Takeaways from Miami Heat’s Victory over the Mavericks

This was a game that both the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks needed to win. The Mavericks entered one game out of the play-in tournament while the Heat stood two games out of sixth place. Miami was without it’s star big man Bam Adebayo. Jimmy Butler started the game out firing on all cylinders, the Heat’s two buyout acquisitions came to play. Despite making it a close game down the stretch, the Het escaped with the victory. With the win, Miami moves to 41-37 for the season. Here are my takeaways from Miami’s win over Dallas.

Jimmy Sets the Tone

Anytime you ask Butler if he’s in Playoff Jimmy mode, he’s going to deny it. But there’s no question he was in playoff mode from the start. Butler was able to get the switches he wanted and attacked early. He had 16 point in the first period, on high level efficiency. With his scoring going on, it opened up his playmaking game. Butler had a nice two man pick-and-roll game going with Cody Zeller. He kept finding Zeller on the open roll to the basket. Butler’s midrange was also going in as well. One of those midrange shots, he turned around before it went in. You can tell how confident Butler is in his game right now. Butler finished the night with 35 points and 12 assists.

Zeller Fills In For Bam

With Adebayo out, the Heat were missing a 20 point scorer. However, Adebayo’s replacement filled in very well in the starting lineup. Zeller kept scoring at will on the roll and open looks from Butler’s penetration to the basket. Zeller had 20 points halfway through the third period. The Heat center and Butler formed a nice pick-and-roll combination throughout the night. Zeller doesn’t roll as fast as Adebayo and it allows Butler time to read and react to the defense. Overall, it was a good night for Zeller, who was active on both ends of the floor. Zeller finished with 20 points and eight rebounds.

Love Debuts off the Bench

Since signing with the Heat, Kevin Love has started in every game. But on Saturday, Miami went to a different direction. Instead of keeping Love in the starting lineup, they replaced him with Max Strus. This moved Love in a backup center role. And man did he play well. His shots were falling, he punished smaller players in the paint, and he played well on defense. Love took multiple charges against the Mavericks throughout the game. He also did well on staying with the perimeter players. Unlike the previous games, he wasn’t as much of a defensive liability. Once Adebayo returns, this could potentially be Love’s new role. Love finished the night with 18 points and five rebounds.

Keeping an Eye on Standings

With the Playoffs around the corner, Miami is keeping an eye on the standings. As of Sunday morning, the Heat sit 1.5 games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the sixth spot. Brooklyn also has the tiebreaker over Miami after winning the season series between the two teams. The more likely scenario seems to be the Play-In tournament for Miami. If so, Miami needs to stay in the seventh spot to maintain homecourt advantage. They have to maintain distance between them and the teams trailing them. There’s four games left in the season. We’ll see where Miami lands.

Next up: The Detroit Pistons. The game tips off at 7pm eastern time.