Takeaways and details from Heat’s overtime road win over Nets in Jimmy Butler’s return

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 96-95 overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets (16-23) at Barclays Center on Monday night on the back end of a back-to-back to open its quick two-game trip. The Heat (24-16), which has now won three straight games, closes the trip on Wednesday against the Raptors in Toronto:

It wasn’t pretty, but the Heat found a way to escape one of the ugliest games of the NBA season with an overtime win.

The Nets entered halftime with a 14-point lead, but it was a close game for essentially the entire second half.

There were 15 lead changes following the first half, including four lead changes in the final 1:13 of regulation.

After Cam Thomas made two free throws to put the Nets ahead by one point with 37.4 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, Tyler Herro came back on the other end and dribbled into a one-legged floater that went in to give the Heat a one-point lead with 24 seconds remaining.

Thomas then missed a three-pointer for the Nets with 7.9 seconds left in regulation, forcing Brooklyn to foul Heat center Bam Adebayo to preserve the clock. Adebayo made one of the two free throws to extend the Heat’s lead to two points with 5.9 seconds to play.

With one final chance to win in regulation or send the game into overtime, the Nets turned to Mikal Bridges. Bridges drew a foul on Herro and made both free throws to tie the score at 88 with 4.4 seconds remaining.

The Heat then ran a play to get Butler the ball in hopes of avoiding overtime. But Butler missed a fadeaway jumper as the fourth-quarter buzzer sounded with the teams tied at 88.

The Nets scored the first five points of overtime to pull ahead by five points with 3:51 left in the extra period.

But the Heat didn’t go away, as Herro answered with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to two.

After Bridges made a tough jumper to push the Nets’ lead back up to four, Herro again answered by hitting another three to pull the Heat within one point with 49.1 seconds left in overtime.

“Just trying to be aggressive,” Herro said of his late-game approach. “They were junking up the game when they were on defense, switching everything, mucking everything up and it was a slow pace. So just trying to find gaps in the defense where I can be aggressive off the catch and off the dribble.”

Following another empty possession by the Nets, the Heat again ran a play for Butler on an important possession.

Butler delivered, drawing a foul while trying to drive past Nets guard Dennis Smith Jr. Butler made both free throws to give the Heat a one-point lead with 11.8 seconds remaining in the extra frame.

The Nets opted against calling a timeout after Butler made the second free throw. That turned out to be the wrong decision, as Bridges was forced to rush up a heavily contested 10-foot fadeaway jumper over multiple Heat defenders that didn’t even hit the rim.

With Butler’s two free throws going down as the game-winners, the Heat closed overtime on an 8-2 run to escape with the victory.

How did it reach this point? It was a wild game throughout.

The first half was ugly for the Heat, as it struggled to generate efficient offense through the first two quarters.

The Heat totaled just 31 points on 11-of-42 (26.2 percent) shooting from the field and 0-of-12 shooting from three-point range in the first half.

Just one night after the Heat limited the Charlotte Hornets to the lowest-scoring half in the NBA this season at 31 points, the Heat matched the Hornets with 31 points in the first half on Monday.

And the last time the Heat finished a half without a made three was when it went 0 of 14 from three-point range in the first half of a loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 1, 2021.

The result: The Nets entered halftime ahead by 14 points on Monday.

“We had to get out of the mud,” Adebayo said. “We came into halftime and said we had to get out of the mud, just playing slow basketball.”

The Nets’ own three-point shooting woes (entered halftime shooting 4 of 25 on threes) made the score closer than it should have been given the Heat’s rough first half.

So when the Heat started making shots in the third quarter, the Nets’ lead disappeared.

After missing its first 13 three-point attempts of the game, the Heat finally made its first three of the night when Herro hit one with 10:12 left in the third quarter. Then Herro came down on the next offensive possession and made another three.

That sequence seemed to get the Heat going, as those two threes marked the start of a 31-11 run to turn a 16-point deficit into a four-point lead with 2:23 left in the third quarter.

The Heat exploded for 37 points in the third period after scoring just 31 points in the first half. The Heat did it by shooting an ultra-efficient 12 of 17 (70.6 percent) from the field, 5 of 7 (71.4 percent) on threes and a perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the foul line in the high-scoring quarter.

Butler (14 points) and Herro (12 points) combined for 26 of the Heat’s 37 points in the period.

But the Nets still managed to enter the fourth quarter ahead by one point before the dramatic finish.

Butler closed with a game-high 31 points to go with five rebounds and four assists.

Herro ended the night with 29 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. He scored six of the Heat’s eight points in overtime.

“Tyler really played a great all-around basketball game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He had some clutch plays down the stretch, where it wasn’t just all Jimmy.”

Adebayo finished with 11 points, four assists and a season-high 20 rebounds, as the Nets sent double teams his way whenever he had the ball around the paint.

