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Heat Notes: Vincent, Butler, Love, Herro

April 30th, 2023 at 9:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Gabe Vincent‘s performance in Wednesday’s close-out victory over the Bucks should help make him a popular free agent this summer, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The Heat guard had 22 points and six assists and delivered two clutch plays that contributed to Miami’s improbable win. He sank a three-pointer with eight seconds left that cut Milwaukee’s lead to one point and threw the pass that Jimmy Butler converted to send the game to overtime.

Vincent also shut down All-Star guard Jrue Holiday, limiting him to 4-of-11 from the field while defending him. He held Bulls star Zach LaVine to 1-of-7 shooting in their play-in game, and Jackson notes that Vincent has been one of the league’s best defensive point guards throughout the season.

“Guys were feeding him a bunch of confidence at the shootaround (before Game 5), telling him we needed him to score, be aggressive, be assertive,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “When Jimmy and Bam (Adebayo) are telling you that, you feel like you can conquer the world.”

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Tom Thibodeau, Butler’s first NBA coach, will try to find a way to limit him as the Knicks prepare to host Miami in Sunday’s series opener, notes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Thibodeau believed the rookie had a bright NBA future when he first arrived in Chicago, but he’s surprised by the level Butler has been able to reach. “I’ll be honest — I didn’t see this,” Thibodeau admitted. “I saw the things that stood out were his toughness, his competitiveness. He played a lot of power forward (in college). But when you look at him, you say OK, I felt like we were getting a rotation player. I didn’t know how good he would become.”
Kevin Love is enjoying his first playoff experience since he reached the NBA Finals with Cleveland in 2018, per Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. The 34-year-old big man was confident that he picked the right team after his buyout with the Cavaliers. “I wanted to come. I wanted to win. I wanted to be a part of winning. I wanted to be a part of this and help make these guys’ lives easier,” he said. “And I felt like in a lot of cases I was able to do that. But I was definitely, even in my 15th year, trying to find my way. Us being here, advancing to the second round, beating a one seed after being in the play-in, yeah, I think it checks a lot of boxes. Obviously we have a lot of work to do, but, again I felt like I could still play, still contribute, and potentially be a part of something special.”
Tyler Herro‘s absence may be more significant in the second-round series than it was against the Bucks, Winderman suggests in another Sun Sentinel story. Winderman notes that Herro averaged 23.0 PPG against the Knicks during the regular season, and his creativity was vital in breaking down New York’s defense.

Heat Notes: Oladipo, Butler, Love, Adebayo, Lowry

April 28th, 2023 at 4:48pm CST by Rory Maher

Guard Victor Oladipo underwent successful surgery on Thursday to repair the torn patellar tendon in his left knee, the Heat announced (via Twitter). There’s no recovery timeline yet, per the team.

While that’s the official stance, there’s a “hope and belief” that Oladipo, who turns 31 years old next week, will return to action at some point during the 2023/24 season, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link).

Oladipo holds a $9.45MM player option for next season, and another major knee injury essentially guaranteed that he will exercise it, as he’s highly unlikely to find any offers that lucrative in free agency.

The veteran guard appeared in 42 games (26.3 MPG) for the Heat in ’22/23, his most games played since ’17/18, when he made his first All-Star team. He averaged 10.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 3.5 APG and 1.4 SPG on .397/.330/.747 shooting this season.

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Jimmy Butler won’t wither under the bright lights of the postseason and Madison Square Garden like the Cavaliers did, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News, who refers to the Heat star as a “worthy enemy” for the Knicks in their second-round series, which begins Sunday afternoon. “A lot of guys play the game of basketball in this league. He competes to win. That’s a different language,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler. “He’s desperate and urgent and maniacal and sometimes psychotic about the will to try to win. He’ll make everybody in the building feel it. And that’s why he is us and we are him. That’s the way we operate as well. The psychotic meets the psychotic. And it gets a little bit whatever.”
The Cavaliers, Kevin Love‘s former team, were eliminated by New York on the same night the Heat defeated the top-seeded Bucks to advance, notes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Love reached a buyout with the Cavs after his role was reduced, and Cleveland’s bench struggled once again in Game 5 just as Love had his best game of the Bucks series, Jackson adds. Love is understandably focused on his current club. “We’re resilient,” Love said. “We have guys that do a lot of stuff that may or may not show up in the stat sheet but we’re all about winning. We all bring the ego that got us here but for the betterment of the team.”
Bam Adebayo‘s left hamstring strain is improving, Spoelstra told reporters, including Jackson (subscriber link). “He just got done with a workout,” Spoelstra said Friday. “He feels much better.” Adebayo was hampered by the injury throughout the five-game series versus Milwaukee, though he was able to play in every game.
Point guard Kyle Lowry was moved to a reserve role after dealing with a knee injury, and Spoelstra said the Heat decided to stick with Gabe Vincent in the starting lineup for “stability and consistency,” writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “He has been great about it,” Spoelstra said of Lowry coming off the bench. “He is all about winning right now. He’s playing a massive role with us right now. But that’s why he is who he is. If you’re all about winning, you’ll sacrifice if you need to, take on a little bit of a different role, if you need to, if it makes sense for winning. You can always look at it like he’s a sixth starter.”

