Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat show off new starting lineup and hold off the Bucks in Emirates Cup play

Plans for Tyler Herro and Norman Powell starting together were conceived ages ago, and it finally got its first real test run in Emirates Cup play as the Heat squeaked by the Bucks for their sixth straight win. The visitors sans Giannis Antetokounmpo torched the small-ball lineup, but were contained to 37.9% shooting late.

“We played some bad basketball today,” Bam Adebayo said in his on-court interview. “We need to fix that before it gets too late, but for the most part, it came down to stops, and we did that.”

It’s no surprise Milwaukee was able to hang because someone usually steps up in these situations, and it was Myles Turner for them. He turned into vintage Kareem Abdul-Jabbar until the fourth quarter, tallying 24 digits on 60% accuracy. 

Norman Powell never got going, and neither did the transition offense as the crew even had its second-straight low-scoring first half despite six Heatles tallying multiple baskets (53-47). Adebayo and Kel’el Ware led them with four field goals apiece, but one of the crew’s biggest problems was making only 21% of their 3-point attempts.

Their three trifectas, inside pressure leading to four baskets at close range and getting to the line for eight attempts, making seven, prevented the Heat from letting control slip away in the third quarter.

Herro subsequently surged in the fourth quarter, scoring in transition, ripping a triple behind Ware’s down screen and slashing the half-court lane for two floaters. Then Adebayo made a jumper at the nail and a floater in the lane, giving them a five-point lead with under a minute left. They offset Ryan Rollins and Bobby Portis’ six paint baskets in the period.

The Heat (13-6) won 106-103, and it was the first time they’ve had a full roster healthy this season. Additionally it was their sixth game decided by five points or fewer. Their record in those games is 5-1.

Coach Erik Spoelstra now has 800 regular-season wins as the man in charge. He said, “It’s fitting that it comes on the eve of Thanksgiving. I just feel incredible gratitude for this organization and all of these years.”

He also said he’s looking forward to the team practicing on Friday to “fine-tune some things.”

Game Notes

• The Heat’s starters were ahead 22-20 at the first substitution. They showed why they could be dangerous as a small unit, but size killed them. Spoelstra was not pleased with the Heat’s multiple efforts against post-ups. “I think we could have made those a lot more difficult.”

• Six Heatles logged between four and nine baskets yet the offense wasn’t flowing like it was pre-Herro’s return. He’s a major addition to something that was working, so getting everyone in sync will take some time. Aside, in spite of their transition frequency (20.2%) being in the 85th percentile, they only scored 115.8 points per play, good enough for the 39th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.

• This was the 11th time the Heat (32) have had at least 30 assists (10-1). Most of the playmaking came from Davion Mitchell, who recorded nine assists against three turnovers, and Herro, who had seven assists and two giveaways. 

• They used all 10 players in the first quarter. Nikola Jović never got any minutes, and Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s were cut to 17 despite a decent night. Keshad Johnson was shelved, too, since Andrew Wiggins returned from his hip flexor injury.

• Ware wasn’t looked to for points in the second half, but he still hit the boards (4) and came away with a steal and block.