1. It sure felt like the HEAT were struggling to score. Minnesota had taken an early 22-10 lead playing through Karl-Anthony Towns. The home team couldn’t get anything going. But by the end of the first quarter they had 25 points despite 1-of-11 shooting from three and five turnovers. It looked bad, but they were finding a way. If the shots fell, there would be no worries.
I’m sure you can guess what happened from there. The HEAT went on to score 42 points in the second on 8-of-10 shooting from three – led by Tyler Herro’s 21 first-half points – for their second-best scoring quarter of the season. All those tipped passes the Wolves were getting their hands on dried up and just about everything went the home team’s way. And with Towns picking up his third foul in the first quarter after Wolves coach Chris Finch left him in with two, Minnesota’s offense was hanging on for dear life. To their credit, they held on.
The Wolves found their own shooting in the second half, taking a lead at the end of a 34-19 third. From there, it was a bit of a rock fight. We were all knotted at 100 with 4:47 to play and with no Jimmy Butler, it was Clutch Offense by committee. Minnesota dug in defensively, the HEAT scored four points in the final five minutes, and the result was a 113-104 victory for the Wolves, which featured eight different players in double figures.
2. We’re running out of things to say about Tyler Herro, at least during the regular season. For all the talk there was about how much he had improved early on in the year – some of the statistical boost was due to massive gains in usage rate – Herro has improved just as much if not more during the season itself. The glaring hole in his game through the first two and a half seasons was that he barely got to the free-throw line unless the opponent either kept fouling him on jumpers or was already in the bonus. Since mid-January, his free-throw rate has spiked and he continued his months-long run of getting into the paint and playing through contact. Coupled with the always-excellent spot-up shooting that was carrying his efficiency through the early months and Minnesota essentially had nothing they could do when he ran any action at one of their centers. If you’re going to play drop coverage against Herro, good luck. Herro finished with 30 on 19 shots, making most of his work look easy until that final stretch when the Wolves started switching more aggressively and putting two on the ball, rather than dropping, with Towns.
As with the rest of Miami’s offense, the only test left is against the best offenses in the playoffs, particularly those that switch at a high level.
3. Markieff Morris made his return to the court after missing the last four months following a neck injury sustained during a late-game fracas with Nikola Jokic back in November. Like Victor Oladipo – who didn’t play tonight – last week Morris played limited minutes and aside from a nice drive to the rim spent much of his two shifts looking like he was getting his sea legs back. As you would expect from anyone given the layoff. While Caleb Martin shouldn’t be out long with his hyperextended knee, Morris returns some real non-center size to a Miami lineup that tonight was running Max Strus at power forward for a stretch when P.J. Tucker was on the bench. And like Oladipo again, there may not be a ton of time left to get back into Miami’s flow but there is a path to postseason minutes for Morris.
-Next Up For Miami: Tuesday – March 15, 7:30 PM ET - Miami, FL Watch It Live On NBA League Pass