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Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 110-108 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder:
– This was Tyler Herro’s moment.
– His stand-alone moment.
– No Jimmy Butler, who sat this one out.
– No Bam Adebayo, who had fouled out.
– No passes made once Herro collected the ball in the backcourt.
– One man.
– One goal.
– One victory.
– And this time Mike Brown or any other coach won’t be claiming a travel.
– Oh, and this time not settling for a 3-pointer.
– Instead, on a night when he seemingly couldn’t miss 3-pointers, he got to his sweet spot.
– So 2-0 on a trip that almost has to be 4-0.
– With plenty of help from Victor Oladipo, in arguably the best game of his Heat tenure.
– This would have been moments the Heat could have used more Adebayo.
– Because without Butler, the amount of physicality the Heat can offer is severely diminished.
– This was decidedly less than the best of Bam.
– Even with the double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
– Yes, there wasn’t as much need early, the Heat can’t miss on 3-pointers.
– But eventually you also have to get it done the hard way.
– Instead, a fifth foul with 5:28 to play, later fouling out on the play that allowed the Thunder to tie with 25.7 seconds to play.
– An argument could be made there also was more needed from Kyle Lowry.
– But expectations there have been somewhat diminished.
– Herro and Adebayo are the future faces of the franchise.
– And Herro needed someone to step up in the second half after he stepped in the first.
– Instead, Herro did it on his own.
– With Butler given the night off, Max Strus again moved into the starting lineup.
– It was Strus’ 15th start in his 27 appearances.
– The Heat’s opening lineup was rounded out by Adebayo, Caleb Martin, Herro and Lowry.
– With the start, Lowry tied Mark Eaton, Terry Cummings and Rolando Blackman for 97th on the NBA all-time list, at 815.
– Adebayo promptly scored the Heat’s first six points.
– Oladipo then entered as the Heat’s first reserve, for Herro.
– Oladipo’s first steal was the 750th of his career.
– Oladipo’s second 3-pointer was the 750th of his career.
– Among the recent twists for the Heat has been removing Herro early so he can get more time to spark the second unit, as he did last season.
– “We’re able to balance the rotation a little bit more,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the approach, “and give that second unit some scoring punch.”
– Herro’s fifth 3-point attempt moved him ahead of Voshon Lenard and Dan Majerle for eighth on the Heat all-time list.
– Robinson’s second free throw was the 200th of his career.
– Despite sitting out, Butler shot pregame.
– Haywood Highsmith entered as the Heat’s second reserve, taking the reserve role typically held by Strus.
– Dewayne Dedmon also entered with Highsmith.
– With Duncan Robinson following.
– With the appearance, Robinson tied Josh Richardson for 25th on the Heat all-time regular-season games list.
– Martin’s second shot was the 1,00th of his career.
– Adebayo’s second offensive rebound was the 800th of his career and tied Brian Grant for eighth on the Heat all-time list.
– Asked of the strides by Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Spoelstra said pregame, “I don’t think it’s anything different. I just think it’s more.”
– Asked pregame about the Heat, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, “The more organized you try to be against them, the more disruptive they can be.”
– The game opened the Heat’s sixth back-to-back set of the season. The Heat entered the pairing that concludes Thursday in Houston having swept one previous pairing, having been swept twice and having split twice.
– The Heat play 14 total back-to-back sets this season.
– The game was one of 17 Wednesday games for the Heat, the team’s busiest day of the season.
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