The Miami Heat has struggled without Jimmy Butler this season. But during one of the most important moments of its season, the Heat found a way to overcome Butler’s unexpected absence.
With Butler held out of the second half after he was poked in the eye late in the second quarter, the Heat still managed to come away with a 129-121 playoff-clinching win over the Boston Celtics (35-34) at TD Garden on Tuesday night. Miami has won 10 of its past 13 games, including back-to-back victories over the Celtics in Boston.
The Heat (38-31) is now assured of a trip to the playoffs as one of the Eastern Conference’s top-six seeds and will avoid the play-in tournament.
It marks the 22nd time the Heat has clinched a playoff spot in the franchise’s 33 seasons, and the 20th time in the last 26 seasons since Pat Riley joined the organization in 1995. This is also the 10th time the Heat has qualified for the playoffs in Erik Spoelstra’s 13 seasons as head coach.
Butler was available for the entire first half and the Heat entered halftime with a six-point lead.
Despite Butler missing the rest of the game, the Heat dominated most of the second half and led by as many as 21 points. After a first half that included 13 lead changes and six ties, Miami never trailed in the final two quarters.
The Celtics pulled within one point with 7:48 remaining in the third period and the Heat closed the quarter on a 25-12 run to enter the fourth ahead by 14.
The Heat then opened the final quarter on a 12-5 run to build a 21-point lead with 9:04 to play.
Miami’s second-half success not only came without Butler, but it also came with Adebayo scoring just seven points in the final two quarters.
Playing off of Adebayo, the others stepped up to fill the offensive void for the Heat.
Duncan Robinson scored 13 of his 22 points in the second half, finishing 5 of 9 from three-point range and 5 of 6 from the foul line.
Goran Dragic scored 14 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter. He shot 4 of 6 on threes in the final period.
Tyler Herro contributed a team-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting off the Heat’s bench and Kendrick Nunn added 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Adebayo finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Butler recorded 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting, two rebounds and three assists in 17 first-half minutes before he exited the contest.
The Celtics made a late run to cut the deficit to six with 10.2 seconds left, but that was the closest they would get.
The Celtics were led by guard Kemba Walker, who finished with a game-high 36 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s playoff-clinching win over the Celtics:
— With Tuesday’s win, the Heat clinched a top-six seed and will not have to be part of the play-in tournament.
The No. 6 Heat moved three games ahead of the No. 7 Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings with just three regular-season games left to play. Miami also clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker over Boston with Tuesday’s victory, winning the season series 2-1 over the Celtics.
The play-in tournament, which will be held between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, includes the teams with the seventh-highest through the 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference.
Now that the Heat knows it won’t be part of the play-in tourney, it will now try to move up the standings in the final days of the regular season.
The Heat also now holds the same record as the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks at 38-31, but the Hawks are ahead in the standings because they own the tiebreaker after winning the season series over the Heat 2-1.
At the moment, the Heat is just one-half game behind the No. 4 New York Knicks (38-30). But that will change based on the result of Tuesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Knicks at Staples Center. Miami owns the tiebreaker over New York after sweeping the season series.
— Butler was off to another strong start, but he did not play in the second half because of a poked eye.
Butler scored 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from the foul line in 17 first-quarter minutes, but he did not play in the second half after getting poked in the eye.
Butler was poked in the eye during a collision with Celtics guard Marcus Smart while pursuing a loose ball in the final minute of the first half.
Butler, 31, entered averaging 21.6 points on 49.6 percent shooting and career-highs in rebounds (seven), assists (7.2) and steals (2.1) this season. Those numbers are up from last regular season, when he averaged 19.9 points on 45.5 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds, six assists and 1.8 steals in his first year with the Heat.
Miami has simply been a much better team when Butler has been available. The Heat is just 6-12 in games that Butler has missed this season and 32-19 in games that he has played in.
The Heat entered outscoring opponents by 4.7 points per 100 possessions when Butler has been on the court, and opponents have outscored the Heat by 6.2 points per 100 possessions when he hasn’t been on the court this season for an off/court net rating differential of 10.9 points.
But the Heat won Tuesday despite missing Butler in the second half.
— It has been an up-and-down sophomore NBA season for Herro, but he appears to be rounding back into form just in time for the playoffs.
The second-year guard finished Tuesday’s win with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting on threes in 35 minutes. He scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the first half in his usual bench role, and then started in the second half in place of Butler and scored nine points in the final two quarters.
Herro entered averaging 19.5 points on 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) shooting from the field and 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) shooting from three-point range in his first two games back from injury, with Tuesday marking the third game he has played in since returning from a foot injury. Before this impressive three-game stretch, Herro missed the previous six games with a sore right foot.
The Heat has outscored opponents by 38 points with Herro on the court since he returned from injury last week.
— The Heat picked the perfect time to earn its first two-game series sweep (in the same city) of the season.
Tuesday marked the 10th and final time this regular season that the Heat played consecutive games against the same opponent in the same venue. Miami was unable to pick up a two-game sweep in any of the first nine opportunities, splitting six and getting swept three times.
But the Heat earned an important sweep of the Celtics in Boston, winning Sunday and following it up with another victory on Tuesday at TD Garden to avoid the play-in tournament. It marked the first time this season that the Celtics have dropped consecutive home games against the same opponent.
The NBA integrated the two-game series concept into the 2020-21 regular-season schedule to help reduce travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Heat also defeated the Knicks in back-to-back games earlier this season, but they were not held in the same city. The first game was played at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 7 and the teams then traveled to face off at AmericanAirlines Arena on Feb. 9.
— There remains no update on the status of injured Heat guard Victor Oladipo.
Asked before Tuesday’s game if he had an update on Oladipo’s status, Spoelstra said: “I don’t.”
Oladipo missed his 17th consecutive game with right knee soreness and remains out indefinitely with just three regular-season games left on the schedule. He was the only Heat player unavailable for Tuesday’s contest.
The Celtics were without All-Star forward Jaylen Brown (torn ligament in left wrist) and center Robert Willams (left foot turf toe). Brown, who was averaging 24.7 points per game on 48.4 percent shooting, will miss the remainder of the season.
With Brown and Williams out, Boston used a starting lineup of Walker, Smart, Jayson Tatum, Evan Fournier and Tristan Thompson.
