For the first time this season, Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic opened a game on the bench. But by the end of the contest, Jovic was one of the stars of the night. Just a few days removed from Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra pointing to “energy and effort” and challenging Jovic to “impact the win, impact the game, impact the scoreboard,” Jovic was pulled from the Heat’s starting lineup for Sunday’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves after starting the first eight games of the season.

The move to the bench isn’t exactly what Jovic was hoping for, but he still made the most of his opportunity. Not only did Jovic contribute 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes, seven rebounds, one assist and one steal in 23 productive minutes off the Heat’s bench, but he also scored the game-winning points to lift the Jimmy Butler-less Heat to a much-needed 95-94 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night at Target Center. The Heat (4-5) outscored the Timberwolves by 10 points with Jovic on the court on its way to snapping a three-game skid and improving to 1-2 on its long six-game trip, as Butler (sprained right ankle) missed his first game of the season.

This is the standard now,” Spoelstra said following Sunday’s win when asked about Jovic’s effort against the Timberwolves. “I don’t want to retreat, I don’t want to have to do things to get something out of players. He was very good tonight from the detail standpoint, the effort standpoint, rebounding, size, defending multiple efforts.” The highlight of the night also belonged to Jovic, who completed a game-winning three-point play in the final seconds. After Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels made a putback layup to put the Heat in a two-point hole with nine seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Spoelstra called timeout and drew up a play.

The play worked to perfection, as inbounder Duncan Robinson found Jovic streaking into space off a back screen set by Terry Rozier. Jovic caught the inbounds pass and made the layup while being fouled by Nickeil Alexander-Walker to tie the score with 7.8 seconds remaining, celebrating the basket by flexing before picking himself up off the court. Jovic then made the free throw to complete the game-deciding three-point play, giving the Heat a one-point lead that would hold. “Spo had a great play,” Jovic said, as the Heat continues its trip on Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network — Sun) in its first group-play game of the NBA’s second-annual in-season tournament.

“He told me I might have a chance and if I get it, I have to take it. Duncan told me he was going to pass it and Tyler [Herro] told me to shoot it. So yeah, I kind of went off a back screen, I was open and made it.” Jovic, 21, makes his role in that crucial sequence sound simple. But what definitely wasn’t easy on Sunday was accepting the fact that he would play as a reserve for the first time this season. “It was hard,” Jovic admitted. “I guess Spo just wanted to change the lineup and stuff. He told me to stay ready and I stayed ready. They told me to just be me and that’s what I did. I got in the game, I did what I do in transition, help on defense, rebound and that’s it. It worked out this game.”

While Jovic’s game-winning play stands out, Spoelstra was impressed by his overall effort Sunday. So impressed that he left Jovic on the court for the entire 12-minute fourth quarter against the Timberwolves after not playing any fourth-quarter minutes in two of the previous three games. Jovic recorded seven points, four rebounds and one assist in Sunday’s fourth quarter. “I’m just looking at the efforts, I’m looking at the process,” Spoelstra said when discussing Jovic’s performance. “Then that generates the karma of the game. Now the ball finds him and he makes some really important plays. It wasn’t only that play at the end. They were doing such a great job of denying Terry and Tyler, we didn’t have any other triggers. We rebounded and Niko brought the ball up the court, he got a lob to Bam [Adebayo] and the next time down he ends up finishing a tough layup against [Rudy] Gobert. “But it’s the karma of the game. You do the right things throughout the course of it, you hope the basketball gods are watching.” Prior to Sunday’s contest, Jovic averaged 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 9 of 28 (32.1 percent) from three-point range while starting the first eight games of the season. Opponents outscored the Heat by 7.9 points per 100 possessions with Jovic on the court during that stretch. Jovic knows more than that is needed moving forward and he delivered in Minneapolis. “Spo was on me,” Jovic said. “As the youngest guy, I have to be the guy who brings the intensity. I just had to show them that I can do it and that I can help this team win. You got to stay locked into the whole season.” Jovic’s Heat teammates were thrilled for him after Sunday’s game.

“I’m really proud of this guy right here to my left,” Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said while standing next to Jovic in the visiting locker room at Target Center. “I just kept telling him, ‘Man, don’t focus on anything else but just get a rebound, get a rebound, get a rebound.’ That’s what he did tonight. Obviously, the big finish at the end. But he works so hard, man. I’m just really happy for him to have this moment.” Adebayo added: “I’m proud of Niko. It’s been an up-and-down couple of games for him. So just happy to see him finally flourish and get that moment.” Jovic, who is in his third NBA season after being drafted by the Heat out of Serbia with the 27th overall pick in 2022, has already been through a lot since entering the NBA. Jovic spent most of his rookie season in 2022-23 sidelined by a back injury and began his second season in 2023-24 out of the Heat’s rotation.

But after logging more minutes in the G League than in the NBA through the first few months of his second season, Jovic closed last season as the Heat’s starting power forward. Jovic continued to play as a starter to begin his third season before moving to a reserve role for Sunday’s game. Will Jovic continue to play off the Heat’s bench or will he return to the starting lineup in the coming days? “We’re day-to-day and I guess that’s the best place to live right now,” Spoelstra said when asked about the Heat’s ever-changing rotation. On Sunday, Spoelstra was encouraged by Jovic’s response to the challenge issued to him by the Heat’s coaching staff. “Those are all good things,” Spoelstra said. “I love to see players develop some grit from an NBA season. Now he has the other thing, can you deal with some success? It’s only one game, so that’s his next challenge.”