The Heat got payback at the Delta Center for the massacre suffered on Jan. 4. Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. lit up the perimeter with seven of 14 3-pointers.  And it was a low-scoring affair that featured 12 ties and 10 lead changes.

This was Jimmy Butler’s fourth game suspended of seven for conduct detrimental to the team.

“When I drive in the paint, and I draw two, it makes it really easy to spray out to shooters,” Jaquez said in the locker room after the game. 

The offense started in the mud, making six of 22 shots. Nikola Jović was the lone Heatle to log multiple field goals in the first quarter on a trey and putback. But more problematically, they had allowed Lauri Markkanen to make two 3-pointers and score on a rim roll, plus let Collin Sexton rattle off four of five shots. 

The second quarter started with the Heat down 27-20. Subsequently, the defense shut down the Jazz to 14 points on 20% shooting. On top of that, Herro made two layups and a 3-pointer. 

At halftime, the Heat led 46-41. They had 12 paint points, nine on the break, four via second chances and nine off turnovers. 

The Jazz had 16 paint points, seven on the break, five via second chances and 12 off turnovers. 

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Then the Heat started the third quarter on a 10-4 run, forcing a Jazz timeout. When play continued, Markkanen responded with three treys, and Sexton plus Isaiah Collier dribbled into the lane for layups. And the Heat’s offense stalled, making five of 20 shots for the remaining eight minutes of the frame.

The fourth quarter started with the Heat down 70-68. Despite shooting 33.3% from deep in the period, they took control because they were the first to loose balls and held the Jazz to one of eight 3-pointers. Furthermore, Herro plus Terry Rozier made five baskets from long and close range, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored six points.

The Heat won 97-92. They had 34 paint points, 17 on the break, 16 via second chances and 15 off turnovers.

The Jazz had 42 paint points, seven on the break, 11 via second chances and 18 off turnovers. 

After the game, coach Erik Spoelstra said it was “ugly, not a shootout.” He also said Adebayo made big plays down the stretch.

The Heat will not practice on Friday.

Observations:

• In spite of an inaccurate night for Jović, he still was impactful as a distributor, racking up five assists and one turnover. 

• Jaime Jaquez Jr. had his best game of the season. He was a threat on the break and made three of four 3-pointers, including the dagger to put the Heat ahead by five with a minute left. Additionally, he had seven dimes, his second-highest assist total of the season. After the game, Spoelstra said JJJ was good defensively against the Jazz and his performances have contributed to wins. He also had 20 points on seven of 11 shots with seven rebounds, two steals and three turnovers.

• Kel’el Ware gave good minutes off the bench. He made four of five shots via rim rolls and a putback in transition. He also denied Markkanen as the drop defender in pick and roll and as a helping low man. 

• When the game was tied at 86 with three minutes left, Adebayo made a mid-range jumper and an eight-foot floater to take the lead.

• The Heat’s offense operated in the half-court 78.2% of the time. They scored 91.9 points per 100 plays, good enough for the 34th percentile of the stat, per Cleaning the Glass.

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The MVP-less Nuggets hung around until crunch time, but their offensive drought and Boston’s long-range shooting overwhelmed them. The game featured eight ties and 10 lead changes. 

Nikola Jokić (illness) and Aaron Gordon (calf strain) were absent for the Nuggets. Derrick White (illness) didn’t play for the Celtics. 

“We didn’t score…the margin of error against that team without your starting four (Aaron Gordon) and starting five (Jokić) is nonexistent,” coach Michael Malone said after the game.

Early, Jamal Murray, Russell Westbrook and Michael Porter Jr.’s jumpers were on target. But Kristaps Porziņģis and Jayson Tatum outscored the hosts by themselves on baskets from short, mid and long range. The Celtics led 37-25 at the end of the first quarter. 

Then the Nuggets were down 15 a nearly two minutes later. Malone called a stoppage, and when play resumed, the hosts took control. The defense allowed Boston five of 16 baskets the rest of the period. Murray had a flurry of eight consecutive points on pull-up jumpers and drive-by to the cup. Westbrook added a putback and fastbreak layup, too. 

The game was tied at 57 at halftime. The Nuggets had 18 paint points, seven on the break, five via second chances, four off turnovers and 21 from the bench. Notably, the Nuggets took two more attempts from deep than Boston, the no. 1 team in 3-point volume and were shooting 18.7% higher.

The Celtics had 30 paint points, nine on the break, 10 via second chances, 16 off turnovers and 16 from the bench. 

Next, Jaylen Brown was unguardable on the dribble in the third quarter, so the Nuggets resorted to a zone defense. He made all four attempts within five feet of the cup. And Tatum eluded defenders with his handle and got loose on the break, making three shots in the restricted area and canned a trey. 

Westbrook and Christian Braun countered with three of five triples, but the rest of the squad made none in the third quarter. Porter got two scores in the lane and Julian Strawther added four points.

