Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Hungry ‘Wolves takeover in second half

The Minnesota Timberwolves upstaged Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro’s return from two and five-week-long absences. In the second half, the Heat was shut down and couldn’t restrain Anthony Edwards from slicing the lane and spraying jumpers over defenders. It was a disappointing development for the hosts, who at one point led by 17 in the first half* against the West’s top team.

Yet, early, Herro converted four consecutive floaters attacking Gobert in drop coverage, showing zero signs of rust. Adebayo logged six points with his stroke and seizure of the lane. Jimmy Butler hoisted from deep and midrange, plus blew by Michael Conley on the baseline and powered past Nickeil Alexander-Walker into the square for a sweeping hook.

The Kaseya Center was electrified by the Heat’s 66 first-half points on 58.1% shooting. Jaime Jaquez Jr. only had three tries but made two with one bulldozing past Edwards for a bank shot. But the l precision had overshadowed poor ball protection as Miami lost it nine times in 24 minutes. Additionally, Minnesota scored freely against man and zone coverage.

At intermission, Miami was ahead by a dozen with 19 points scored off turnovers. Herro was its leading scorer with 17 on seven of nine shots, followed by Butler with 12 points and Adebayo’s 11.

In the third, the Timberwolves contested cleanly against Herro’s trays and stuck close to him for misses in the open court. The Heat were neutralized outside of the paint and held to 17 points, making 36.8% of attempts.

For Minnesota, Edwards pulled up on the left wing for a triple in Butler’s eye, accelerated past Herro in transition and hit a fader over Haywood Highsmith at the nail.

The fourth began with Miami up six, but then it had its worst defensive sequence of the evening, again late. Miami surrendered the corners twice, failed to stop dribble penetration, was beat on the break and caught on screens + mismatches. Also, coach Erik Spoelstra subbed Butler back in late, with under five minutes left in regulation. He had played the entire third frame, but in a close match, he was needed sooner.

With over a minute left and Miami down one, Karl-Anthony Towns soared over Butler on the baseline for Edwards’ missed triple, took a dribble, and flicked the rock to the uncovered Gobert for a lob.

Edwards took over in Butler’s house as Donovan Mitchell did on Dec. 8 when the Cavaliers stunned the Heat. Ant-Man supplied five of seven baskets and, in the crucible, canned a fadeaway over Josh Richardson in the post to give the ‘Wolves a three-point cushion with 25.6 seconds left.

Out of a sideline inbound, Adebayo fed Butler, who got loose to the right wing but was met by Anderson after the catch. With 22 seconds on the timer, Butler foolishly misfired into the hands of Gobert. The free throw formality followed, but Miami was done.

The Timberwolves won 112-108. Edwards finished with 32 points on 13 of 25 shots. Towns had 18 on his scorecard with eight boards.

For Miami, Herro logged 25 points on 55% field goal efficiency. Adebayo had 22 on 45% accuracy.

Coach Erik Spoelstra said postgame that Minnesota buckled down in the last two periods and that Rudy Gobert was a major deterrent for any actions run in the fourth quarter. As he continued, he mentioned how Edwards was unstoppable.

“[Edwards] was terrific,” Spoelstra said. “He did it in a lot of different ways, so it wasn’t as if we could send a second defender in every single situation…”

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