On Tuesday, the Heat survived being undermanned and a meltdown of one of their own. Without Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin, Miami beat the Oklahoma City Thunder by a point in a match that had 10 lead changes, six ties, as well as personal and team records set.

To dictate evening affairs within the first few minutes, Miami had pierced the lane for 10 of its first 13 points. The only outside shot was a Max Strus triple, created by Jimmy Butler absorbing the defense on a post-up and having the ball swing outside until it reached mad Max in the corner.

The hosts sliced up the point-of-attack defense, found a weak spot in the post, plus logged two points off a recovery. On the second score for Miami, Orlando Robinson caught the ball a few feet from the basket following OKC’s blitz on Gabe Vincent. Swarmed by Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Miami’s backup big man canned a four-foot hook shot.

Then, Strus took Jalen Williams off the dribble on the left wing for a lane floater in between SGA along with his initial defender.

The Heat bricked back-to-back triples in the same possession, but Haywood Highsmith, camping on the right baseline, recouped a second miss and went back up for a layup, using his left shoulder as a shield.

Pick and roll with Butler and Robinson sucked in the OKC’s 2-3 zone. Next, Butler passed to Vincent on the right wing. The opening in front allowed him into probe the lane for a shot at the cup.

As Giddey punctured the paint in transition, Robinson intercepted his pass to Eugene Omoruyi, sparking a boat race for Butler in the open court. In the interior, he muscled past SGA for a one-foot layup. Timeout OKC.

The Heat had defensive lapses in the first half, but stunningly, the Thunder recorded 56 points for the period. Max Strus fouled a 3-point shooter. Miami’s 2-3 zone was dissected allowing multiple backdoor cuts, which led to a spat between coach and pupil.

As Dewayne Dedmon was subbed out for Robinson a few minutes into the second quarter, Heat assistant coach Caron Butler scolded him for his ghastly zone coverage after giving up the baseline multiple times. Then D-Mac lost his cool. He whined at coach Spo before getting told to bounce to the locker room. On his way to the dressers, he smacked a surface that catapulted a massage gun onto the floor, stopping regulation. The refs then formally ejected him.

Dedmon’s insolence could have caused a young team or a damaged outfit to nosedive in the game after his theatrics. Fortunately for the Heat, even without combustible firepower or with their backup big’s volatile sideline crisis, they had enough against a rebuilding squad.

Yet, Miami’s ace through four quarters was Butler. He converted all 14 free throws in the first half and would finish the game a flawless 23 out of 23 from the charity stripe. His production tied Dwyane Wade’s record for most free throws made by a Heat player in a game set on Feb.1, 2007. This kind of action was like watching Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans disembowel a defensive line.

Butler’s dominion of the stripe assisted the Heat defensively because it took away fastbreak opportunities that the Thunder usually thrive in. OKC is third in the NBA in pace (102.35). On Tuesday, Miami slowed them down to nearly two points below their average (1.85) and shockingly scored more in the open court than the visitors (14-13).

The second half was ugly. Miami made only 33.3% of its field goals and 29.4% of its triples and was outrebounded 27-19. No one aside from Butler recorded more than three baskets (4) in the last 24 minutes.

In the fourth quarter, Strus, Vincent and Victor Oladipo played every minute. While down 96-91 with eight minutes left, OKC committed a clear path foul against Vic, giving him two freebies with Miami keeping possession. Oladipo buried both; then he hoisted up a 3-pointer from the left wing that missed. Strus back-tapped an offensive rebound to Vincent at the top of the key. Gabe took one dribble forward, splashed the triple, and one more at the line after a foul by Tre Mann to complete a six-point swing.

With 53.1 seconds left, the Heatles were down five points. An Oladipo transition triple on the left wing, two missed freebies by OKC’s Kenrich Williams, and Butler’s bucket plus his 23rd free throw, dug Miami out of its grave. That last point to put Miami over at 112-111 was Miami’s 40th attempted and made free throw of the night, setting a new NBA record.

After the game, Spo said he and his staff were enjoying being 1-0 in the second half of the season and that going to the presser was a buzzkill. On what occurred, he said, “To be able to get 23 free throws reminds me of another guy.”

Butler, as usual, was more excited about the dub than records. “I’m proud of my guys, and I hope my other guys get healthy so we can get back out there and compete as well.”

Without the headliners, the Heat beat the Timberwolves at home and improved to a .500 record (17-17) for the fourth time this season. It was the first night since Dec. 5 that Miami wasn’t a victim of the infamous turd quarter. 

Magnificently, while Miami was off target from the perimeter during the first half, they clobbered the Wolves inside and finished 18 out of 24 shots.  In this period, Minnesota couldn’t stay in front of Tyler Herro when he focused on the interior.  He used a Nikola Jović screen to dust D’Angelo Russell and snake dribbled into the lane for a floater.  

On his next pair of buckets, he drove left past Austin Rivers at the top of the key for an uncontested finish at the cup. On his last make of the first half, Herro isolated Rivers at the key.  Haywood Highsmith came curling from the post to set a pick, but #14 rejected it, reset, then drove left again past his matchup for a pull-up jumper in the paint.

Ahead of the intermission, Heat rookie Orlando Robinson logged 10 points on five out of six tries, plus six rebounds.  He ran inverted pick and roll with Victor Oladipo, and slammed the rock inside after the reception on his first evening score.  Another of his buckets came as the roll man after freeing up his teammate. Three more baskets were putbacks after diving to the rim.

