Thursday night offered the lesson of why the Miami Heat took the approach they did Thursday afternoon.
Because in the NBA it comes down to closers.
Soon, the Heat will be able to cast both Jimmy Butler and Victor Oladipo in that role.
In Thursday night’s 125-122 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Heat had neither, Butler out with a stomach illness, Oladipo yet to arrive after being acquired at Thursday afternoon’s trading deadline.
That had the Blazers’ Damian Lillard going to the foul line with one second to go and closing out the scoring with three free throws, after a foul by the Heat’s Trevor Ariza.
With the Trail Blazers dominating the offensive glass late, the Heat blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead to fall below .500 at 22-23.
CJ McCollum led the Trail Blazers with 35 points, with Lillard scoring 22 and Carmelo Anthony 20.
For the Heat, there were 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Bam Adebayo, 29 points and eight assists from Tyler Herro and 22 points from Kendrick Nunn.
The Heat were without both Butler and Goran Dragic, who sat out due to back spasms.
Factoring in the movement earlier in the day at the NBA trading deadline and the Heat were down to nine available players, with Ariza shifted into the starting lineup.
Up next for the Heat, who now are on a five-game losing streak, is a three-game trip that opens Friday in Charlotte.
Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday’s game:
1. Closing time: The teams went into the fourth quarter tied 91-91.
The Heat then strung together an 18-3 run to move to a 110-100 lead, with Blazers responding with an 11-0 run to move to a 111-110 lead with 3:48 to play.
It went back and forth from there, with Blazers center Enes Kanter creating second-chance points for the Blazers, until an Adebayo layup tied it for the Heat 122-122 with 10.8 seconds to play.
But that’s when Ariza was called for a foul with one second left on Lillard’s 3-point attempt, with Lillard putting it away from the line.
2. Bam’s bounce: This time Adebayo came out with an aggressive bent, up to 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots at halftime.
One of Adebayo’s early blocks came on a floater from Lillard that he caught feet from the rim.
3. Dealing with it: Their names in speculation earlier in the day to the degree that Duncan Robinson weighed the prudence of taking his game day nap, Robinson, Nunn and Herro found their strokes.
Herro helped keep the Heat afloat early with 12 first-half points, while playing as sixth man. Robinson then was up to four 3-pointers by the early stages of the third period.
Herro had a four-point possession in the third period, when he converted a technical free throw and then a 3-point play.
4. Limited cast: With Butler and Dragic out, and with so many comings and goings on deadline day, the Heat were down to nine available players, with all nine seeing action in the first quarter.
That included upgraded roles for two-way players Gabe Vincent and Max Strus. Vincent started at point guard, with Strus playing as the Heat’s third reserve.
Vincent closed with a season high in assists.
The Heat’s player pool was limited with KZ Okpala and Udonis Haslem absent due to pandemic protocols.
5. McQuick start: McCollum scored 21 of the Trail Blazers’ 31 first-quarter points, shooting 8 of 10, including 4 of 6 on 3-pointers, in playing all 12 minutes.
That helped push the Blazers to a 31-24 lead going into the second quarter.
The 21 points were the most by an opponent in a period this season and the fourth time in his career that McCollum has scored 20 or more in an opening period.
McCollum was up to 29 points by halftime.
