The Miami Heat got the better of Caleb Martin and the Philadelphia 76ers Monday night as they won 106-89. It was a much-needed win after a rough six-game road trip, going 2-4 and ending with the Heat losing to the Indiana Pacers the previous night.
Jimmy Butler came off missing the last four games and had an exceptional night, finishing with 30 points (led the team), shooting eight of 12 from the field and 13 of 13 from the free throw line, along with 10 rebounds and five assists. Tyler Herro had 18 points with five rebounds and five assists, while Bam Adebayo would finish with five points and 13 rebounds to go with three assists.
Here are three takeaways from the Heat's win over the 76ers:
An up and down first half for the Heat
It was a promising start for the Heat as Butler, coming off a four-game absence, scored eight of the team's first 13 points of the game, but the overall performance of the group was disappointing. By the end of the first period, the Heat shot 43.5 percent from the field and only just made one three-pointer out of 11 attempts.
There was also some sloppiness that the 76ers took advantage of as in the frame, Miami committed seven turnovers, which they scored 11 points off of. Butler would finish the quarter with 11, but even the other main stars in Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, combined for four points, which would continue until the end of the half.
Eager to bounce back after the Heat lost to the Indiana Pacers Sunday, they covered some ground in the second quarter as they scored 28 points compared to the 76ers' 23. Butler added eight more points in the frame and even got some fire from Alec Burks' seven points, who had been sporadically present in Erik Spoelstra's rotation to start the season.
Despite Miami dwindling a 19-point deficit, Philadelphia still had three players in Paul George, Jared McCain, and former Heat star Caleb Martin score in double-digits. As for the home team, it was only Butler who reached that much, with the closest being the aforementioned Burks.
There's no doubt that the Heat are hoping they don't get another third-quarter struggle, but besides Butler, Herro, and Adebayo need to get it rolling in the second half.
A dynamite third quarter highlights the Heat's second-half
After an up-and-down first half, Miami started the second half blazing as with 7:15 left in the third quarter, Duncan Robinson hit a transition three-point shot to give them a 65-62 lead after being down by 19 points. The third quarter for the Heat has been their weakness to start the season, but Monday saw a major turnaround as they were up by 11 with 2:45 left in the game.
It could be argued that it was the team's best third quarter of the season as they finished with a whopping 35 points compared to Philadelphia, who were bothered by their defense with 16 points. Herro finally came alive for the Heat in the period as after scoring two in the first half, he put up 16 points, shooting five of six from the field, including two of three from deep.
The Heat would close it out in the fourth as it wasn't the cleanest basketball played, but the 76ers were that much worse as offense was sparse. Miami would build their lead to 20 points with 5:38 left in the game as they only scored nine up until that point compared to Philadelphia's five.
Miami would run away with the game as the frame went on, resulting in a quality win over the down 76ers.
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Heat gets a week to heal two key players
Now, with the result of the contest against the 76ers, the team gets a prime opportunity to heal as two key players in Terry Rozier and Jaime Jaquez Jr. missed Monday. Starting with Rozier, the Heat informed ClutchPoints that the star guard had been playing through a foot injury for the past several games, but he didn't notify the team until Sunday night after the loss to Indiana.
“It flared up last night,” Spoelstra said. “He's been dealing with it, you know, for some time. But after the game and on the flight, it didn't really clear up this morning. But this should be a good week for to be able to get treatment, get that right, and keep moving forward. Hopefully it's not a long term thing.”
As Rozier has almost a full week until Sunday's game against the Dallas Mavericks to heal his foot, the same could be said for the Heat star in Jaquez, who left Sunday's game with a bizarre ankle injury.
At any rate, the Heat are now 6-7 as they look to regroup and look to take down Dallas this Sunday.