The fourth quarter started with the Nuggets down 88-83. Four of six baskets from Murray, Braun and Strawther tied the game. Yet, Boston responded by preventing the Nuggets from scoring on their next eight shots in three minutes. Additionally, Porziņģis logged a putback dunk, Jrue Holiday and Al Hordord dropped treys, Brown made a layup and Tatum nailed the pull-up jumper from 11-feet away over Peyton Watson to put the game out of reach.

The Nuggets lost 118-106. The Celtics outscored the Nuggets in three key areas: paint points 60-46, second chance points 22-11 and fastbreak points 17-11.

“We just beat ourselves too often tonight, and against the defending champs, it’s hard to overcome that,” Malone said. 

When asked where the game slipped away, Murray said it was the rebounding. 

Takeaways:

• Murray only made 20% of his 3-point attempts, but he was able to get to his spots inside the lane and at mid-range. Although the team needed a second-half encore he didn’t deliver on after 15 points before intermission. He had 19 points on eight of 17 attempts, with four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a turnover. 

• Westbrook’s attention to detail was too low, as he had eight turnovers. The last two pulled the team’s life support plug as the score was getting away from them, and they badly needed threes to fall. Still, he was their most productive offensive player, finishing with 26 points on 50% shooting, with nine rebounds, six assists, one steal and a block.

• The center rotation gave them nothing on offense. Šarić played only 16 minutes and was scoreless. DeAndre Jordan scored one point. And Zeke Nnaji was scoreless in nearly five minutes, too.

• The Nuggets were terrible in transition, scoring at a rate of 91.7 points per 100 plays, good enough for the 17 percentile of the stat in all games this season, per Cleaning the Glass.

As the Heat let go of a double overtime game in Sacramento, Bam Adebayo had another off night, looking unlike a max player, and Tyler Herro made critical mistakes. They had also led by 17 points in the fourth quarter and got outrebounded by seven, which allowed the hosts to take six extra shots in a close game, making two. 

It was Adebayo’s 14th game of the year, logging below 40% of his attempts. It’s harder to ignore his performance when Domantas Sabonis, who didn’t shoot well, put up 21 points with 18 rebounds and 11 offerings. 

Sacramento cut the Heat’s lead to nine with seven minutes left of the fourth. Adebayo checked in, missing an off-balance jumper and a tightly guarded 3-pointer. He ended the second half missing all five shots but made three of six across both extra periods.

Herro was bothered by multiple defenders, even failing to get the ball past half-court in time with 84 seconds left in the fourth quarter. And he missed Haywood Highsmith in the corner for the last shot of regulation, instead taking a difficult mid-range pull-up. 

Sabonis scored on Adebayo at close range and made a pick-and-pop triple in extra time. And DeMar DeRozan made all four shots in the second overtime. 

After the game, Adebayo lamented Sacramento’s prowess on the offensive glass. “That was the deciding factor in the game. [If] we cut off half of their offensive rebounds, second chance points, we win the game by double digits.”

Herro said the Kings ramped up the pressure in the fourth quarter. He also said DeRozan is a “great scorer, veteran. He’s been in a lot of close games, at the end where he’s had to finish, and he made a couple of tough shots.”

Takeaways:

• The team can’t depend on Jimmy Butler anymore, so Adebayo needs to snap out of his funk now. Ever since Brandon Anderson of the Action Network doubted his offensive game before the season, it’s become worse than a self-fulfilling prophecy. When he gets his confidence back, he’ll return to being one of the league’s best paint scorers.

• This was the third-worst 3-point shooting night of the season, making 26.2%. Sacramento‘s pressure was sharp, and they had an excellent defensive rating for the night, 101.7.

• Jaime Jaquez Jr. missed two free throws at the end of the first overtime, which could have extended the lead to three points. Keon Ellis scored one point on the next possession at the line to force the second over time. Adebayo fouled him because he bit on his pump fake.

The Heat were massacred by the Utah Jazz and mercy wasn’t even shown in the fourth quarter. Jimmy Butler was absent as he served the first night of his seven-game suspension, but he wouldn’t have prevented the Heat from getting smacked around on the glass 57-32. And Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo were no-shows.

“There wasn’t a whole lot we did well, or with purpose, or energy, or toughness tonight,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game.

Nikola Jović had a strong first quarter, hitting outside shots and scoring at the cup, and the Jazz missed their first eight of nine 3-point tries. Through 12 minutes, the game was tied at 22.

Then an avalanche started in the second quarter as Miami was outscored 40 to 19. The Jazz faced no resistance, scoring on 77% of attempts, while the Heat’s offense was impotent, making six of 20. Such a showing makes it hard to believe the Jazz had a 7-25 record before this game.

At halftime, the Heat was down 62-41. They had 24 paint points, 14 on the break, two via second chances and 10 off turnovers. Additionally, Adebayo missed all four attempts, and Herro was shut down to 33% shooting.

The Jazz had 36 paint points, four on the break, 11 via second chances and four off turnovers.

