Heat wins fifth straight, moves to 3-0 on trip. Takeaways from road victory over Spurs

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 118-113 win over the San Antonio Spurs (3-7) on Sunday night at Frost Bank Center on the back end of the back-to-back set to win its fifth straight game and move to 3-0 on its four-game trip. The Heat is 6-4 after a 1-4 start to the season and will look to make it an undefeated trip on Tuesday against the Hornets in Charlotte:

The short-handed Heat needed others to step up. Duncan Robinson and the supporting cast answered the call.

The Heat again played without a chunk of its rotation, missing two starters on Sunday with guards Tyler Herro (sprained ankle) and Kyle Lowry (rest) out. Miami also remained without another rotation piece, as wing Caleb Martin (knee tendinosis) missed his ninth straight game.

But after earning an impressive road win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night to kick off the back-to-back set despite playing without Jimmy Butler, Herro and Martin, the Heat picked up another short-handed victory 24 hours later in San Antonio.

“We talked about that, that we didn’t want to make any excuses,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after winning both games of the back-to-back. “These can be some of the more gratifying wins during a season, when you could mail it in.”

Robinson led the way, finishing with a season-high 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, 4-of-7 shooting on threes and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line to go with five rebounds and four assists while posting a team-best plus/minus of plus-22. He scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help the Heat complete the comeback win after falling behind by 10 points with 6:46 to play.

“Just trying to be aggressive in different ways, especially with [Herro] going down,” Robinson said. “He does so much for our offense, so it’s an opportunity for me to step in and do some different things.”

Already the Heat’s franchise leader for total three-point makes, Robinson continued to show off his improved off-the-dribble two-point game. He scored eight paint points on nine paint shots on Sunday.

“Duncan was so good tonight at all levels, his ability to put the ball on the floor, his playmaking, off-the-movement stuff,” Spoelstra said. “And then not letting people forget what he’s here for, also, which is beyond the threes-point line, but it’s not based just off of that. And it just shows you how much his game has grown.”

With the help of Robinson, the Heat was able to overcome an ugly start. Miami shot just 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) from the field and 0 of 8 from three-point range during a rough 15-point first quarter.

“I definitely don’t want to be the one to ever give us an excuse, but it looked like we were in mud, it looked like we were inebriated, possibly because it’s less than a 24-hour turnaround and traveling,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s slow start.

That allowed the Spurs to pull ahead by as many as 19 points in the first half, but the Heat used a big 32-13 run in the second quarter to quickly tie the score at 47-47 before the Spurs entered halftime with a three-point lead.

The Spurs again gained some breathing room in the third quarter, building a 10-point lead with 6:09 left in the period.

And the Heat again responded with a big run, this one a 21-8 spurt to take a three-point lead with with one minute remaining in the third quarter. That third-quarter advantage marked the Heat’s first lead since going ahead 2-0 in the opening seconds of the game.

Kevin Love was the catalyst behind the Heat’s third-quarter surge, scoring 12 points in the period.

But the Spurs closed the third quarter on a 7-2 run to take a two-point lead into the fourth.

Just like the third quarter, the Spurs began the final period strong to pull ahead by 10 points with 6:46 to play.

The Heat again didn’t go away, scoring 12 unanswered points to take a two-point lead with 3:55 remaining.

And after the Spurs went ahead by one point with 2:18 left, former Spurs guard Josh Richardson delivered in the clutch to hit a three-pointer and a two-point jumper on consecutive possessions to give the Heat a four-point lead with 1:24 to play.

Jimmy Butler then made two free throws to extend the Heat’s lead to six with 31.6 seconds remaining to seal the win over the young and rebuilding Spurs.

Along with Robinson’s standout night, Heat center Bam Adebayo continued his strong start to the season.

Adebayo recorded his fourth consecutive double-double, finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

“Man, pushing back, 19-point deficit on the second night of a back-to-back, that just shows our grit, shows our dedication, perseverance, and showing we can will a win,” Adebayo said.

Seven Heat players ended the night with double-digit points: Robinson (26), Adebayo (24), Butler (19), Richardson (12), Love (12), Dru Smith (12) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11).

It also helped that after a 0-of-9 start from three-point range, the Heat shot 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) from behind the arc the rest of the way to complete the comeback.

“It was different guys at different key moments of the game,” Spoelstra said. “Obviously the way we are now, it is going to be Bam-centric, Jimmy-centric. But it doesn’t feel like we’re only doing that. We have to be able to explore all the different options and parts of our menu offensively, and get different guys going.”

Spurs rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama finished with 18 points on 8-of-22 shooting from the field and 2-of-9 shooting on threes, 11 rebounds, seven assists and one block. He committed seven turnovers.

The Heat totaled 33 points off 17 turnovers from the Spurs. And the Heat tied a season-low with just seven turnovers on Sunday despite missing its starting backcourt (Herro and Lowry).

