Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Suns outshine the touring Heat

Kevin Love carried the Heat early, supplying 15 points, firing behind the arc, facing up in the post and cutting to the basket on a perfect five attempts. Kyle Lowry splashed a pair of triples. Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored off three back door cuts. But the Suns, without Kevin Durant, devoured the Heat’s Jimmy Butler-less defenses and held the visitors to its season low of 97 points. (Butler was absent with right toe irritation, and Caleb Martin was too with a right ankle sprain.)

Phoenix’s Grayson Allen burned the Heat for unnecessarily abandoning the corner twice, plus canned a transition trifecta and his last was against drop coverage. Devin Booker added 10 points on four of six shots from all three areas of the halfcourt.

In the second quarter, JJJ, Nikola Jovic, Duncan Robinson, Lowry, and Tyler Herro logged a donut. However, Bam Adebayo was the source of the offense, powering past multiple defenders on the baseline and in the lane, hitting a reverse layup over Drew Eubanks, swishing a couple of jumpers at the nail and slamming a lob on the roll, fed by Herro. Counting his five freebies, he totaled 17 of the Heat’s 26 points in the frame, and only Josh Richardson recorded a field goal, aside from Adebayo’s six.

Defensively, no formulas stopped Allen from connecting on three more trays and blowing past Love for a finger roll layup. In this period, the Heat flashed the zone and man coverage, yielding four of five baskets in the restricted area. Additionally, Bradley Beal and Booker combined for 14 points on 54% shooting, getting to the paint whenever they wanted.

At halftime, the Heat were down 55-62, with 18 paint points plus four off turnovers and zero scored on the break. The guests were behind on the glass by two but took 12 extra free throws and converted 46.2% of its field goals.

In the third quarter, the offense made three buckets in a row, then subsided, failing on nine straight, courtesy of the Suns’ defense. Herro and Lowry were useless, registering no points. All eight attempts from the left side missed as the Heat produced on just 29.2% of its looks.

Within four minutes, the crew was down 17 to the Suns. Booker was contained, but Chimezie Metu, Bol Bol, Eubanks and Beal didn’t miss on nine tries.

The final quarter was a disaster shooting from the perimeter, making only two of 10 triples. Yet, Adebayo plowed into the paint for a dunk, lob off the roll and floater in transition. Getting within 13 points with six minutes left was as close as the Heatles got in the period to threatening the lead.

The Heat lost 97-113 in a match that featured 14 first-half lead changes. The offense produced 94.4 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 40th percentile of all games this season, per Cleaning the Glass.

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra said the hosts were getting lots of easy baskets in the first half which established their momentum in the second. “At the start of the third, when we weren’t knocking down shots, now you’re dealing with a team that had great flow, great confidence, and they were just able to play with ease pretty much offensively in that second half.”

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