Then the Heat got smoked in the third quarter 36-25, but they had let go of the rope a few minutes in, when Keyonte George’s pull-up triple pushed the Jazz’s lead to 27 points. Not that it would’ve made much of a difference, but the hosts also missed six free throws in the period, proving how shell-shocked they were.

Utah didn’t take its foot off the gas in the fourth either, as the Heat’s background players took the floor. Brice Sensabaugh added 20 points, including five treys.

The Heat lost 136-100. It was the most points scored against them this season and the biggest margin of defeat. Before this game, the worst losses in margin were to Boston by 19 on Dec. 2, and by 19 to Orlando on Oct. 23.

After the game, Herro said, “We’re trying to put all that stuff past us, and worry about the guys in the locker room and the guys going out there on the court every night. Just trying to bring a collective spirit to rally around each other and help us win games.”

Observations:

• Jović showing some moves on the break and making three of five triples is perhaps the Heat’s lone bright spot.

• The team couldn’t stop John Collins’ rim attacks. And Lauri Markkanen’s length was difficult to maneuver around.

• The Jazz burned the point of attack defense for 16 of 39 3-pointers.

• The Jazz were the nastier team, outscoring the Heat in second chance points 21-6.

There’s a saying out there: “relationships matter.” In a league where perception can be everything, how a franchise treats its stars can define its legacy just as much as wins and losses. For the Miami Heat, the time has come to make a decision about Jimmy Butler, a player who has carried this franchise to heights it had no business reaching. 

Yes, Butler is 35. Yes, his basketball career has more years behind it than it does ahead of it. Thing is, the same can be said for Pat Riley, Micky Arison, and some of the other more tenured members of the Miami Heat basketball operations. The question now is: will Miami do right by Jimmy Butler, not just for him, but for the future of this franchise? 

A History of Complicated Endings 

Miami’s history with star players hasn’t always been smooth. 

• Alonzo Mourning left for New Jersey when Miami didn’t meet his terms. Zo returned, of course, to win a championship in 2006, but there was a time when the separation seemed permanent. He is now part of the Heat’s front office, but that fracture required healing. 
• Shaquille O’Neal, Miami’s first true mega-star who delivered his promise of bringing the city its first NBA championship, almost came to blows with Pat Riley and eventually saw his tenure end in turmoil when he was traded to Phoenix. 
• LeBron James? Probably the most publicized breakup in NBA history. LeBron’s return to Cleveland left a sour taste, with tensions flaring on both sides to the point that Miami just now, 10 years after LeBron left, signed a Klutch Sports client in Alec Burks. 
• And then there’s Dwyane Wade, the icon who should have never worn another jersey. That hurt lingers, even after his triumphant return to finish his career where it started. 

For a franchise that prides itself on loyalty and culture, these separations have often sent the wrong message to the league. They’ve been loyal with several of their role players, who eventually returned to become assistant coaches or vital parts of the organization. How come when it comes to some of their biggest stars, things go down a different path? The lesson? Relationships matter, and how you handle a star’s twilight years reverberates beyond one player. 

Jimmy Butler’s Legacy 

Jimmy Butler isn’t just some fringe star. He’s been the heart and soul of Miami’s resurgence. This is a player who, in his tenure, has dragged an overachieving team to two NBA Finals, once as a 5-seed and once as an 8-seed. He’s also delivered countless unforgettable and historic

playoff performances while making this organization relevant again. He’s done this without a “superstar” co-star, with rosters that have been patched together through development and grit. No excuses. No shortcuts. Just Jimmy being Jimmy. 

And now, Butler has made his desires clear: he wants to remain in Miami and finish his career here…as long as he is paid his worth and to have the chance to compete at the highest level. 

Should Miami give Butler the two-year max extension he’s reportedly seeking? Maybe not. But something close—like a 3-year, $135 million deal—feels like the right balance between honoring his contributions and keeping flexibility towards surrounding him with the pieces needed that’ll push them over the mountaintop. 

The NBA is watching. Stars across the league notice how organizations treat their players. Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, Miami’s future pillars, are watching too. If Miami mishandles this situation, it sends a message about what they value and how they operate. 

Pat Riley, the architect of this dynasty, is 79. The “Godfather” deserves to go out with one last championship run. Jimmy Butler gives him that chance. 

Riley’s style has never been universally loved. He’s relentless, sometimes abrasive, and always demanding. But it works. 

His regrets? He’d never admit to them, but the way things ended with Wade probably tops the list. 

That is why they need to capitalize and understand that this could be Riley’s last shot to secure Miami’s fourth title, and Butler is the player to build around. Extend him, surround him with the right pieces, and let him lead Miami into the sunset of Riley’s career. 

Extending him reinforces the belief that this organization not only rewards those who give everything for the cause. It also proves to many that are watching that they’re going all in. 

Pay Jimmy Butler. The league is watching. Your future is watching.

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Geo Valdez can be found at @GeoValdez_ on Twitter and @CoachGeo_ on Instagram.

He is the founder of Transfiguration Fitness, a premier fitness and wellness brand specializing in personalized training, nutrition assistance and performance coaching.

Learn more at www.coachgeo.training