Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 116-111 bounce-back win over the San Antonio Spurs (31-30) on Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena to end its three-game homestand at 2-1:
— The second half has been a struggle for the Heat (33-30) recently, but Miami won Wednesday because it did not lose the second half.
In Friday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the Heat was outscored by 14 points in the second half.
In Saturday’s win over the Chicago Bulls, the Heat lost the second half by 15 points.
In Monday’s loss to the Bulls, the Heat was outscored by nine points in the second half.
Add it up, and Miami was outscored by 38 points in the second half of its previous three games.
But the Heat controlled an important second half on Wednesday, turning a narrow one-point halftime lead into a five-point win. Miami outscored San Antonio 61-57 over the final two quarters.
The Heat did face adversity in Wednesday’s second half, though.
The Spurs opened the third quarter on a 20-12 run to build a seven-point advantage. The Heat responded by scoring the final 15 points of the period to enter the fourth quarter with an eight point lead.
Miami led by as many as 10 points in the fourth, but San Antonio did not go away. The Spurs cut the deficit to just three with 44.3 seconds to play, but that was the closest they would get.
Five Heat players finished with double-digit points led by Jimmy Butler, who ended the night with a team-high 29 points on 11-of-23 shooting, eight rebounds and six assists.
Bam Adebayo contributed 21 points, 11 rebounds and two assists.
Kendrick Nunn, who missed Monday’s loss to the Bulls because of a neck spasm, totaled 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
Veteran guard Goran Dragic finished with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and seven assists off the bench.
From the time the Spurs took a seven-point lead with 4:13 left in the third quarter, Miami outscored San Antonio 49-37 the rest of the way.
— With nine regular-season games remaining, the Heat remains in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Each of the three teams immediately ahead of Miami played Wednesday, with the No. 4 New York Knicks (35-28) winning, the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks (34-29) losing and the No. 6 Boston Celtics (33-30) winning.
Despite owning the same record as the Celtics, No. 7 Miami is behind No. 6 Boston because of the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Celtics lead the season series 1-0, with the two teams facing off two more times on May 9 and 11 in Boston.
The Heat pulled within one game behind the No. 5 Hawks, but Atlanta owns the tiebreaker between the two teams.
The Heat remained two games behind the No. 4 Knicks, but Miami owns the tiebreaker over New York after sweeping the season series 3-0.
The Heat is also now 2.5 games ahead of the No. 8 Charlotte Hornets, which fell to the Celtics on Wednesday.
— The recent signing of veteran center Dewayne Dedmon is already yielding positive results in important moments for the Heat.
Dedmon finished Wednesday’s win with 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting, nine rebounds and one block off Miami’s bench.
Dedmon, who signed with the Heat as a free agent for the remainder of the season on April 8, entered averaging seven points on 19-of-27 shooting from the field and 11-of-12 shooting from the foul line, 5.4 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 0.6 blocks in 13 minutes per contest in his first seven games with Miami.
Dedmon, who began Wednesday’s game with a jersey that had his last name misspelled as Dedman before switching it out for an accurate version, has also grabbed a total of 14 offensive rebounds during that stretch.
Per 36 minutes, Dedmon entered averaging 19.4 points, 15 rebounds, two steals and 1.6 blocks this season.
The Heat needed a reliable and consistent big man it could turn to when Adebayo goes to the bench, and Dedmon has filled that need.
Dedmon, 31, entered Wednesday with a plus/minus of plus-38 with the Heat.
Those positive minutes are important because they are coming when Adebayo is off the court. Dedmon and Adebayo have not played together yet this season, with coach Erik Spoelstra opting to stagger their minutes.
With Wednesday marking the seventh consecutive game Dedmon has been used as the first big off the Heat’s bench, playing time for rookie center Precious Achiuwa and veteran forward Nemanja Bjelica have been limited.
Achiuwa and Bjelica received DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) on Wednesday.
— The Heat remained without two rotation guards, but there is an encouraging update for Tyler Herro.
Herro missed this third consecutive game because of a sore right foot. It’s the fourth game he has missed with the lingering injury in the past six games.
But Spoelstra said Wednesday a recent MRI on Herro’s foot showed no structural damage.
“He’s doing treatment and doing everything he possibly can to get out there as soon as possible,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t have a new update for you. But he is making progress. As far as anything structurally wrong, he’s clear on that.”
Herro, who has missed 15 games this season, is averaging 14.9 points while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 34.4 percent on threes in 48 games (14 starts) in his second NBA season. The 21-year-old has been used in a bench role since early February.
The Heat was also without guard Victor Oladipo, who missed his 11th consecutive game Wednesday with right knee soreness. The team has not offered a timetable for his return.
The Heat’s other 14 players were available against the Spurs.
The Spurs were without starting guard Derrick White because of a sprained right ankle.
— Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Spoelstra have not spent a lot of time together away from the court, but there’s plenty of mutual respect between the two.
Not only are Popovich and Spoelstra the two longest active tenured head coaches in the NBA with one team, but they also have faced off in the NBA Finals twice in 2013 and 2014. The Heat won the championship in 2013 and the Spurs won the title in 2014.
“It was just an honor to be a part of those Finals series two years in a row,” Spoelstra said when asked about Popovich before Wednesday’s game against the Spurs. “After we won the first year, he was terrific. His words of encouragement and then also wrote me a nice note after that year, as well.
“He has been an incredible example and role model I think for so many of us coaches. We just watch how he operates and runs their program, and they have a great culture. ... And I think he has just been incredibly brave in his press conferences and using this platform to try to make the world a better place.”
Spoelstra noted that their paths have not crossed much in the offseason other than “maybe just in passing in summer league.”
Of Spoelstra, Popovich said: “It is a respect. Our teams have competed against each other enough and at high levels where we both appreciate what it’s like to go through that. Sometimes on top, sometimes not. So I think a respect develops out of that and an understanding of how tough these jobs are and how fortunate we are to be able to compete at this level. So I think that’s a big part of it. I really admire what he has done coming up through the ranks and how he has matriculated through the different levels in the league and ended up in the position that he’s in. He’s worked so hard, done such a great job. It’s just kind of thrilling to see somebody achieve that.”
