Three Takeaways from Miami’s Victory Over the Phoenix Suns

Photo by: Heat.com

Both the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns entered the night missing their key starters. Chris Paul was out with a heel injury and Tyler Herro was out with the ankle injury. It was an entertaining first half with both teams hot from three-point range. The game took a turn when the Suns got a 13-point lead over the Heat in third period. Once Miami trimmed the lead in the fourth quarter, the Suns built the lead back up to double digits. However, the Heat got a spark from Bam Adebayo that brought Miami back in the game. In the end, Jimmy Butler got the defensive stop on Devin Booker that sealed the Heat victory. With the win, Miami moves to 7-7 for the season. Here’s my takeaways from Miami’s win over the Suns.

Butler Gets the Clutch Block

We know how important Butler is to the team. Offensively, he’s the guy the team goes to when the offense gets shaky. There’s been plenty of times when Butler has had to will his team to victory. But tonight, he did it on the defensive end against Booker. After grabbing the offensive rebound, Booker tried to take Butler one-on-one in the game’s final seconds. Butler stayed right with him moving his feet. Once Booker went up for the shot, Butler blocked him without fouling and the game was sealed. Butler has saved the team many times with his offensive plays, but it was the defense this time. He ended the night with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists.

Bam Adebayo Fourth Quarter Takeover

This was a performance many Heat fans have been waiting for. Seeing Adebayo dominated on both ends in the fourth quarter was a great sight to see. The basketball was Adebayo’s hands down the stretch. He was attacking the rim with purpose. Especially in transition. One of the plays he had in transition was a ridiculous circus shot after the foul. And he kept going from there. He had another and-1 basket that cut the lead down to three. Adebayo had 15 points in the final period. This was one of Adebayo’s most impactful games. Hopefully this will be a game he can build off of. Adebayo finished the night with 30 points and 10 rebounds.

Defensive Schemes A Work In Progress

Last season, the defensive end was a position of strength for Miami. Their switching scheme was often successful because they had the players for it. With Miami lacking size, they have often been punished by smart teams, as the Suns did with Kyle Lowry on DeAndre Ayton. On Monday, the Suns were getting good looks over and over again. The bigger issue is that the Heat are often too predictable with their soft switching. They should mix in a couple of 2-3 zones and more drop coverages with Adebayo as well. We also saw them try to blitz Booker in the second half with Dewayne Dedmon and that didn’t go well. Booker and Ayton kept punishing the Heat blitzes with Miami slow on their rotations. The Heat still need to seek size in the trade market to put alongside Adebayo.

Random Scrub Heat Killer Strikes

Miami has this thing where a random role player would have a dominating game against them. Heat fans on social media often refer to those players as “Random Scrub Heat Killers”, or RSHKs for short. Duane Washington Jr. was the RSHK of the night. He came out on fire, scoring 16 points in five minutes of action in the first half. At times, he was looking like Stephen Curry from beyond the arc. Some of it had to do with the Heat’s defensive lapses. And the other is the player catching fire at the wrong time. The good news is that Washington Jr cooled down in the second half.

Next Up: The Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. The game tips off at 7:30 pm eastern time.