Southeast Notes: Young, Murray, Wizards, Bridges, Love

April 22nd, 2023 at 6:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Hawks still face long odds in their first-round series with the Celtics, but they have to be encouraged by the way Trae Young and Dejounte Murray played together Friday night, writes Jeff Schultz of The Athletic. Atlanta avoided a 3-0 deficit as the backcourt combination turned in one of its best games since Murray was acquired last summer. They combined for 57 points in the Game 3 victory, with 38 of those coming in the second half.

“At one point, I was just like, I should just keep quiet and let them do it,” coach Quin Snyder said. “They had some isolation situations where they created for themselves and for other guys, and a lot of that was them just figuring it out. People feed off that.”

Schultz notes that there have been questions about whether they can be effective together ever since the Hawks sent three first-round picks and other assets to the Spurs in exchange for Murray. Former general manager and team president Travis Schlenk reportedly didn’t support the deal, and the results hadn’t been positive during a 41-41 season.

A recent report indicated Atlanta will consider trading Young this summer, but Schultz states that Friday’s performance may show that he and Murray can find a way to make things work.

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The Wizards may dream about landing a big name like Raptors president Masai Ujiri or Warriors general manager Bob Myers to replace fired GM Tommy Sheppard, but they’re better off pursuing someone who has succeeded in building a team in a mid-level market, contends Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. She names Pelicans GM Trajan Langdon, Knicks GM Scott Perry, Bucks assistant GM Milt Newton and Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly as potential targets.
The NBA was too lenient with former Hornets forward Miles Bridges when it agreed to reduce his 30-game suspension to 10 games for next season, argues David Aldridge of The Athletic. Aldridge disagrees with the league’s reasoning that Bridges would have served 20 games of that suspension if he had signed with a team this year and notes that the CBA gives commissioner Adam Silver the power to invoke a harsher penalty under its “misconduct” section.
Kevin Love is back in the Heat‘s starting lineup for tonight’s Game 3 against the Bucks, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Chiang observes that the new starting five of Love, Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo has only played together for two minutes in the series and 13 minutes during the regular season.

Heat Notes: Herro, D. Robinson, Starting Lineup, Love

April 17th, 2023 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat picked up a surprising win in Game 1 at Milwaukee, but they’ll have to figure out a way to finish off the series without Tyler Herro, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Herro broke two fingers on his shooting hand on Sunday and is projected to be sidelined for four to six weeks.

The injury happened as Herro dove for a loose ball in the closing minutes of the first half, Chiang notes. He stayed on the court until the buzzer sounded, and the team announced at halftime that he wouldn’t return. He’s Miami’s third-leading scorer at 20.1 PPG and one of its best three-point shooters at 37.8%.

“You can’t fully make up what Tyler has been for our team all year long,” Jimmy Butler said. “But guys got to step up, including myself, including Bam (Adebayo) and whoever (coach Erik Spoelstra) calls upon to do an offensive assignment, a defensive assignment, to bring some energy, to dive on the floor, get a loose ball or rebound. It’s like all hands on deck at all times and now more than ever.”

