Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 102-101 loss to the Brooklyn Nets:
– We’ll start here.
– Yes, this was about Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, until he got hurt.
– But a subtext, at least a Heat subtext, was how Erik Spoelstra handled the Heat’s situation at backup center.
– No, not nearly the sexiest aspect of the one, which might have been as compelling as anything for the Heat this season.
– But Dewayne Dedmon, listed as available, did not play.
– And Orlando Robinson did.
– And played quite well.
– Actually affording Adebayo rest without penalty.
– And now could mean more with Adebayo with his hand issue.
– Yes, Dedmon has foot issues and is working back into condition after a health-and-safety absence.
– And that surely provides cover for Erik Spoelstra reasoning.
– But the Heat have not been good with Dedmon this season.
– And were quite good with Robinson in this one.
– That matters.
– Because Adebayo deserves a break.
– Which Robinson provided Sunday.
– Plus, Omer Yurtseven was ambulatory in the locker room pregame.
– So another answer in the middle also could be on the way.
– The Dedmon minutes have been uneven this season.
– But through three quarters Sunday, the Heat were plus 19 Sunday with Robinson on the floor.
– With Caleb Martin missing his fourth game out of the last six with a quadriceps strain, Haywood Highsmith got his fourth start of the season.
– Highsmith’s full $1.8 million salary for the season became guaranteed Saturday.
– Spoelstra then played Highsmith through two early fouls.
– Highsmith had seven of the Heat’s first 13 points, including a banked-in 3-pointer to beat the shot block.
– The other starters were Adebayo, Butler, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry.
– Adebayo had been questionable until 90 minutes before game time due to a thigh bruise.
– “It happened last game,” Spoelstra said of Friday night’s victory in Phoenix. “He just got kneed really hard, I think by [Deandre] Ayton in the back of his leg and it just stiffened up, almost immediately.”
– With the start, Adebayo passed P.J. Brown for 14th on the Heat all-time list.
– The Nets opened defensively with Ben Simmons on Adebayo.
– Herro had been listed as questionable with the back spasms that kept him out Friday.
– Herro also is on high alert for the arrival of his second child.
– The Nets’ Kevin Durant in the first quarter passed Dominique Wilkins for 14th on the NBA all-time scoring list.
– Durant then was lost for the night in the third quarter with a knee injury.
– Victor Oladipo played as Heat sixth man.
– With Robinson and Max Strus then following together.
– Gabe Vincent then made it nine deep for the Heat.
– Lowry’s first steal moved him past David Robinson for 63rd on the NBA all-time list.
– Lowry’s first defensive rebound was the 3,800th of his career.
– Adebayo extended his streak of games scoring in double figures to 53, two games shy of the longest streak of his career.
– Butler’s third free-throw attempt moved him past Glen Rice for 10th on the Heat all-time list.
– Butler’s eighth shot was the 9,000th of his career.
– Spoelstra said pregame that plenty of lessons were gleaned from the 3-2 western swing.
– “I saw a little bit of everything,” he said. “We’re constantly learning more about ourselves. And it’s easy to get discouraged or get down on a couple of losses.”
– He added, “We’re getting a little bit better to an identity.”
– Spoelstra spoke pregame of the uniqueness of the Nets’ Durant-Kyrie Irving collaboration.
– “They’re brilliant basketball players,” he said. “I’ve heard each of them talk about the art of basketball, and I think that describes each of them well. They just continue to elevate their craft, the craft for the game. There’s great players in this league and then there’s great players who are of a different level. You can’t really do anything to scheme against them. You just have to do what you do extremely well. You can’t make mistakes. You have to make it tough and play really well.”
– He added “But the way they can get to where they want to go to and then the accuracy of how they shoot is so uncommon, because they see all the different schemes. Everybody is challenging them.”
– Spoelstra then reflected on the Heat’s free agency recruitment of Durant in 2016.
– “Even on our recruiting trip a long time ago, you knew he was a gym rat and he takes his craft very seriously,” Spoelstra said.
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