Heat competitive but unable to finish in 115-112 loss to Suns

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Nov 6, 2024

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This time the Miami Heat survived the third quarter.

What they couldn’t handle was the fight to the finish. Not with Kevin Durant on the other side.

And, so, it remains a season still in search of a quality win, Erik Spoelstra’s team falling to 3-4 with a 115-112 loss Wednesday night to the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center.

Despite a 28-point performance by Tyler Herro, a 15-point lead built in the third quarter, and an unexpected bench boost from Haywood Highsmith, the Heat lacked enough to stop the Suns from moving to 7-1.

While Herro was the lone Heat starter to score 20 or more, the Suns got 32 points from Durant, 22 from Devin Booker and 20 from Jusuf Nurkic.

By contrast, the Heat endured a night when center Bam Adebayo shot 5 of 21 — albeit with a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double — and got just 15 points from Jimmy Butler and seven from Terry Rozier. Those struggles were somewhat offset by 19 points from Highsmith.

The Heat’s six-game trip continues Friday night against the Denver Nuggets.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday Monday night’s game:

— 1. Closing time: The Suns led 26-25 after the first period, with the Heat then taking a 58-55 lead into the intermission. From there, the Heat moved up 15 in the third quarter and went into the fourth up 87-84.

While the Suns eventually would go up five midway through the final period, the Heat would bounce back to tie it only to see Bradley Beal put the Suns up 106-103 with 3:52 to play. From there, a Durant 12-foot jumper put Phoenix up 108-103.

A Butler dunk drew the Heat within 108-105, only to see Durant score on the other end to keep the Suns’ lead at five.

A pair of Rozier free throws got the Heat within 110-107 with 61 seconds left, only to see Durant get to the line for two free throws of his own with 44.8 seconds to play.

Highsmith followed with a 3-point play to get the Heat within 112-110 with 33.2 seconds left.

Durant again countered, this time with a 21-foot jumper with 16.8 seconds left for a 114-110 Suns lead.

A Herro layup moved the Heat within 114-112 with 10 seconds to play.

Off a timeout, Booker got to the line with 4.8 seconds to play, missing the first and making the second for a 115-112 Suns lead.

With a chance to tie with a 3-pointer off their last timeout with those 4.8 seconds to play, the Heat were unable to get a shot off before the expiration of time.

— 2. Alternate reality: In the wake of consistently shaky play in the third quarter of the opening six games, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra this time shook up his lineup coming out of halftime.

After starting Herro, Butler, Adebayo, Rozier and Nikola Jovic for the seventh time in as many games this season, Spoelstra opened the second half with Highsmith starting in place of Jovic.

Jovic played a single stint in the first half, with four points and five rebounds in 5:16.

Highsmith then came out with five points in the first 2:45 of the third period, with his seventh point of the period putting the Heat up 78-67 and leading to a Suns timeout.

Still it wasn’t exactly sustained third-quarter success, with Phoenix closing the period with a 15-3 run.

— 3. Ware time: Spolestra continued to tinker with his rotation, again necessitated with Jaime Jaquez Jr. out for a second consecutive game with a stomach illness.

This time it was Pelle Larsson and Highsmith first off the Heat bench. Duncan Robinson also entered in the first quarter as part of a nine-deep rotation in the opening period.

But the surprise was first-round pick Kel’el Ware, the center taken No. 15 out of Indiana in June, playing as the first big man off the bench.

After consistently going with Thomas Bryant amid Kevin Love’s absence since the start of the season, Spoelstra this time inserted Ware when Adebayo checked out in the first period.

Prior to Wednesday night, Ware had been limited to two appearances for nine minutes of mop-up duty.

— 4. Rough start: While it wasn’t exactly a head-to-head matchup, with Adebayo opening defensively on Durant, it was not the best of early outcomes for the Heat in the matchup in the middle.

Nurkic stood with 14 points and 12 rebounds at the intermission, a stage when Adebayo stood at 3 of 15 from the field, albeit with seven rebounds.

Adebayo missed his first seven shots and stood at 4 of 19 from the field through three quarters.

— 5. By contrast: And then there was Herro, with yet another solid start.

This time Herro was up to 14 points at halftime, doing it efficiently at 3 of 5 from the field, 3 of 4 on 3-pointers and 5 of 5 on free throws, along with three assists.

Herro’s early play was needed with backcourt partner Rozier limited to two first-half points.

Herro had 24 points going into the fourth quarter.