assists.

“Came out unscathed,” Adebayo said. “I walked off the court healthy, happy. I was just really getting to enjoy competition again. That’s the main thing: Go out and compete, get some of this rust off and get back at it.”

▪ ...And that helped the Heat further showcase its depth...: The Heat had five players finish with double-digit points. In addition to Herro and Adebayo, Butler had 15 points, Robinson 14, and Josh Richardson 13. Love was one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

▪ ... Even though the Heat still wasn’t playing at full strength: While the Heat got two of its key contributors back, they were without one major piece on Monday in point guard Kyle Lowry, who missed Monday’s game with soreness.

With Lowry out, Herro did most of the ball handling when he was on the floor, with a combination of Richardson and Butler taking on the role when Herro was on the bench.

The Heat finished with 27 assists to 14 turnovers.

Lowry, who is the oldest player on the roster at 37 years old and has made a team-high 25 starts this season, played in 16 straight games before missing Monday’s game.

Among the nine players around the NBA who entered Monday with at least one game appearance this season at age 37 or older, Lowry ranks second in total minutes played (746 minutes) behind only 38-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

As for if this is the first of several games off for Lowry or just a one-off, Spoelstra remained coy.

“We treat everything on a game-by-game basis,” Spoelstra said.

▪ What’s next: The Heat hits the road but will stay in the state for their next game as they play the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. After that, it’s two more home games against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday and Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day Monday before starting a five-game West Coast road trip.