MIAMI � Wednesday marked the third time Jimmy Butler has faced the Timberwolves since the weeks-long soap opera that led to his trade out of town last fall.
Each time he does, a little bit more distance comes between him and the franchise that he uprooted, an event that had reverberations beyond Butler's exit to Philadelphia last November.
He's with the Heat now, and his current team lost to the new-look Wolves 129-126, and perhaps it was fitting that the team Butler faced Wednesday looked almost nothing like the one he left.
His exit and the drama around it led to the firing of coach and President Tom Thibodeau, which led to the hiring of President Gersson Rosas, who decided the Wolves needed a complete overhaul of their roster outside of only two people who were on the team when Butler was in Minnesota � Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Okogie, and only Okogie suited up for the Wolves Wednesday. You can draw a line from Butler wanting out to the team the Wolves fielded to face him.
Miami, which is destined for the playoffs, couldn't dispatch the Wolves in part because Butler had three straight turnovers down the stretch that allowed the Wolves to cut a double-digit Heat lead to one, 123-122 with 2 minutes, 5 seconds remaining. It was Butler who tried to win the game late after Jordan McLaughlin had put the Wolves ahead 127-126 with 8.5 seconds left, but three Wolves trailed Butler to the hoop and blocked his shot, with D'Angelo Russell seeming to get a hand on it first to secure the win.
Bam Adebayo (22 points) hit one free throw to put the Heat back ahead one, 124-123 with 28.6 seconds remaining. Jake Layman hit a pair of free throws to make it 125-124 with 17.4 seconds left. Butler got to the rim on the Heat's next possession following a miscommunication between Layman and Josh Okogie to put Miami up 126-125 with 13.8 left.
Butler had 18 points to go with nine assists as he walked the line between facilitating and scoring. Kendrick Nunn led Miami with 24.
Russell had 27 to lead the Wolves, including seven threes. Malik Beasley had 21.
Coach Ryan Saunders said the Wolves had their best shootaround since the deadline and that carried over to the start of the game, especially on the defensive end.
The Wolves were up 17-12 after Russell hit a three-pointer, but the Heat would come back in a 14-3 run to grab a 26-20 lead, its largest lead of the first.
The Wolves turned up the defensive intensity to start the second and got three Heat turnovers in the first four minutes to stage a run that put them ahead 39-32 following a Beasley three-pointer at the 8:19 mark.
It was a promising start to the second, but it didn't exactly end well for the Wolves. First, they ran into some foul trouble, as the officials called a tight game in the second quarter and whistled the Wolves for 11 fouls. Naz Reid, James Johnson and Jake Layman all entered halftime with three.
The Wolves led by as much as 10 and did have a 50-43 lead when Miami began making its push. Miami then closed the half on a 10-3 run to take a 60-57 lead into the locker room. Russell had 16 for the Wolves at the half while the Heat had 13 points at the free-throw line compared to four for the Wolves. Butler had a relatively quiet first half and deferred to his teammates most of the time. He was just 1 of 5 for five points but did have six assists at the half.
In the third quarter, the game opened up for both teams, who did little to stop the other on the offensive end of the floor. The Wolves outscore Miami 38-34 to take a 95-94 lead into the fourth. Russell set the tone with a three-pointer from the edge of the mid-court logo while Butler stepped up the scoring along with distributing with nine points and three assists.
In the fourth, a couple Duncan Robinson threes helped Miami establish an early multiple possession lead. That grew to 10 after a Nunn jumper with 5:07 to play, but the Wolves weren't done.