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Duncan Robinson started the second half in place of Herro, but he may not be the best choice for that role going forward, Chiang adds. Max Strus has already taken over a starting job, and Chiang notes that the Heat were outscored by 15.5 points per 100 possessions during the 316 minutes that Robinson and Strus played together during the regular season.
Chiang cites Victor Oladipo, Caleb Martin, Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love as other choices to replace Herro in the starting lineup. Oladipo fell out of Miami’s rotation over the last month of the regular season and didn’t play at all Sunday; Martin was replaced in the starting lineup after Love signed with the team in February; and Lowry has been effective off the bench since returning from a knee issue. Love would provide more size in the starting lineup, along with outside shooting to help make up for Herro’s absence.
Love’s transition to Miami hasn’t always been smooth, but he came through in his first playoff game with the team, Chiang states in a separate story. The veteran big man had 18 points off the bench in 23 minutes, hitting 5-of-9 shots from the field and going 4-of-7 from three-point range. “You can just never underestimate the decorated veteran experience of guys that have been proven winners, and that’s what Kevin brought us tonight,” Spoelstra said.

Heat Notes: Adebayo, Lowry, Vincent, Strus, Lillard

April 15th, 2023 at 5:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat didn’t need much offense from Bam Adebayo to get past the Bulls in Friday’s play-in game, but that’s likely to change in their series against the Bucks, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Miami eliminated Chicago even though Adebayo shot just 1-for-9 from the field and finished with eight points and four turnovers. He made up for it with 17 rebounds and a stellar defensive performance that included a late blocked shot to wrap up the victory.

“The reason I love Bam is even if you don’t make shots, you can affect the game in a lot of ways,” Jimmy Butler said. “That’s the definition of a star player, a superstar player. When you lock in on the defensive end, that’s the part that gets everybody excited.”

Jackson notes that Adebayo has seen a reduced role in the Heat’s offense over the past two months. After averaging 21.6 points per game before the All-Star break, he has fallen to 16.6 PPG since then. Miami is 11-5 this season when Adebayo scores at least 25 points, but that hasn’t happened since March 15.

“I’ve got to shoot my shots, pick my spot and live with the results,” he said. “I feel I had a big impact on that game (Friday) even though my shots weren’t falling.”

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Kyle Lowry left Friday’s game early in the fourth quarter after aggravating his sore left knee, but he doesn’t believe it’s a long-term concern, Jackson adds. “I’m good. Just a little tweak, little pressure on it,” Lowry said. “But I’m OK. All good. I’m ready to go on Sunday. If coach would have asked me to go back in the game, I would have gone back in the game.” Lowry is listed as questionable for Sunday’s series opener in Milwaukee, as is Gabe Vincent, who’s dealing with a right hip pointer.
Max Strus scored 31 points in 36 minutes against the Bulls, but it might be hard to keep him on the court against a bigger Bucks team, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Winderman points out that the Heat were able to use a small-ball lineup Friday because Chicago didn’t start a traditional power forward, but it will be difficult for the 6’5″ Strus to defend either Giannis Antetokounmpo or Brook Lopez. The matchup may require more minutes from Caleb Martin and Kevin Love.
The Heat are ready to pursue another star player this summer, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN (video link), who considers them a team to watch if Damian Lillard asks the Trail Blazers for a trade.

Heat Notes: Play-In Tournament, Lowry, Zeller, Love

April 12th, 2023 at 9:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat can’t afford a repeat of Tuesday’s performance when they face the Bulls on Friday with their season on the line, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami got off to a lethargic start and trailed by 24 points in the first half against the Hawks before staging a late rally that fell short.

That also means doing a better job on the backboards after the Heat got pushed around by Atlanta. The Hawks held a 22-6 advantage in offensive rebounds, which resulted in a 26-6 edge in second-chance points. Seventeen of those offensive boards came on three-point shots as Miami posted its sixth-worst statistical rebounding night of the season.

“It was at one point like a comedy of errors,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Deflections, missed balls through our hands. Even when we had block outs with two guys there, they ended up with the ball.”

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A bright spot for the Heat was the performance of Kyle Lowry, who has played well since returning last month from a bout with soreness in his left knee, notes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The 37-year-old point guard seemed to benefit from being sidelined for five weeks while he rested the knee. “We did a good job of kind of managing the minutes over the last month,” he said. “We understood what time of the year (it is). I wanted to be ready and going and firing.” Lowry came off the bench Tuesday to score 33 points, his highest total since joining the Heat, along with five assists and no turnovers.
Miami’s top two late-season signings were both ineffective in limited playing time Tuesday, observes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Cody Zeller and Kevin Love combined for less than seven total minutes as their lack of athleticism made them a bad matchup for the Hawks.
At age 34, Love isn’t thinking about the end of his NBA career, per Wes Goldberg of The Ringer. Love’s main reason for negotiating a buyout with Cleveland was that he wasn’t playing and he believed he could still contribute to a successful team. “I don’t know if I’ll make it to 20 (seasons), but I’ve always had my eyes on that,” said Love, who is in his 15th year.

