Heat bounce back with 119-104 win in Houston in Tyler Herro’s (17-point) return
HOUSTON – It was a back-to-back set that could have been a backbreaker for the Miami Heat. And it certainly felt that way at the start of the pairing, with Thursday night’s home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Instead, a night after blowing a late lead, the Heat built on a late lead to push past the Houston Rockets 119-104 Friday night at Toyota Center.
While the stakes weren’t as high as a night earlier, the victory put the Heat in a better frame of mind heading into Sunday’s showdown against the Indiana Pacers on the second stop of this three-game trip. The winner of that game will secure the inside track on the No. 6 seed in the East, with the Heat-Pacers three-game season series tied 1-1.
With Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo setting the tone, and with Tyler Herro returning from a 20-game absence with a flourish, the Heat made it eight wins in their last 12 games.
Afforded the opportunity to take the fourth quarter off, Butler closed with 22 points. The Heat also got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Adebayo, as well as 17 points from Herro in his return.
Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:
1. Closing time: It was tied 27-27 after the first period, with the Heat then taking a 64-59 lead into halftime.
The Heat then went up 13 points in the third period and took a 93-83 lead into the fourth.
With Butler on the bench, the Rockets then got within four early in the final period, before Herro helped push the Heat to a 110-96 lead with 6:09 to play.
Eventually the Heat pushed the lead to 18.
2. Herro time: Herro was back in action for the first time since Feb. 23 when he entered for Rozier with 3:42 to play in the opening period. Herro could have entered earlier, but there was confusion whether he was entering for Butler, who was at the line at the time.
Herro converted his first shot, a 13-foot jumper with 1:05 left in the opening period, and appeared comfortable being on the ball as the de facto backup point guard, with a team-high four first-half assists.
It wasn’t necessarily the most efficient return, with Herro scoring his first 12 points on 13 shots.
3. Rotation alteration: With Herro back and with the Heat playing on the second night of a back-to-back, coach Erik Spoelstra went 10 deep in the first quarter.
After Butler, Adebayo, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson and Nikola Jovic started, the first five off the bench, in order, were Caleb Martin, Kevin Love, Herro, Haywood Highsmth and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
The approach had Jovic back to a role of starting each half and then stepping aside, until a cameo during mop-up time.
4. Attack mode: Surprisingly passive Thursday night against the 76ers and the defense of former Heat teammate Kyle Lowry, Butler this time was demanding from the outset.
He closed the first period with 10 points, at 3 of 6 from the field and 4 of 4 from the line.
He was up to 15 points at the intermission and at his 22 through three quarters.
He closed 6 of 14 from the field, including 2 of 6 on 3-pointers, as well as 8 of 8 from the line.
5. The playoff race: With the Indiana Pacers (44-34) defeating the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, the Heat (43-34) ended the night where they started, at No. 7 in the East, now a game ahead of the No. 8 76ers (42-35).
The Heat have five games remaining: Sunday at Indiana, Tuesday at Atlanta, Wednesday at home against Dallas, and then a pair of games against Toronto at home to close out the regular season, on April 12 and 14.
