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1. The HEAT weren’t playing much worse than they had the night before in Portland when they had their best offensive game of the season, but back-to-back legs and the Warriors being as good as they are for a reason had things slipping away at the end of the first half as the deficit hit 13. Then Jimmy Butler did what Jimmy Butler does – and then some, hitting three threes in the first two quarters – Miami went on a 9-0 run headed into the break and the game was on.
It’s not exactly shocking that the HEAT came to play. The Warriors are the best team of the past 10 years and Miami has always treated them as such, raising their games to meet the competition no matter who was on the roster at the time. Tonight they did it doing all the things we’re used to seeing – aggressively hunting threes (taking 43 to Golden State’s 46) playing on a string defensively, forcing turnovers, moving the ball in the half-court and throwing in some press and zone when appropriate. The turnovers (19 of them), led by Butler’s expert free-safety play, were the key ingredient, as every time the Warriors threatened to pull away and stretch the lead to 15 or beyond Miami would answer back with defense and more than a few timely (sometimes tough, as they took 19 mid-range jumpers) makes. They found themselves down five at the end of the third, and it could have very easily been much more than that.
In the end, the counter-punch jumpers and pick-six turnovers dried up as the Warriors did what they did best – winning 123-110, hitting 18 threes with 30 assists overall – and executed down the stretch like a group that has won four championships together. Such is the NBA. Sometimes you play a great game in a tough spot and lose because the other team is just that good.
2. Four years into the Butler experience, it can sometimes be tough to find new ways to describe everything he does on a night-to-night basis. Except for the threes, those are beyond description as far as when and where they’re going to come. Even with the Warriors clogging the lane on him at the end, Butler put up 27 points on 13 shots with eight assists, six rebounds and six steals and was often the most dominant player on the floor until Steph Curry (33 points, nine assists) shifted into a higher gear.
He may sometimes be content to set up the offense and get other guys going, but Butler is one of those stars – we have plenty of postseason proof of this by now – who has an exceptional sense of the moment. Whenever the game seems to be getting away from the HEAT, you can always count on Butler to jump a passing lane, find a mismatch to post or put his head down and strong-shoulder his way into the paint. It doesn’t even merit that detailed of analysis at times because what he does goes beyond the schematics.
They’re all different players, but it reminds of the way Erik Spoelstra used to talk about Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. At some point, it’s just greatness. And Butler very much has his own brand of greatness. And yet, it should also be said, Adebayo was almost as great tonight, hitting one big shot after another while holding the defense together at times with his teeth and fingernails. It’s been an uneven offensive start for Adebayo, but 26 points on 13 shots is aces all the way.
3. With Dewayne Dedmon and Omer Yurtseven both injured, the backup center minutes again came to Nikola Jović despite Spoelstra saying in preseason he wasn’t planning on using Jović as a center very often. Circumstances dictate things for you sometimes and there isn’t a bigger challenge in the league for a young rookie to navigate than trying to defend the Warriors’ free-flowing movement offense. The results were as you would expect, with Jović getting beat by a Draymond Green fake dribble handoff and then by a Jordan Poole drive and fake in the lane. Is that concerning? Not in the least. The same thing happens to rookies everywhere, and the HEAT were only -2 in his minutes. At some point you have to endure a trial by fire, and credit Jović (four points, four shots) for playing with composure on the offensive end the entire way through.
Notable, however, that in the fourth it was Butler playing center while Adebayo grabbed a few minutes of rest. And that might just be how the season is going to be. You don’t always want to have to go small, but the reason it happens is because of Miami’s depth of perimeter talent. However big they are, they know how to play around their deficiencies and each body is live on the offensive side of the ball.
For more News about the Miami Heat visit: www.miamiheat.com
For more sports coverage from NBA,NFL, to NCAA contact Julian Ojeda: julian@communitynewspapers.com