“Bam’s 20 rebounds and his defensive anchoring on that side of the floor was critical,” Spoelstra said. “If he didn’t do all of that, we’re not winning this game.”

Despite the Heat’s poor shooting in he first half, it actually finished the game shooting a better percentage from three-point range than the Nets. The Heat shot 8 of 31 (25.8 percent) and the Nets shot 12 of 55 (21.8 percent) on threes.

Bridges scored a team-high 26 points for the Nets.

The Heat has held three straight opponents under the 100-point threshold and now holds the ninth-ranked defensive rating in the NBA this season.

More good news for the Heat: Butler looked healthy and like the All-NBA version of himself in his return from injury.

Butler played Monday after missing the previous seven games because of a foot injury that the Heat has listed as a “right toe MP joint sprain.”

With Butler also missing four straight games in late December because of a strained left calf, he missed 11 of the previous 12 games before playing on Monday.

In Butler’s first game back, he was efficient and productive. He shot 8 of 12 from the field and drew enough fouls to finish 15 of 16 from the foul line while playing a season-high 40 minutes.

Butler is just the fifth player around the league to score 30 or more points on 12 or fewer field-goal attempts this season, joining New Orleans’ Zion Williamson, Los Angeles’ LeBron James, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum as the onles to accomplish that feat this season.

“It was phenomenal,” Spoelstra said of Butler’s return performance. “You don’t ever forget about his greatness. The fact that he can score 31 on 12 shots, that’s a misprint.”

Because of the Heat’s season-long injury problem, Monday was just the ninth game that the leading trio of Adebayo, Butler and Herro have played together through the first 40 games this season. It’s only the seventh game they’ve been able to finish together.

But the injury-riddled Heat was still missing multiple rotation players.

The Heat was without rotation regulars Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left groin strain) and Kevin Love (left knee contusion) on Monday.

It marked the first game Jaquez has missed this season after exiting Sunday’s win over the Hornets early because of a groin injury. Jaquez did not travel with the team to Brooklyn and is also expected to miss Wednesday’s game in Toronto.

Love missed his second straight game because of his knee contusion. He also did not travel with the team to Brooklyn, but he has not yet been ruled out for Wednesday’s matchup against the Raptors.

The Heat also remained without RJ Hampton (G League), Jamal Cain (G League) and Dru Smith (season-ending knee surgery) against the Nets.

The Nets were also missing two rotation players, playing without Day’Ron Sharpe (left knee hyperextension) and Ben Simmons (lower back nerve impingement) against the Heat.

With all the moving parts, the Heat used its 22nd different starting lineup in the 40th game of the season.

The Heat opened Monday’s game with a lineup of Kyle Lowry, Herro, Butler, Nikola Jovic and Adebayo. Not only was this a new starting lineup for the Heat, but this five-man unit had not played a second together this season before beginning Monday’s contest.

Lowry, Herro, Butler and Adebayo are regular Heat starters, but the inclusion of Jovic was the wrinkle that made this combination different.

Jovic made his seventh straight start, but Monday’s start marked his first surrounded by these four starting lineup fixtures.

Jovic closed the win with five points, three rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes. He did not play in the fourth quarter or overtime.

Will Jovic continue to play as a starter? The minutes that Adebayo and Jovic have together in the frontcourt have been positive.

The Heat entered Monday’s game outscoring opponents by a dominant 13.1 points per 100 possessions in the 153 minutes that Adebayo and Jovic have played together this season.

As for the 22 different starting lineups that the Heat has used in the first 40 games this season, that’s not normal. The Heat and Dallas Mavericks are tied for the most different starting groups used so far this season.

For perspective, the Heat used 26 different starting lineups all of last season.

“There’s been a lot of moving parts, and I appreciate the group for not making any excuses about it,” Spoelstra said. “You can develop a talent to learn how to win regardless of whether you have rhythm, regardless of whether you’re changing lineups, rotations, whatever. You can create an identity and figure out how to win. And then when things fall into place, you’re in a better place when that time happens.”

Monday’s Heat-Nets matchup was arguably the NBA’s worst offensive game of the season.

With the Heat and Nets entering overtime tied at 88, it marked the first game in the NBA this season that ended with neither team reaching the 90-point threshold in regulation.

With the Heat shooting 37.9 percent from the field and the Nets shooting 34.3 percent from the field, it marked the fifth NBA game this season where both teams shot worse than 38 percent from the field.

And with the Heat shooting 25.8 percent on threes and the Nets shooting 21.8 percent on threes, it marked the 11th NBA game this season where both teams shot worse than 26 percent from three-point range.

“This was cement,” Spoelstra said when a reporter described the game as in the mud. “You see that first half? That was about as ugly as it can get.”