Typically the NBA midseason doldrums finish after the All-Star break.
For the Miami Heat, their closing sport earlier than the break left no room for complacency.
Entering the evening 1 1/2 video games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the No. 5 playoff seed within the Eastern Conference and a half-game forward of the No. 7 New York Knicks, Wednesday evening’s matchup towards the Nets at Barclays Center was one with that means for the Heat.
Therefore it was one which stung, because the 116-105 loss leaves them now to lament the standings till resuming their season Feb. 24 on the street towards the Milwaukee Bucks.
Again let down by their 3-point taking pictures and unable to match the Nets’ pop off the bench with out Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo amongst others, the Heat fell to No. 7 within the convention, a play-in spot.
“Both sides knew what the context of this game was,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned. “We just weren’t able to keep up.”
The Heat acquired 24 factors and 13 rebounds from Bam Adebayo, 21 factors from Gabe Vincent, 18 from Max Strus, however simply 13 from Jimmy Butler.
Mikal Bridges, acquired in final week’s commerce with the Phoenix Suns, led the Nets with a career-high 45 factors.
Up 2-0 on the Heat, the Nets clinched the three-game season sequence and a possible playoff tiebreaker.
“We’ve got 23 games to go to where we want to be,” Butler mentioned of the Heat’s remaining schedule.
The Heat completed 8 of 28 on 3-pointers, in comparison with the Nets’ 17 of 39, with the Nets bench outscoring the Heat bench 38-16.
Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday’s sport:
1. Closing time: The Heat trailed 26-25 on the finish of the primary quarter, led 56-52 at halftime, then trailed 83-80 going into the fourth.
The Heat had Butler on the bench on the finish of the third interval after which once more at the beginning of the fourth, till he entered with 7:21 remaining and the Heat down 92-89.
The Nets then pushed their result in 98-89, the sport’s largest result in that stage, with the Heat later compelled to name timeout down 103-93 with 4:55 left.
The Nets’ lead grew to 14 from there, simply the Heat’s second determination by greater than 5 factors of their final 12 video games.
“It was kind of an avalanche,” Spoelstra mentioned of the Nets’ closing cost.
2. Adebayo battles: Adebayo was dominant on the boards whereas additionally offering aid factors in a sport when each groups typically went small.
“I would much rather have the W,” Adebayo mentioned of his closing numbers. “I was trying to will this team to a win.”
The Heat performed prolonged minutes with Haywood Highsmith at middle when Adebayo was out.
That left rookie middle Orlando Robinson with simply 4 minutes of motion, his shortest stint since Jan. 4 towards the Los Angeles Lakers.
With Omer Yurtseven poised to make his season debut from November ankle surgical procedure, the conversion of Robinson’s two-way deal to a regular NBA contract won’t be a given.
Robinson has 4 NBA video games left on his two-way deal, in any other case required to spend the stability of the season within the G League except transformed.
3. Making his case: Vincent continues to make a case for closing out the season because the Heat’s start line guard, aggressively moving into his photographs Wednesday evening within the void of the Heat’s sidelined wings.
Vincent closed 3 of 9 on 3-pointers, the remainder of the Heat 5 of 19.
While Vincent’s help numbers haven’t been up, the playmaking of Butler and Adebayo has compensated.
“For me,” he mentioned, “it kind of depends on what’s needed.”
4. Back at it: Duncan Robinson was out there for the Heat for the primary time since Jan. 2, having undergone finger surgical procedure within the interim.
He entered with 4:25 left within the first interval, lacking his first three 3-pointers earlier than changing on his fourth try. He then was compelled to the bench with 4:34 left within the second interval together with his third foul.
He closed 2 of seven from the sphere, all on 3-point makes an attempt, for six factors in 23 minutes.
“It’s just another example of one of Duncan’s great traits of persistence,” Spoelstra mentioned, “Because he’s really been working behind the scenes, and he’s been pushing relentlessly to get back with the team, at least for the last 10 days. And I think he finally wore the training staff down, in a safe way.”
5. No Herro ball: Even with Herro lacking his second consecutive sport with a knee bruise, Spoelstra mentioned he nonetheless expects Herro to compete in Saturday’s All-Star Weekend 3-point contest.
“He’s certainly not colliding or jumping or doing anything,” Spoelstra mentioned of the competitors that featured taking pictures off ball racks. “He is making progress and definitely he is not ready to be able to play in an NBA game tonight. And we’ll just see how he feels the next two days with his treatment that he’ll be able to do that. I know that he really wants to.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com