Heat's Jimmy Butler makes preseason statement (with his look, as well) in victory over Hawks

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Oct 16, 2024

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MIAMI — Jimmy Butler came to play.

In the preseason, no less.

Few signs could be more encouraging for the Miami Heat at this time of year.

In 20:55, on a night he was pulled for good early in the third period, Butler was active and aggressive with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting and three steals in Wednesday night’s 120-111 exhibition victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center.

“Jimmy just wanted to make sure he had a couple of moments tonight,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

That he did.

“Super efficient,” Spoelstra said of Butler’s offense, “activity level defensively, too. Yeah, he’s a super unique player, how he can do both things at such a unique level.”

After missing 22 games last season and then being sidelined for the playoffs with a knee injury, Butler made his fourth appearance of the preseason, his high since joining the Heat in the 2019 offseason.

Not only was the shot on point, including conversions on both of his 3-point attempts, but so was the spirit.

Butler added a bit of levity to the night by mimicking the look of teammate Terry Rozier, including sleeves on his left leg and left arm, wristband on his right wrist, and purple sneakers similar to Rozier’s.

And, yes, Rozier was quite aware of the imitation — and flattery.

“I thought it was cool,” he said. “It was dope. It worked.”

Spoelstra didn’t notice, but said, “As long as he’s not wearing the same stuff the head coach is wearing, I’m cool with it.”

Among the starters, Tyler Herro added 19, five assists and five rebounds.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s exhibition against the Hawks:

— 1. Back at it: How committed are the Heat to their presumptive opening-night lineup? Even on the second night of the back-to-back set that opened with Tuesday night’s victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs, the Heat remained with a starting lineup of Butler, Herro, Rozier, Bam Adebayo and Nikola Jovic.

That quintet outscored the Hawks by one during their initial 8:54 stint, by three in their second 7:25 stint, and then by four in their final 4:36 stint.

It was the third time in four exhibitions the Heat opened with those five, the exception being when Herro was unavailable for the preseason opener due to a groin strain, with the other four also starting that game.

Adebayo closed with seven points and seven rebounds in 23:06.

— 2. Line change: As has been Spoelstra’s approach throughout this preseason, the Heat again went with a five-man line shift, this time with Thomas Bryant, Haywood Highsmith, Alec Burks, Duncan Robinson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. entering together late in the opening period.

Point guard Dru Smith later worked in with that mix, in place of Burks, putting 11 in the first-half rotation. Veteran center Kevin Love joined the primary mix in the third quarter.

“We have a lot of weapons on this team,” Spoelstra said.

— 3. The Highsmith factor: While the second unit had Jaquez at point guard, the role Smith had been handling with the second unit, it was Highsmith who took the defensive assignment against Trae Young.

With Highsmith also providing 3-pointers, it is becoming increasingly clear that he likely will set up in the role previously held by Caleb Martin, of entering to defend the opposition’s best wing and provide 3-point spacing.

“I say this as such a high compliment,” Spoelstra said, “he’s the utility infielder. You can plug him in a lot of places defensively and he makes your defense better.”

No sooner was Martin lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency then Highsmith was re-signed to a two-year, $10.8 million contract.

Highsmith closed with 16 points in 17:23.

— 4. No days off: The game was a makeup from last week’s postponement due to Hurricane Milton. That had both teams playing in a back-to-back.

For the Heat, it closed the set that began with Tuesday’s victory over the Spurs. For the Hawks it was the first game of a set that concludes Thursday on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Due in part to that scheduling, the Hawks were without No. 1 overall draft pick Zaccharie Risacher, Bogdan Bogdanović, De’Andre Hunter, Onyeka Okongwu, Dominick Barlow, Seth Lundy and former Heat center Cody Zeller.

Atlanta then lost starting center Clint Capela in the first period due to ankle soreness.

— 5. And finally: The Heat conclude their five-game preseason, and their stretch of four exhibitions in six days, with a Friday game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum, when the bulk of the rotation is expected to be given the night off.

That will be followed by Saturday’s 5 p.m. waiver deadline to reduce to no more than 18 players for Wednesday night’s season opener against the visiting Orlando Magic. The Heat currently are at the NBA offseason maximum of 21 players.