Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro bail out the Heat in Brooklyn after an atrocious first half

On the second night of a back-to-back set in Brooklyn, the Heat produced its worst output of the season (31 points) in the first half of Jimmy Butler’s return. He had 10 points at intermission on a backdoor feed, plus two layups, but the offense was stuck in the mud, going uphill while jammed in second gear. The Nets were holding the visitors to 26.2% shooting and no baskets outside of the paint.

For the hosts, Nic Claxton finished over mismatches and broke the zone for a slam. Cam Thomas scored at close and long range in transition and evaded defenders for lane access in the halfcourt. And Bridges disposed of Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith and Nikola Jović for four of six baskets inside the arc.

At the break, the Brooklyn squad led 45-31. The guests had recorded just six fastbreak points to the Nets’ 16 and had zero second-chance marks to the hosts’ seven. Eight extra boards gave the Nets seven more tries on the goal, and its bench was outscoring the Heat’s 18-5.

Then the Heat’s offense went off like a grenade, notching 37 points in the third quarter, ignited by Herro’s consecutive triples on the break. He continued carbonizing drop coverage and connecting on a 14-foot floater in Dorian Finney-Smith’s eye, totaling a dozen points for the interval. And Butler converted all three attempts, endlessly drawing contact to the hole like a running back punishing defenders at the line of scrimmage. He accumulated 14 points

Defensively, the Heat permitted four of 12 triples and were disruptive near the hoop. Adebayo switched on to Bridges, denying his jumper at the elbow, and Butler + Lowry came up with steals.

Four possessions were wasted in the fourth off with a careless pass by Kyle Lowry into a defender’s chest, Adebayo getting ripped and setting an illegal screen and Caleb Martin traveling. But the Heat held the Nets to five of 21 shots, and Herro nailed consecutive baskets with under a minute left- a floater at the right elbow and another from 13 feet out on the left side- to force overtime.

In the extra period, Brooklyn’s Thomas beat Martin on the baseline, and Royce O’Neale swished a right-wing trifecta after the Heat blitzed up top to take a five-point lead. Next, Herro canned a right-wing banger in transition (unbelievable he wasn’t tagged).

Subsequently, Bridges received the sideline inbound, dribbling past Richardson to the paint for a turnaround jumper. The Nets led 95-91.

On the following sequence, Herro made another at the top of the key 3-pointer on a broken play when multiple defenders unsuccessfully swarmed Adebayo at the nail. When the Nets got the ball back, Bridges charged into the paint against help for a vain floater that Claxton illegally touched.

Butler then isolated Dennis Smith Jr., drawing a foul en route to the cup and buried both. The Nets still had a timeout left, but coach Jacque Vaughn didn’t use it to advance the ball up the floor. Bridges got it back, challenging three defenders for a failing jumper.

The Heat won 96-95, making 37.9% of tries with 17 fastbreak points, four off second chances and eight via turnovers. Butler had 31 on his ledger on 67% shooting and 15 of 16 made freebies. Herro recorded 29 points on half of his attempts with 11 rebounds and assisted in the on-court interview.

“It wasn’t easy in the first half,” Herro said. “Not easy in the second half either, but to come in, regroup at halftime and come in and take care of business in the second half, that’s who we are and what we do, and it’s a great win for us on the second night [of a back-to-back].

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra joked his team didn’t get the win out of the mud but instead cement. “You see that first half? That was about as ugly as it could get… So now that’s three games where we held our opponents under 100. Two out of the three have been in the mud, and that’s progress for our team.”

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