Heat bounce back with 119-104 win in Houston in Tyler Herro’s (17-point) return
It was a back-to-back set that could have been a backbreaker for the Miami Heat. And it certainly felt that way at the start of the pairing, with Thursday night's home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Then came redemption.
HOUSTON — It was a back-to-back set that could have been a backbreaker for the Miami Heat. And it certainly felt that way at the start of the pairing, with Thursday night’s home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Instead, a night after blowing a late lead, the Heat built on a late lead to push past the Houston Rockets 119-104 Friday night at Toyota Center.
“For us,” center Bam Adebayo said, “it was just about moving forward.”
Mission accomplished.
“It was a good response,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.
While the stakes weren’t as high as a night earlier, the victory put the Heat in a better frame of mind heading into Sunday’s showdown against the Indiana Pacers on the second stop of this three-game trip. The winner of that game will secure the inside track on the No. 6 seed in the East, with the Heat-Pacers three-game season series tied 1-1.
“You don’t have to be a mind reader to figure out how we felt climbing on that plane last night,” Spoelstra said of his team’s overnight flight to Houston. “Obviously we now have a big one in Indiana.”
With Jimmy Butler and Adebayo setting the tone, and with Tyler Herro returning from a 20-game absence with a flourish, the Heat made it eight wins in their last 12 games.
“As we’ve said all year,” Butler said, “we always control our destiny. And that’s now more than ever.”
Afforded the opportunity to take the fourth quarter off, Butler closed with 22 points. The Heat also got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Adebayo, as well as 17 points from Herro in his return.
“Just excitement to be back on the court,” Herro said, “doing what I love doing with my guys.”
With Friday night’s victory, the Heat clinched no worse than eighth place in the East, meaning if they wind up in the play-in round, they get two chances for the one win needed to advance to the best-of-seven first round.
Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:
1. Closing time: It was tied 27-27 after the first period, with the Heat then taking a 64-59 lead into halftime.
The Heat then went up 13 points in the third period and took a 93-83 lead into the fourth.
With Butler on the bench, the Rockets then got within four early in the final period, before Herro helped push the Heat to a 110-96 lead with 6:09 to play.
Eventually the Heat pushed the lead to 18.
“They felt us more in the second half,” Spoelstra said of his defense limiting the Rockets to 45 points over the final two periods.
2. Herro time: Herro was back in action for the first time since Feb. 23 when he entered for Rozier with 3:42 to play in the opening period. Herro could have entered earlier, but there was confusion whether he was entering for Butler, who was at the line at the time.
Herro converted his first shot, a 13-foot jumper with 1:05 left in the opening period, and appeared comfortable being on the ball as the de facto backup point guard, with a team-high four first-half assists.
He closed 7 of 14 from the field, with six assists and five rebounds.
“Just good to have him back overall,” Adebayo said. “He was looking like a sad puppy over there, when he couldn’t play.”
It was the first time Herro played off the bench since the 2022 playoffs.
“It’s hard to just implement me into the starting lineup at this point.” Herro said of the reserve role.
3. Rotation alteration: With Herro back and with the Heat playing on the second night of a back-to-back, coach Erik Spoelstra went 10 deep in the first quarter.
After Butler, Adebayo, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson and Nikola Jovic started, the first five off the bench, in order, were Caleb Martin, Kevin Love, Herro, Haywood Highsmith and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
The approach had Jovic back to a role of starting each half and then stepping aside, until a cameo during mop-up time.
“It’s great,” Spoelstra said of being able to go 10 deep with such quality. “It really is, especially for this stretch run. Our depth, we always felt was one of the greatest strengths of this roster.”
4. Attack mode: Surprisingly passive Thursday night against the 76ers and the defense of former Heat teammate Kyle Lowry, Butler this time was demanding from the outset.
He closed the first period with 10 points, at 3 of 6 from the field and 4 of 4 from the line.
He was up to 15 points at the intermission and at his 22 through three quarters.
“That was the most important thing,” Spoelsta said, “for Jimmy to set the tone for us early on.”
Butler closed 6 of 14 from the field, including 2 of 6 on 3-pointers, as well as 8 of 8 from the line.
“We streaking,” Butler said of now moving on to Indiana. “I love what this game means for them. I love what it means for us.”
5. The playoff race: With the Indiana Pacers (44-34) defeating the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, the Heat (43-34) ended the night where they started, at No. 7 in the East, now a game ahead of the No. 8 76ers (42-35).
The Heat have five games remaining: Sunday at Indiana, Tuesday at Atlanta, Wednesday at home against Dallas, and then a pair of games against Toronto at home to close out the regular season, on April 12 and 14.