It is among the questions the Miami Heat had hoped not to have to answer: What would happen with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro sidelined?
Monday night provided the answer at AmericanAirlines Arena: Survive and move on.
In jeopardy early of losing to the team with the league’s second worst record four nights after falling to the league-worst Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, the Heat restored order in the third quarter and rolled to a 113-91 victory over the Houston Rockets.
With greater challenges ahead, including Wednesday in San Antonio and Friday in Atlanta, the Heat took a cautious approach by holding out Butler, Adebayo and Herro with injuries that coach Erik Spoelstra says has each day-to-day.
So with Butler resting his sprained right ankle, Adebayo a sore right knee and Herro a sore right foot, the Heat turned to the best of their rest and made it consecutive victories after three-game losing streak.
This time it hardly was as dramatic as Adebayo’s buzzer-beating game-winning jumper Sunday against the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
Instead, a 22-5 third-quarter run got the Heat out of a deficit and helped push them to an 89-74 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Kendrick Nunn led the way with a season-high 30 points as well as eight assists and seven rebounds, with Duncan Robinson adding a 19-pint effort built on five 3-pointers. There also were 19 points from Goran Dragic and 16 from Andre Iguodala.
Five Degrees of Heat from Monday’s game:
1. Robinson’s roll: With his third 3-pointer, early in the third period, Robinson reached 200 for the second consecutive season, becoming the first player in the franchise’s 33 seasons to reach the total twice. He had a franchise-record 270 last season.
Making the record even more impressed is each of these past seasons has been shortened by the pandemic.
The only other Heat players with 200 3-pointers in a season were Wayne Ellington (227), Damon Jones (225) and Tim Hardaway (203).
Robinson’s fourth 3-pointer, late in the third period, tied Dwyane Wade for sixth on the Heat’s all-time list, with his fifth pushing him past Wade.
2. Nunn sense: Nunn ended the first half with 13 points and seven assists and kept going from there, reaching a season-high in 3-pointers by the midpoint of the final period.
He closed 12 of 20 from the field and 6 of 12 from beyond the arc.
3. Power play: Precious Achiuwa and Dewayne Dedmon provided what was required in the power rotation against the Rockets, consistent aggression on the boards and defensively.
While it remains unlikely that both play when Adebayo is available, it at least provides the Heat with the option of interior bulk (Dedmon) or athleticism (Achiuwa).
Achiuwa closed with eight points and 11 rebounds, Dedmon with 12 points and six rebounds.
4. For the ages: Both listed as questionable earlier in the day, with the Heat likely to have preferred not to push them through the back-to-back, Iguodala and Dragic provided needed veteran stability.
Iguodala, 37, took care of matters with the starting unit, with Dragic, 34, then handling things with the reserves.
5. Warm/cold embrace: Kelly Olynyk spent time at midcourt sharing embraces with several former Heat teammates pregame and then was loudly introduced as the final Rockets starter on his 30th birthday.
But after scoring at least 23 in each of his previous three games, he was limited to 10 this time on 3-of-8 shooting. He added eight rebounds.
