What have Heat learned about the combination of Butler, Herro, Adebayo? Not nearly enough
Amid this middling ride through the first 28 games of the season, the sample size to evaluate the potential of the Miami Heat roster – or, more to the point, the Miami Heat core – remains staggeringly slight.
MIAMI – Amid this uneven ride through the first 28 games of the season, the sample size to evaluate the potential of the Miami Heat roster – or, more to the point, the Miami Heat core – remains staggeringly slight.
Only seven times this season has Erik Spoelstra had his core trio of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro available in the same game. It is a number that could remain that way Friday against the visiting Atlanta Hawks if Butler remains sidelined by the calf strain that had him out Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic.
In all, Butler, Adebayo and Herro have been on the court 137 total minutes this season, with an offensive rating of 113.4, a defensive rating of 111.0 and a net rating of 2.4. As a matter of perspective, the Heat, as a team, go into Friday against the Hawks with an offensive rating of 115.3, a defensive rating of 113.9 and a net rating of 1.4.
In other words, not dramatically better, if at all, with all three, than just two or one. And that’s certainly not what the Heat are paying for.
To Spoelstra, it’s not about any specific three, or even a specific rotation. It’s about making it all work, and making it work better than the current 16-12, in the middle of the Eastern Conference pack.
“We have more continuity than probably a lot of teams,” he said. “And I feel very good about that and I feel very good about our depth, and feel good about different players are able to step up and contribute to winning on different nights.
“You need that in this league. It doesn’t have to be whatever everybody thinks it has to be, the traditional whatever. And it doesn’t have to be. You need depth. And you feel like you need guys who feel like they can contribute and add to the winning.”
So what to make of the Butler-Adebayo-Herro core connection? A look at the seven games when Butler, Adebayo and Herro were all in uniform shows it is more about the team’s finishes than the three in the same lineup at the start, at this point an uneven 4-3 ride.
Oct. 25, Heat 103, Pistons 102: The season opener at home proved to be a harrowing experience against what would turn into the worst team in the league, the Heat almost blowing all of a 19-point lead. Adebayo led the Heat with 22, with Butler scoring 19 and Herro 16.
Herro moved back into the starting lineup after missing the end of last season with a broken hand suffered in the playoff opener. He went scoreless in the fourth quarter on 0-for-4 shooting.
Oct. 27, Celtics 119, Heat 111: The road opener was one of those nights when it appeared Butler was almost too deferential, closing with 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting. Herro led the Heat with 28 points on 10 of 19, with Adebayo closing with 27 points on 10 of 24.
The chemistry crashed in a fourth quarter that the Heat was outscored 32-23, with Adebayo 1 of 7 in the period, Herro 1 of 4 and Butler 0 for 2.
Nov. 1, Nets 109, Heat 105: After Butler sat out the third game of the season for rest and Adebayo missed the fourth game for a hip bruise, the Heat put the ball in Herro’s hands in their return home from a three-game trip and came up short. Herro closed with 30 points on 12 of 23, with Adebayo with 21 on 8 of 12 and Butler 20 on 7 of 16.
Herro was the lone Heat player to go all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter, when the Heat were outscored 34-22.
Nov. 3, Heat 121, Wizards 114: It again was a three-man weave with Herro, Butler and Adebayo leading the way in the home victory, Herro with 24 points, Butler 20 and Adebayo 18.
But it also was another sobering finish, outscored 33-20 by the almost-as-bad-as-Pistons Wizards in the fourth quarter, with Herro playing all that period. Butler and Adebayo were rushed back for the finish.
Nov. 6, Heat 107, Lakers 106: Arguably the best game of the season with Herro, Butler and Adebayo in the lineup, the home victory still came down to the Heat holding on to what was a 13-point lead only when Lakers guard Cam Reddish missed an open 22-foot jumper with 4.1 seconds remaining..
Butler closed with 28 points, with Herro and Adebayo with 22 apiece. Herro committed three fourth-quarter turnovers, the Heat outscored by 10 in the fourth when he was on the court.
Nov. 8, Heat 108, Grizzlies 102: This is the game when Herro was lost for what would prove to be six weeks with the sprained right ankle sustained with 55 seconds left in the first quarter.
Herro would play only 8:10, closing with six points. Adebayo seized control with 30 points, with Butler scoring 15 on 5 of 13.
For the next six weeks, Duncan Robinson would step in for Herro, as a complementary presence at shooting guard.
Monday, Timberwolves 112, Heat 108: Herro returned and stepped back into the starting lineup with 25 points, including 17 in the first half. Butler, playing with what would be diagnosed with the calf strain that had him out Wednesday, scored 15, with Adebayo going for 22.
It proved to be yet another fourth quarter when the Heat fell with all three of the leading men available, outscored 35-25 in the period.