Wednesday night’s shocking, yet inevitable Jimmy Butler trade to the Golden State Warriors stole plenty of the headlines. However, there was still a game to be played for the Miami Heat— and they got the job done on a second night back-to-back over the rival Philadelphia 76ers.
Miami secured the 108-101 victory, improving to 25-24 on the season and regaining the Eastern Conference’s sixth seed. They remain just two games behind fifth, along with three behind the fourth seed. The new-look Heat will now aim to build some much needed consistency as the entire team gets that much deserved roster clarity in the midst of a playoff push.
It was a strong performance on both ends from the group, as they had control throughout most of the night. They looked cohesive on the court and got impactful contributions from most of their rotation.
As a team, the Heat shot 47% from the field and 41% from 3-point range compared to the 76ers 39% and 30% overall splits, respectively. It was a sloppy game in terms of controlling the basketball for Miami, committing 22 turnovers while Philadelphia only had four. But the disparity came from the rebounding department, where the Heat had the 54-39 advantage including 13 offensive boards.
Outside of Tyrese Maxey’s game-high 31 points on 11 of 28 shooting, the 76ers got minimal scoring production from the rest of their rotation. Joel Embiid was a scratch from their lineup heading into the matchup.
The Heat got terrific individual efforts from several key pieces. Bam Adebayo continued his recent impressive stretch of basketball once again with an 18 points and 13 rebounds double-double on 50% shooting.
Although his frontcourt partner Kel’el Ware was battling foul trouble throughout the night, the 7-foot big man still secured 13 boards in his 19 minutes. Terry Rozier and Nikola Jovic have posed as a strong bench duo over this last stretch of games, with that notion being no different in this win. Rozier added 20 points and 5 rebounds on 8 of 17 shooting, as Jovic submitted quite an impressive all-around outing of 23 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds on 89% from the field.
Jovic has put together a sensational two-game stretch of 43 points on 15 of 19 shooting overall, and 8 of 11 from deep, during that recent span.
Ultimately, it was All-Star Tyler Herro who stole the show for Miami. Although he has continued with his turnovers struggles (seven for the game) he recorded a team-high 30 points.
Herro had the three level scoring game going all night long, including some crucial buckets throughout the second half. He was in need of an efficient bounce back performance shooting the ball, and that is exactly what he put together on Wednesday night.
The Heat’s next game will take place Friday in Brooklyn to face the Nets, as all eyes will now instantly shift towards availability for the anticipated debut of newly acquired Andrew Wiggins. Additionally, PJ Tucker will reunite with Miami as another piece brought in from the Butler trade return.
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The Mitchell trade gets the Heat under the apron and opens up the buyout market as an option. Nice move, Andy
Heat need to make another move – Anderson? – as they are now at 15 players, before they can add anyone.
Heat just traded Tucker to Raptors for Davion Mitchell. Will we keep him at PG?
It sounds like they are keeping him. Love this move. Kid has Heat culture in his defensive DNA and has been stuck in Sac Town and Toronto. Spo going to turn his career around
Wow! So much for the Tucker reunion! And 26 years old. Bravo.
Damn. I just looked at next weeks schedule to see who they play while trying to incorporate a new player. Home vs Celtics, @OKC, @Mavs, @Raps (easiest but still on the road), and @ Bucks. We are going to learn a lot lol
That’s a tough schedule. I don’t think we will win many of those games 🙂
Still need a super star to really compete with the big boys.right now see us def behind clve nyk bost.maybe 4th best team in east,i think kd is avail dont know who we can give up to get him.im sure pat would love to have him .do u give up bam for kd.
No freaking way do you give up Bam for Durant at this stage in his career.
The opportunity would have been some permutation of Butler going somewhere and Suns getting a high end player in return while we got KD. KD not going anywhere for now.
I’m getting excited to think Spo can get a little more out of Wiggins. I saw a stat that puts the Heat’s front court at all at least 7ft wingspan. I hope he can play against the Nets. Let’s go HEAT!
Jovic played one of the best game’s of his career, on both sides of the floor. He continues to improve. He’s getting better at realizing the mismatch and taking it to the opp. Next season I expect him to take another leap, maybe 14/6/5 .
Call me crazy, but at some point I would love to see a (not starting) lineup of Ware, Bam, Wiggins, Herro, and Jovic at pg. Jovic played pg before his growth spurt and still has that mentality.
We need to string some wins together. Herro mentioned consistency. Nets will be a good game to mix in Wiggins to see how they ball together.
Good win. Jovic is better and better. Even Rosier shows some signs of life.
Jovic catch and shoot 3’s is en fuego right now.