The definition of madness has develop into the definition of the Miami Heat’s season.
They proceed to bang their heads towards the wall in shut, compelling, aggressive video games.
And they in some way have made it work.
An evening after a house victory over the Houston Rockets was selected a dunk off an inbounds play with seven-tenths of a second to play, the Heat this time required extra time Saturday evening earlier than escaping the Orlando Magic 107-103 at Amway Center.
“They’re not afraid of the moment,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra stated of his gamers. “My stomach is turning, and they love it. They love these kinds of games as competitors. That’s when they feel most alive.”
Down 17 early and behind by double-digits halfway by way of the fourth quarter, the Heat discovered a approach to transfer a season-best seven video games over .500, at 32-25.
It was the Heat’s league-leading fortieth “clutch” recreation of the season, a recreation inside 5 factors at any stage of the ultimate 5 minutes.
It left the Heat with a 19-11 report in video games determined by 5 or fewer factors. Nine of the Heat’s final 10 have been determined by 5 or fewer.
“It feels like 10 out of 10,” guard Gabe Vincent stated with fun. “So we’re battling. We’re exhibiting a number of character. We’re rising day in and time out.
“It’s strange how comfortable we are with these close games. It’d be nice to have a blowout every now and then, when we just blow somebody else out. We compete, man. We compete. We might get down, but we pick ourselves up, but we compete as a team and come together.”
The Heat acquired 23 factors from Tyler Herro, 22 from Jimmy Butler and 20 from Vincent, in addition to 13 factors and 17 rebounds from Bam Adebayo.
“We like to make things difficult, I guess put on a show,” Butler stated of yet one more harrowing end.
With the win, the Heat moved inside 1 1/2 video games of the Brooklyn Nets for the No. 5 seed within the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday’s recreation:
1. Closing time: Vincent opened the extra time scoring with a 3-pointer, giving the Heat their first lead of the evening.
Consecutive baskets by Herro, taking part in with 5 fouls since halfway by way of the fourth quarter, then pushed the Heat to a 104-99 lead.
Later, a Butler jumper had the Heat up 106-101 with 1:42 to play.
Eventually, it got here all the way down to a Magic timeout down 106-103 with 10.4 seconds to play, with Orlando’s Gary Harris then lacking a 3-pointer.
“We burned the boats and figured we got to go for it and the win by any means necessary,” Spoelstra stated of putting up with on the second evening of the back-to-back set.
2. End of regulation: The Magic led 29-19 after the primary interval, went up 17 within the second interval, and led 54-46 at halftime. The Heat then closed inside one within the third interval earlier than going into the fourth down 79-72.
From there, the Heat fell behind by 12 early within the fourth quarter, however clawed all the best way again to a 97-97 tie on the finish of regulation, a tie cast by a pair of Gabe Vincent free throws with 12.1 seconds to play.
The Heat had an opportunity to win on the finish of regulation, with Butler off on a 3-pointer try off an inbounds play with 1.5 seconds left within the fourth.
“I know Spo won’t like how we started, but there’s got to be something to being down 17 and coming and fighting on the second night of a back-to-back in overtime,” Herro stated. “We easily could have phoned it in and went home on a loss. So great win for us and got to keep this thing rolling.”
3. Measured minutes: Saturday marked the primary time Butler performed each ends of a back-to-back set since Nov. 26-27 highway video games towards the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors.
Butler performed 28:23 in Friday evening’s residence victory over the Houston Rockets.
“This was the plan, really the last six weeks,” Spoelstra stated. “to try to build up to this in a healthy way, and I think we’ve checked all those boxes and [Friday] night it worked out perfectly, because we were able to keep the minutes at a manageable way and still find a way to get a win.”
Butler once more obtained a prolonged second-half break, returning with 7:10 to play within the fourth quarter with the Heat down eight. He performed 33:44 this time, after going 29 minutes by way of regulation.
“I thought if it didn’t go overtime, I thought we were in a great place,” Spoelstra stated.
But it did.
“I was supposed to be at 28 minutos,” Butler stated with a smile and Spanish inflection. “And I ended up playing 33 minutos.”
4. Working it: While the majority of Adebayo’s scoring got here early, he was relentless on the boards on an evening there have been ample rebounds to safe, with 16 by way of regulation.
With the Heat taking part in from behind, Adebayo was referred to as for important minutes on the second evening of the back-to-back set, with Orlando Robinson, the Heat’s solely obtainable backup heart, taking part in simply 9:37.
Adebayo additionally had six assists in going 43:23.
“Man,” he stated, “it feels like we play a playoff game every night. So many of our games be 98-99. It just shows the grit that we play with. We like to slow the game down and win it in the mud.”
5. Still quick: The Heat once more have been shorthanded Saturday and can stay so for no less than one other two weeks.
With Kyle Lowry (knee), Victor Oladipo (ankle), Duncan Robinson (finger), Omer Yurtseven (ankle) and Nikola Jovic (again) once more out Saturday, Spoelstra stated Oladipo is the one one probably to return earlier than the All-Star break.
The Heat’s two remaining video games earlier than the break are Monday towards the visiting Denver Nuggets and Wednesday on the Brooklyn Nets. They then resume their scheduled Feb. 24 with a highway recreation towards the Milwaukee Bucks.
“They’re doing all the work they need to do,” Spoelstra stated. “They’re taking all the mandatory steps, and solely their our bodies will inform them. I’d say Vic might be the one sensible one earlier than the break.
“Duncan always says he’s going to be ready, but we’ll have to evaluate him and make sure it’s safe, before we put him back out there. But from a conditioning standpoint and all the other things, Duncan, he’s ready to go.”
Spoelstra stated Lowry definitively wouldn’t be again earlier than the break, with that absence seemingly to proceed by way of the tip of the month.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com