After the Heat lost to the Charlotte Hornets on the road on Saturday night, Jimmy Butler said he was “tired of losing.”
The Heat forward helped ensure the Heat’s four-game losing streak did not get any longer.
Butler nearly notched a triple-double in Miami’s 101-99 win over third-place Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.
Miami led by as much as 11 points in the fourth quarter but saw the lead slip away late in the game. Despite a late, fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the 76ers, the Heat held on. Philadelphia did regain the lead briefly, but Butler scored with 1:28 to put Miami back ahead. He then sunk a free throw to give the Heat a two-point lead with 8.4 seconds left, and Bam Adebayo made a crucial defensive stop late.
“You have to expect things to be a little bit gnarly on the road,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But you have to weather a bunch of different storms. I thought we weathered storms throughout the course of the game well. We talk about — or we have talked about it quite a bit the last handful of weeks — that collectively, we want to develop some grit through some of these tough experiences. These last two games before tonight were disappointing, and we collectively came together and found a way to get a win. And then sometimes also, you just need the ball to bounce the right way.”
Butler finished the game with 23 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
The Heat found their rhythm early on Monday, after enduring shooting woes in the first two games of their three-game road trip. The Heat made 45.8 percent of their shots in the first half, including 40.9 percent of their threes.
Miami’s defense swarmed the 76ers. The Heat forced 11 first-half turnovers, leading to 14 points for Miami. They ended the game with 20 forced turnovers.
Behind Butler, point guard Gabe Vincent scored 14 points and hit four 3-pointers — the most he has shot since Feb. 13. Bam Adebayo reached double-digits with 13 points, and Max Strus and Victor Oladipo offered 13 and 11 off the bench, respectively.
The Heat return home for a rematch with Philadelphia, kicking off a six-game home stand that also includes games against the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks.
”I would love to look at that, the home stand, and let’s take care of business,” Spoelstra said. “Because of our circumstances and everything, that old cliché, right, it becomes so true right now. We literally have to take this one game at a time and see if we can build some momentum.”
Five degrees of Heat from Monday’s game:
1. Butler pushes Heat to win: Butler was key in Miami’s win, providing energy in addition to his stat line.
Butler also moved up the Heat all-time assists leaderboards, moving past Sherman Douglas into the No. 8 spot in franchise history. He has 1,270 assists with the Heat.
On defense, Butler had four steals, and Spoelstra credited him with breaking up more plays than that.
“He broke up a lot of plays,” Spoelstra said. “Now the steals, everybody recognizes that. He broke up, probably a dozen more plays where there’s windows of opportunity or guys were open. He makes the head coach always have to make tough decisions: Do you put him on the ball or do you put him on the weak side? Because he’s electrifyingly good in both spots, defensively.”
2. Defense steps up: The Heat’s defense stepped up, forcing 20 turnovers from Philadelphia. The Heat scored 22 points off of 76ers turnovers.
Miami held Philadelphia to 43.8 percent shooting from the field and 35.7 point from three.
Adebayo and center Cody Zeller earned credit from their teammates with big defensive stops.
“I think Bam and Cody did a great job on (Joel) Embiid all night,” Strus said. “Just frustrating him, getting him in foul trouble and just wearing on him. I think that probably was the biggest part of the game that helped us the most. Just guys like Vic, Caleb (Martin), Jimmy stepping up and guarding guys like (James) Harden and getting big stops. So a lot of guys stepped up in crucial moments and we were able to pull it out.”
3. Oladipo finds form: After missing most of February with a sprained right ankle, Oladipo returned to the Heat rotation after the All-Star break. He started slowly, scoring two points against Milwaukee and none against Charlotte.
But the veteran guard regained some form on Monday, scoring 11 points. He knocked down three 3-pointers after not scoring one since Jan. 31.
4. Shooting issues improve: The Heat found their shooting rhythm early, and they kept it up throughout the game.
The Heat notched 15 3-pointers, their highest total since Dec. 20. They shot 43.2 percent from the field and 40.5 percent from behind the arc.
5. 76ers don’t forget: It has been more than nine months since the Heat eliminated the 76ers in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals, but time doesn’t make things go away entirely.
“I always think when you play a team in the playoffs, it stays for the whole season,” Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers said before Monday’s matchup. “It doesn’t go away. It is what it is. So I’m sure there’s something there.”
The 76ers will have plenty of chances to exact revenge for last year’s playoffs. Following Monday’s loss to Miami, Philadelphia travels to South Florida for a Wednesday night game against the Heat. The two foes play again on April 6.
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Source: Berkshire mont
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