1. When you’re on a back-to-back in the middle of a West Coast trip, nothing matters more than just getting the win and getting on the plane.
Sure, it was a strange back-to-back given Miami was getting back some fresh players off suspension and injury so it’s not as though everyone came in with tired legs, but it looked like a back-to-back from the start anyway as the turnovers came in fast and furious. Portland came out with plenty of energy, their threes falling and their rangy defenders getting into the passing lanes, but it was nothing Miami hasn’t seen plenty of times before. And yet it never matters what you should be doing, only what you are doing, and facts were the Blazers were working with a double-digit advantage for most of the first half because Miami couldn’t string more than a couple good offensive possessions – 97.9 Offensive Rating through two quarters – beyond a stretch of Jimmy Butler drives that eventually forced a double team. Still, 56-46 at the break was hardly an unmanageable outcome, Miami staying close with shooting and a handful of routine points left on the table by an inexperienced Blazers bunch.
Less than two minutes into the third – DeAndre Ayton didn’t play in the second half after a strong showing early – it was a two-point game, Duncan Robinson hitting a pair of threes as part of an 8-0 run. Portland hung on, literally as their offense wasn’t producing much beyond Anfernee Simons (26 points on 26 shots) pull-ups, but the lead went Miami’s direction all the same as the team with postseason aspirations held up its end of the bargain – with some outstanding shooting to help out. Only a four-point lead for the visitors going into the fourth, but it was one of those four-point leads that felt more like 14 given Portland’s 20 points in the quarter, much of which came out of random or second-chance offense.
Portland’s bench found a few more buckets to close the gap early in the fourth, but Miami got into the bonus with the quickness and used that advantage to march their way forward. With Erik Spoelstra closing yet another close-enough game with zone Portland’s only shot became getting enough threes to fall, and they didn’t. A professional win, 106-96, for the HEAT in the end, one of 82 that won’t be remembered too long beyond the upgrade in the win column. On to an NBA Finals rematch in Denver.
2. This was about as business-like a game as you’re going to get during the 82-game slate once Miami dispensed with those first-quarter mistakes. No heroics needed from anyone, just the right plays at the right moments. Butler could have had more than 22 with how easily he was beating his man to get to the rim, but Portland wisely started sending doubled at him and Bam Adebayo as the game wore on to at least force ball rotation, which Miami was more than happy to do in the second half. Robinson, with a nice burst from Nikola Jovic, was the beneficiary of that two-on-the-ball spacing from the weakside, balancing open looks and closeout drives on his way to 17 points on eight shots.
Then it was Terry Rozier’s time to get back into rhythm after returning from a knee injury, getting into the paint for a few before getting to his stepback jumpers, settling into for 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting. There still hasn’t been much time for the fully healthy version of this team, much less the starting lineup, to get meaningful reps together, but at the very least Butler looks like Butler, Adebayo looks like Adebayo and both Rozier and Caleb Martin have had strong showings of late.
But, in the end, 14-of-26 from three is 14-of-26 from three. Miami is going to win most of those games, and without their 18 turnovers this one likely would have featured much less drama than it eventually did.
3. Outside of Portland’s eventual doubles of Miami’s lead shot creators there wasn’t much to break down from a schematic sense of things. Portland was simply too lacking in shot creators and playmakers to counter whatever the HEAT threw their way, relying on second-chance points (15 offensive boards) and playing off Miami’s early mistakes to generate much of their offense. Once the shooting cooled, they scored 20 in each of the final two quarters.
Worth noting two things, though, the first that Butler again started the fourth quarter – subbing out for a break in the middle as we’ve seen Adebayo do in the past – reflecting the rotational change that started a couple weeks before All-Star. Second, Spoelstra again closed with the zone. It hasn’t always played out exactly this way, but the pattern we’ve seen during this recent winning stretch is for Spoelstra to show zone in spurts during the first two or three quarters and then, if he needs it, finish with a ton of it down the stretch until the other team gets Miami out of it. Some of the teams it’s worked against, like Portland tonight, just haven’t been well equipped enough on the talent side of things to really flow into natural zone counters – Portland hitting only one three in the second half wasn’t doing them any favors tonight – and there will be teams that play it better, but you use what works and for the better part of the last month Spoelstra’s zone has been a devastating finishing move.