Injury Notes: Heat, Sixers, Robinson, Mavericks

April 7th, 2023 at 1:38pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With the seventh seed in the East now sewn up, the Heat will rest their three priciest players and their first-round rookie draft pick tonight against the Wizards, the team has announced (Twitter link).

All-Star center Bam Adebayo will be unavailable due to a left quadriceps tendon strain, small forward Jimmy Butler will miss the bout with a right hand contusion, and veteran point guard Kyle Lowry will rest with a knee ailment. Rookie power forward Nikola Jovic will also be out due to a back injury.

Three other players are considered questionable with various maladies. The statuses of guards Tyler Herro and Max Struss are uncertain due to a right quad contusion and a hyperextended right finger, respectively. Veteran big man Kevin Love‘s availability is murky due to a right rib contusion.

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The Sixers will sit All-Star center Joel Embiid, a 2023 MVP hopeful, point guard James Harden, forward P.J. Tucker and shooting guard Tyrese Maxey against the Hawks, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Forward Tobias Harris and reserve guard Jaden Springer are questionable to suit up.
The Knicks have announced that they will rest starting center Mitchell Robinson tonight against the Pelicans (via Twitter). At 47-33, New York is now locked into the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed, as the team is three games ahead of the Nets in the East standings with just two games left in its regular season schedule.
The Suns will sit their top four players tonight against the Lakers. Sources inform Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter) that Phoenix, playing in the second night of a back-to-back set of bouts, will be without All-Star forward Kevin Durant, All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker, future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul, and maximum-salaried center Deandre Ayton against Los Angeles tonight. Charania notes that the Suns have locked up the West’s fourth seed.
The Mavericks tweet that All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, guard Josh Green, wing Tim Hardaway Jr., and frontcourt players Maxi Kleber and Christian Wood will all sit out tonight’s game against the Bulls. Dallas is just 0.5 games behind the Thunder for the West’s No. 10 seed, but sitting all these key rotation players appears to signal a subtle surrender of the club’s season. The Mavericks are currently tied for the 10th-worst record in the NBA, and given that they owe a top 10-protected first-round pick to the Knicks this year, it makes sense that they would hope to preserve their future draft selection.

Heat Notes: Adebayo, Robinson, Cain, Love

April 4th, 2023 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

Heat big man Bam Adebayo, who missed Saturday’s game due to a right hip contusion, should be back in action on Tuesday when the team visits Detroit. Adebayo has been upgraded to probable for tonight’s contest, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Additionally, since the Sioux Falls Skyforce’s season came to an end on Sunday with a playoff loss to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Heat’s two-way players – Orlando Robinson and Jamal Cain – are back from the G League and will be available on Tuesday vs. Detroit, per Winderman.

Robinson piled up 28 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and three blocks in Sunday’s NBAGL Western Conference Finals loss, but Cain struggled, scoring just four points on 1-of-6 shooting.

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With Adebayo sidelined on Saturday, Kevin Love came off the bench for the first time since arriving in Miami and had his best game as a member of the Heat, scoring 18 points in 19 minutes. Now it’s up to head coach Erik Spoelstra to determine whether Love should be reinserted into the starting five or whether keeping him a reserve role makes more sense, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. For his part, Love expressed no preference. “Whatever coach wants,” he said. “I told him that even before I got here. I said, ‘Listen, I’m not tripping about starting, coming off the bench. I just love to play my minutes extremely hard and try to make an impact.'”
The Heat have a history of signing developmental prospects to multiyear contracts late in the season and still have their mid-level exception available if they want to do so this week, says Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. However, Miami doesn’t have any openings on its 15-man roster to promote Robinson or Cain or to sign an outside free agent, and it’s unclear whether the club would be willing to cut any of its current players to accommodate such a signing.
Nine of the 15 players on the Heat’s standard roster went undrafted, which has been a factor in the team’s tendency to play with a chip on its shoulder in recent years, Jackson notes in the same story. But guard Tyler Herro and Spoelstra feel as if this year’s group hasn’t consistently drawn on that source of motivation. “Having a monster-size chip on our shoulders has always been a big part of guys’ identities,” Spoelstra said. “That could be a chip on the shoulder or could just be savage competitiveness. At our core, that’s who we are. That’s not who we have been consistently the last 12 to 15 games. In pockets, we’ve done that.”

