This time the Miami Heat survived the third quarter.
\nWhat they couldn’t handle was the fight to the finish. Not with Kevin Durant on the other side.<\/p>\n
And, so, it remains a season still in search of a quality win, Erik Spoelstra’s team
\nfalling to 3-4 with a 115-112 loss Wednesday night to the Phoenix Suns at
\nFootprint Center.
\nDespite a 28-point performance by Tyler Herro, a 15-point lead built in the third
\nquarter, and an unexpected bench boost from Haywood Highsmith, the Heat
\nlacked enough to stop the Suns from moving to 7-1.
\nWhile Herro was the lone Heat starter to score 20 or more, the Suns got 32 points
\nfrom Durant, 22 from Devin Booker and 20 from Jusuf Nurkic.
\nBy contrast, the Heat endured a night when center Bam Adebayo shot 5 of 21 –
\nalbeit with a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double – and got just 15 points from
\nJimmy Butler and seven from Terry Rozier. Those struggles were somewhat offset
\nby 19 points from Highsmith.
\nThe Heat’s six-game trip continues Friday night against the Denver Nuggets.
\nFIVE DEGREES OF HEAT FROM WEDNESDAY MONDAY NIGHT’S GAME:
\n– 1. Closing time: The Suns led 26-25 after the first period, with the Heat then
\ntaking a 58-55 lead into the intermission. From there, the Heat moved up 15 in
\nthe third quarter and went into the fourth up 87-84.
\nWhile the Suns eventually would go up five midway through the final period, the
\nHeat would bounce back to tie it only to see Bradley Beal put the Suns up 106-103
\nwith 3:52 to play. From there, a Durant 12-foot jumper put Phoenix up 108-103.
\nA Butler dunk drew the Heat within 108-105, only to see Durant score on the
\nother end to keep the Suns’ lead at five.
\nA pair of Rozier free throws got the Heat within 110-107 with 61 seconds left, only
\nto see Durant get to the line for two free throws of his own with 44.8 seconds to
\nplay<\/p>\n
Highsmith followed with a 3-point play to get the Heat within 112-110 with 33.2
\nseconds left.
\nDurant again countered, this time with a 21-foot jumper with 16.8 seconds left for
\na 114-110 Suns lead.
\nA Herro layup moved the Heat within 114-112 with 10 seconds to play.
\nOff a timeout, Booker got to the line with 4.8 seconds to play, missing the first and
\nmaking the second for a 115-112 Suns lead.
\nWith a chance to tie with a 3-pointer off their last timeout with those 4.8 seconds
\nto play, the Heat were unable to get a shot off before the expiration of time.
\n– 2. Alternate reality: In the wake of consistently shaky play in the third quarter of
\nthe opening six games, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra this time shook up his lineup
\ncoming out of halftime.
\nAfter starting Herro, Butler, Adebayo, Rozier and Nikola Jovic for the seventh time
\nin as many games this season, Spoelstra opened the second half with Highsmith
\nstarting in place of Jovic.
\nJovic played a single stint in the first half, with four points and five rebounds in
\n5:16.
\nHighsmith then came out with five points in the first 2:45 of the third period, with
\nhis seventh point of the period putting the Heat up 78-67 and leading to a Suns
\ntimeout.
\nStill it wasn’t exactly sustained third-quarter success, with Phoenix closing the
\nperiod with a 15-3 run.
\n– 3. Ware time: Spolestra continued to tinker with his rotation, again necessitated
\nwith Jaime Jaquez Jr. out for a second consecutive game with a stomach illness.
\nThis time it was Pelle Larsson and Highsmith first off the Heat bench. Duncan
\nRobinson also entered in the first quarter as part of a nine-deep rotation in the<\/p>\n
opening period.
\nBut the surprise was first-round pick Kel’el Ware, the center taken No. 15 out of
\nIndiana in June, playing as the first big man off the bench.
\nAfter consistently going with Thomas Bryant amid Kevin Love’s absence since the
\nstart of the season, Spoelstra this time inserted Ware when Adebayo checked out
\nin the first period.
\nPrior to Wednesday night, Ware had been limited to two appearances for nine
\nminutes of mop-up duty.
\n– 4. Rough start: While it wasn’t exactly a head-to-head matchup, with Adebayo
\nopening defensively on Durant, it was not the best of early outcomes for the Heat
\nin the matchup in the middle.
\nNurkic stood with 14 points and 12 rebounds at the intermission, a stage when
\nAdebayo stood at 3 of 15 from the field, albeit with seven rebounds.
\nAdebayo missed his first seven shots and stood at 4 of 19 from the field through
\nthree quarters.
\n– 5. By contrast: And then there was Herro, with yet another solid start.
\nThis time Herro was up to 14 points at halftime, doing it efficiently at 3 of 5 from
\nthe field, 3 of 4 on 3-pointers and 5 of 5 on free throws, along with three assists.
\nHerro’s early play was needed with backcourt partner Rozier limited to two firsthalf points.
\nHerro had 24 points going into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n