Sunday’s victory after trailing by as many as 19 points marked the Heat’s biggest road comeback win since Oct. 26, 2018, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. The Heat had dropped 50 consecutive games when trailing by 19 or more.

“It was a character game for us,” Spoelstra said. “It was our first character game of the year, really. We had to show something to be able to overcome that kind of deficit, do it on the road. I think it was a good win and good step. Hopefully we can build on that.”

The Heat’s current five-game winning streak is its longest since a six-game string of victories toward the end of the 2021-22 regular season. Miami’s longest winning streak last season was four.

Butler returned after missing Saturday’s win in Atlanta because of personal reasons.

Butler closed the win with 19 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting on threes, six rebounds, four assists and one block in 37 minutes.

Butler missed his first four field-goal attempts and started 3 of 11 from the field. But he went 8 of 9 from the foul line.

Butler also made some big plays down the stretch, blocking a shot with 4:56 left in the fourth quarter, hitting a jumper to give the Heat a one-point lead with 3:14 to play and making two game-sealing free throws to push the Heat’s lead to six with 31.6 seconds remaining.

“It’s good, man,” Butler said of returning for Sunday’s game. “I love to hoop along with everybody else and it’s always good to win with this group of guys. As you can tell, it’s fun no matter what. We enjoy being around one another and they welcomed me back with open arms.”

Through the Heat’s first 10 games of the season, Butler is averaging 18.5 points per game on 42.2 percent shooting from the field.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Lowry was given the night off on the second night of the Heat’s road back-to-back.

At 37 years old, Lowry is the oldest player on the Heat’s roster. Lowry has also already played heavy minutes this season. Among the eight NBA players 37 years old or older who entered Sunday with at least one game appearance this season, Lowry is averaging the second-most minutes at 31.1 per game behind only the 38-year-old LeBron James.

Lowry also played in each each of the Heat’s first nine games.

But Lowry sat out the Heat’s 10th game on Sunday to rest on the second night of the back-to-back set less than 24 hours after logging 33 minutes in Saturday night’s win over the Hawks.

Lowry is averaging eight points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 43.9 percent from three-point range as the Heat’s starting point guard this season.

Without Lowry and Herro, the Heat used its seventh different starting lineup in the first 10 games.

The Heat opened Sunday’s game with a lineup of Richardson, Robinson, Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Adebayo. This five-man combination had played just seconds together this season before starting in San Antonio.

In place of Lowry, Richardson made his first start of the season. In place of Herro, Robinson made his second start of the season.

This new starting group didn’t begin the game well, as the Spurs outscored the Heat 13-7 in the opening minutes before Miami made its first substitution. That lineup never played together again on Sunday.

The Heat went with a different lineup to begin the second half, as Smith started the third quarter in Richardson’s place.

But the Spurs also had a strong start to the second half, outscoring the Heat by seven points in the opening minutes of the third quarter before Miami turned to its bench.

Despite the rough starts to both halves, Richardson and Smith each contributed to the Heat’s win.

Richardson scored seven points in the final 1:58 of the game.

“J-Rich was great,” Spoelstra said. “He was our proverbial player of the game. It was good for him to have that kind of game, in a place where he played really well and they really valued him.”

Smith finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes.

“Dru was good throughout with all the stuff that he does,” Spoelstra said. “90 percent of it doesn’t shot up in the box score, but coaches and teammates understand what he does.”

The Heat used 26 different starting lineup last regular season. At this crazy pace through the first 10 games (that likely won’t continue and the team hopes doesn’t continue), the Heat would use close to 60 different starting lineups this regular season.

It’s been a turbulent start to the season for the Heat in terms of player availability, but the coaching staff and players have navigated those inconsistencies well.

Love and Thomas Bryant both played as the Heat’s backup center on Sunday.

It appeared that Love would play as the backup center over Bryant for the second straight game, when Love entered with 6:09 left in the first quarter as Adebayo went to the bench for the first time.

But Love’s first stint of the night didn’t go well, as the Spurs outscored the Heat 16-8 during the final 6:09 of the first quarter while he was on the court.

So Spoelstra turned to Bryant when Adebayo went to the bench for the second time. Bryant entered with 6:37 left in the second quarter. The Heat outscored the Spurs 16-7 while Bryant was on the court during his five-minute second-quarter stint.

Then Love entered for backup center minutes during Adebayo’s first rest of the second half and caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 12 points in the period.

Bryant did not play in the second half.

Love played as the Heat’s backup center for the first time this season in Saturday’s win over the Hawks after being moved out of the starting lineup last week.

Bryant, who spent the first eight games as a member of the Heat’s bench rotation as the full-time backup center, received his first DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season on Saturday.

Then both Love and Bryant were used in that role in San Antonio.

If Sunday is any indication, the backup center spot in the Heat’s rotation remains fluid with Love and Bryant both vying for those minutes.

The Heat’s bench rotation on Sunday included Love, Bryant, Jaquez and Smith.