Like sands through the hourglass, so are the seconds of Haywood Highsmith’s Heat life

At a point of the season when every minute counts, Haywood Highsmith has found himself at a juncture where every seconds counts, with that essentially how his playing time has come to be measured.

Injected into the Miami Heat mix when backup center Cody Zeller was sidelined with a broken nose and when Omer Yurtseven was unable to gain the confidence of coach Erik Spoelstra as the backup to Bam Adebayo, Highsmith emerged as the ultimate short-timer.

In Saturday night’s home loss to the Brooklyn Nets, there was 1:52 in the first quarter, and that was it for the half.

In last Wednesday’s victory over the visiting New York Knicks, there was 1:46 in the first quarter, nothing else the rest of the half. Then, in the second half, a single stint of 2:19.

And the game before that, a road victory over the Detroit Pistons, there was a single 1:28 stint in the third quarter on the night, 88 total seconds of action.

“No, never ever did anything like this,” Highsmith said with a smile, with the Heat on Tuesday night opening a back-to-back road set against the Toronto Raptors that concludes Wednesday night against the New York Knicks. “But it’s all good. I mean, I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team win. So I’m cool with whatever.”

In addition to those brief stints, there also have been times during recent games when Highsmith went to the scorers’ table to check in, only to have the lack of a stoppage sending him back to the bench, bypassed from there.

“Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do,” said Highsmith, who was added last season as an emergency pandemic replacement player, going on to earn a three-year contract. “I mean obviously I’m not used to it, but I’ll do it. If you need me to do it, I’ll do it, give Bam a break, whatever.”

At a listed 6 feet 7, 215 pounds, Haywood entered the league as an undrafted wing in 2019 with the Philadelphia 76ers. But with the Heat undersized since his arrival in December 2022, much of his time has come in the power rotation.

“I’m cool with it,” Highsmith, 26 said. “I can bang with the big boys every now and then. It’s not ideal for me, but whatever gets me on the court.”

And that matters, too, that in the midst of the playoff race, Spoelstra turned to Highsmith instead of Yurtseven or others earning more or with greater resumes.

“He wants to play any kind of minutes,” Spoelstra said. “He’s ready. And for this stretch run, we need everybody to contribute. And it might be 40 seconds. It might be three minutes. It might be four minutes. Whatever it takes to win.

“Any type of boost for any period of time, in a very competitive and highly contested game, can be the difference. And he’s kept himself ready.”

Willing to do whatever is needed for as long as needed.

“I mean, right now, we’re in a position where obviously Bam and Jimmy [Butler] are our top players, so we got to give Bam a rest every now and then,” Highsmith said. “It’s basically just about plug minutes, just playing as hard as I can, whenever I can help the team, impact the team in a good way on the scoreboard, and giving Bam a rest.”

All while appreciating that the role, as limited as it stands, ultimately is Zeller’s.

Still, just getting a vote of confidence from Spoelstra amid a playoff race is meaningful.

“I think he can trust me that I will play hard,” Highsmith said. “He respects me and knows I’m going to play hard, no matter what.

“Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do.”

Quite literally taking it tick by tick.

“The only thing Coach tells me is, ‘Just play hard.’ "

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