Undermanned and up three points at halftime, in the middle of the madness of key players out of the lineup, the Heat likely found their backup center.  Because of injuries and matchups, the reserve five spot has been a revolving door this campaign.  Robinson’s recent work as a screener, roller and rebounder immediately makes him the best Robinson on the team and the main option at center when Adebayo sits and the team waits for Ömer Yurtseven to return from his ankle injury.

Max Strus finding his jumper and contributing five triples on 50% shooting, in addition to two dunks on cuts from the baseline, was also instrumental in Miami’s dub.  

As a unit, the Heat protected the ball well, only allowing nine turnovers (league average is 14.7) and four fastbreak points.  Minnesota’s 22 turnovers, nine of them coming off Miami steals, is the primary reason why the home team finished a three-point game taking 23 more shots.  In the second half, both squads scored 54 points, but the visitors shot 14.8% better from the field and 16.3% higher from 3-point range.

 It was surprisingly one of Miami’s finest wins of the season.  On most occasions, when a group is down their two best players, I am conditioned to expect them to lose.  Even with Minnesota having Karl-Anthony Towns absent with an injured calf, the Wolves still had two All-Star caliber players on the floor in Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert.

Up three points and with 2.5 seconds left, Miami was curiously defending a Jaden McDaniels sideline out-of-bounds pass with Kyle Lowry, the shortest man on the floor.  Luckily for the hosts, the entry pass was a bit wide to a cutting Russell, who couldn’t secure it.  Lowry got a swipe on the ball; then Victor Oladipo flung it into the air.  Next, the curtains closed.

The Heat still has a long way to go before they climb out of purgatory.

Decent teams don’t lose at home by 20 to a six-win group in December. Congratulations to the Detroit Pistons for its seventh win of the season. This is a genuine compliment. They did a tremendous service to observers watching the home outfit.

Whoever follows the Heat, if they needed another reason not to take this team seriously, they now have one. It doesn’t matter that Miami was missing Jimmy Butler. Detroit only had two road wins before they rolled into FTX(?) Arena and the visitors delivered the Heat its fifth home loss of the year.

Let’s not forget how last season, the Heat didn’t have that many Ls in its building until Jan.15.

It was dreadful enough that on Monday night, Miami couldn’t hang with a Grizzlies team down three starters. On Tuesday, the Heatles started the game shooting well from the field, ending the period with a 16.7-point differential in shooting percentage in their favor.

Yet, after 12 minutes, Miami was just up five points because they were recklessly taking care of the ball.

Defensively, Miami’s 2-3 zone was about as fierce as a golden retriever. The Heat barely had a three-point lead at halftime, thanks to Herro making all seven field goal attempts for 21 points in the period.

In the second half, Detroit connected on half of its 3-pointers, making 10. Six of those triples were splashed by Bojan Bogdanović. His pump fake at the top of the key even got Adebayo to leave his feet. Bojan then found Killian Hayes in the right corner for a give-and-go he finished as he avoided taking a charge under the rim.

While Detroit was inbounding under the basket, Miami was set up in its usual zone. Hayes noticed Herro too far from Bogdanović in the left corner and zipped a pass to his man. Tyler, too, bit on the Croatian sniper’s outside fake, leaping into the personal space of his teammates on the bench. Bojan dribbled to the post and converted a jumper over Max Strus and Herro, who managed to get back to the frame.

What the Pistons did to the Heat was a humbling reminder that botching defensive assignments will make solid players like Bogdanović resemble an all-time marksman like Klay Thompson. Debacles such as this often send supporters home frustrated over why they paid good money to see that when they could have stayed at home.

Victor Oladipo’s return was upstaged by a team who will likely pick at the top of the lottery in late June. In his 18 minutes, his speed was still there, and he could create separation easily. He made 2/5 jump shots and missed some makeable layups under the cup. He finished 3/9 from the field.

The hope traffickers might cling to the fact that only 30% of the season has passed and that picking up lost ground is achievable. Perhaps. But a few more nights like their last two is a fail-safe course on having guys mentally check out.

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For more on the Heat’s struggles, check out the latest episode of Five on the Floor.

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What’s most concerning is that this season is starting to feel similar to the Heat’s 2020/2021 campaign. Through 25 games that year, Miami’s record was 11-14. The same as what it is now.

The Heatles’ window, if it isn’t shut already, can’t afford to waste the precious time Butler is still a top player. Part of the reason he is still in that condition is because he’s played fewer chunks of the season each year since he arrived. Miami doesn’t have enough firepower to have continued success without him. As my colleague Ethan Skolnick pointed out in early October, he’ll likely never play at least three-quarters of a year again.

Aside from a heaven-sent trade, there aren’t many options to improve because ownership’s checkbook is aching. The Heat have a couple of draft picks available to deal, but they shouldn’t give those up unless the team is guaranteed to be right back in the thick of it. It doesn’t seem likely because for Miami to take back a good player, who is probably not on their rookie deal, they’d have to attach either Lowry or Duncan Robinson with a first-rounder and Herro.

If things don’t improve with Butler, the Heat might be stuck until Lowry is off the books in 2024. JB will turn 35 that September.

The team has committed to Adebayo and Herro long-term. Keeping those FRPs should be the priority to help build around them with quality and cheap labor as they keep ascending. The Heat are going to have to get better with what they have. Don’t kill the messenger.