â–ŞÂ The first four games of this Western swing, without suspended Jimmy Butler, have gone about as well as anyone could have realistically hoped.
On Saturday, two separate Blazers second half runs – one 16-2 to start the third and another 10-0 early in the fourth — made the evening more stressful than it needed to be.
But the Heat collected itself in both instances and survived thanks to clutch contributions from Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
And give Miami credit for this, too: Instead of unraveling after a 136-100 drubbing by Utah in the first game of Butler’s suspension, the Heat instead showed resilience and mettle, playing well in a double-overtime loss at Sacramento on Monday and then reeling off three wins in a row against Golden State, Utah and Portland.
On Saturday, the Heat responded to both big Blazers runs.
Down 66-48 at the half, Portland began the third on that 16-2 spurt and scored 35 in the quarter. But two threes apiece from Herro and Jovic and a three from Adebayo suppressed that stampede and prevented further damage.
After Miami stretched its lead to 100-83 early in the fourth, Portland reeled off 10 in a row to close to within 100-93 before Herro nailed a three with 4:30 left in the fourth.
Jaquez then delivered an alley-oop to Adebayo to put Miami up 12. Herro’s three free throws – following a Portland flagrant foul – pushed the margin to 15, and Jaquez’s driving layup made it a 17-point game, essentially settling matters.
Herro was again at the epicenter of everything on Saturday, delivering 18 of his 32 points in the first half. He closed 11 for 22 from the field, with five rebounds and five assists.
Jovic was very, very good, closing with 21 points on 8 for 12 shooting, with eight rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal.
Haywood Highsmith hit four of five threes in the first half on a 14-point, three-rebound, four-assist night.
Adebayo ended the night with 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Terry Rozier was helpful at times in the second half on an 11-point night.
Jaquez chipped in 11 and made timely plays. His difficult jumper ,after Portland closed to within 68-64, was as big as any basket all night, aside from Herro’s three to make it 103-93 in the fourth.
The Heat – which survived a 28-point night from Blazers guard Anfernee Simons – shot 43 percent on threes in improving to 20-17.
▪ Herro and Jovic – two players that Portland general manager Joe Cronin declined to pursue during summer of 2023 discussions about a Damian Lillard trade – probably gave him indigestion Saturday.
Both followed excellent first halves by hitting two threes apiece in the third to blunt Portland’s run.
Jovic was at his best, pounding the boards, pushing the ball in transition and hitting four threes in seven attempts.
His first half was some of his best work of the season – featuring 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block in 16 minutes.
The Jovic contributions continued in the third quarter, including the two threes and a nifty alley-oop to Kel El’Ware.
Herro shook off a 3 for 9 start by hitting four shots in a row during a second-quarter burst and went to the half with 18 points.
His layup and two threes were vital to quell Portland’s momentum in the third.
Herro finished the night with 7 threes in 14 attempts and has now made at least one three in every game, the longest streak to start a season in franchise history. He also has scored in double figures in 67 games in a row.
▪ From a won/loss standpoint, Highsmith continues to have the best results as the Heat’s starting power forward, even though he’s undersized at 6-5.
Besides doing the dirty work, Highsmith has become a very good three-point shooter. He’s now 47 for 110 on threes after going four for five on Saturday.
His three-point shooting has improved in each of his four seasons with the Heat, rising from 32.1 to 33.9 to 39.6 and now 42 percent.
His steal and dunk pushed the Heat’s lead to 100-83 with just under 10 minutes left.
What’s more, the Heat is 17-11 when Highsmith starts and 3-6 when he doesn’t.
Jovic has thrived off the bench and could start again at some point if he continues this ascent. But Highsmith as a starter has been a good fit.
▪ Adebayo and Kel’El Ware went to work against a Portland team missing its two veteran centers, injured DeAndre Ayton and Robert Williams.
Adebayo, as is usually the case, had to create space against a taller center – 7-2 Connecticut rookie Donovan Clingan and 6-10 Duop Reath, a second-year player from the South Sudan.
And as is usually the case, the point total (13) didn’t reflect his value.
Unable to corral an errant Jovic alley-oop, Adebayo fell hard to the floor midway through the second quarter, but walked off and returned to the game.
Ware played 16 minutes, contributing seven points, four rebounds and two blocks.
Before the game, Spoelstra credited Ware’s “attention to detail” and displaying “the winning habits we walk about all the time. He’s ambitious, coachable, has good intentions to apply those things. He’s seeing how in these minutes he can impact winning.”
Clingan, Portland’s first-round pick, had 8 points and 10 rebounds.
â–ŞÂ And now, uncertainty awaits, as the Heat travels to a region immersed in a natural disaster.
When the game against Portland ended, the Heat was still planning to fly to Los Angeles on Saturday in the wake of wildfires forcing the NBA to postpone Lakers and Clippers home games on Saturday.
The NBA hasn’t given the Heat any reason to believe it will postpone Monday’s game at the Clippers or Wednesday’s game at the Lakers, but the situation remains fluid, with fires still breaking out in the region.
The NBA postponed the Lakers’ home game against San Antonio and the Clippers’ home game against Charlotte on Saturday because the league said it wanted to “ensure no resources will be diverted from the wildfire response efforts.”
The NFL previously moved Monday’s Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams playoff game from Inglewood, Cal. to Glendale, Arizona.
Lakers coach J.J. Redick said his home was lost in one of the fires this past week.