Heat Notes: Love, Defense, Trade Deadline, Zeller

March 27th, 2023 at 5:41pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

When veteran power forward Kevin Love signed with the Heat off the buyout market, he was hoping to help the team avoid the East’s play-in tournament bracket by securing a top-six seed, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

A member of the eighth-seeded Cavaliers last season, Love’s team lost two consecutive play-in contests and missed out on the actual playoffs. After being squeezed out of Cleveland’s lineup this year, he negotiated a buyout to join Miami, optimistic his new team could skip the play-in process.

“I’m very grateful for this opportunity, the opportunity to play,” Love told Winderman. “Because in Cleveland I don’t know if that would have been the case… So I wish I had more time… But, again, every game is huge for us at this point. So trying not too hard to put too much pressure on myself or press too hard. But we do need to win basketball games.”

Miami is currently in a dead heat with the Nets for the No. 6 seed — both teams are 40-35.

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Heat players are aware that the team, which had a top-five defensive rating through the All-Star break, has had one of the NBA’s worst defenses in the 16 games following said break, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I say the lack of communication when we get fatigued [is to blame for the lapse],” opined Bam Adebayo. “I feel like that’s the big momentum shift — when guys get fatigued, we stop talking. It hurts us because we expect guys to be in certain places and we’re not.”
Beyond moving off the contract of center Dewayne Dedmon, the Heat had a fairly quiet trade deadline. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald explains that the team did have offers from other teams to take on some its costlier salaries, presumably for veterans Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson, but rival clubs wanted Miami to offload first-round picks in any such exchange. The Heat were unwilling to do so.
Heat reserve center Cody Zeller, another veteran buyout market addition, appears set to return to action on Tuesday against the Raptors, Chiang reports (Twitter link). A broken nose has held Zeller out of the club’s previous six contests.

Heat Notes: Lowry, Oladipo, Love, Zeller, Haslem

March 24th, 2023 at 7:12pm CST by Rory Maher

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra recently raved about Kyle Lowry‘s performance in a new role off the bench after the veteran guard returned from a nagging knee injury that sidelined him for 15 games, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“I think that month of really dedicating himself to getting healthy, getting his leg right, has paid a lot of dividends,” Spoelstra said. “In the minutes that we’re playing him right now, he looks fantastic. And then we’ll just continue to monitor him and we’ll see when we can take the next step.”

As Winderman notes, Lowry has averaged 10.0 points, 4.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds on .586/.579/.833 shooting in five games (24.9 minutes per night) since he returned. The Heat have gone 4-1 in those contests. Lowry is officially listed as questionable for Saturday’s important matchup with Brooklyn, Winderman adds.

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Lowry might not be starting, but he has played the entire fourth quarter in each of the past two games, both victories, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscriber link). “Just getting us in sets, slowing us down, getting us to cohesive triggers and he’s being so vocal right now,” Adebayo said of Lowry’s value. “It’s vital for our team. It’s the end of the year. He had some time off, so I feel like he’s really fresh. It’s good to have a fresh Kyle Lowry out there.”
Victor Oladipo has been a healthy scratch in three of the past four games — the one game he played was when Lowry sat out the front end of a back-to-back. He says the role reduction caught him off guard, but he’s trying to stay positive and be ready when called upon, Chiang writes in another story. “I wish I could answer,” Oladipo said of his reduced role. “It’s not something I’m used to. So I’m not really sure how to go about it. Like I said, I’m just focused on improvement and getting better.”
The Heat will only have Non-Bird rights on veteran big men Kevin Love and Cody Zeller, but that might be enough to bring them back without using their taxpayer mid-level exception, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The Heat could offer up to 120% of their current salaries, which would be about $3.7MM for Love and $3.4MM for Zeller, with the veteran’s minimum for both players projected to be worth $3.1MM, Jackson notes. Miami used its biannual exception to sign Love, so it will not be available in 2023/24.
Couper Moorhead of Heat.com takes an in-depth look at the 20-year career of big man Udonis Haslem, sharing stories from teammates, staff members and coaches. The 42-year-old is retiring at the end of the season.