Nobody from the Atlanta Hawks was chopped down in Udonis Haslem’s honor, but the Miami Heat recognized its former captain with his jersey retirement in front of past and current teammates and got silenced by the visitors in the last two seconds. (Jaime Jaquez Jr. was absent for the Heat with a left groin strain, and Trae Young and De’Andre Hunter were out for the Hawks with an undisclosed illness and right knee inflammation.)

The offense, aside from Jimmy Butler’s multiple putbacks and dunk past Saddiq Bey, was in a rut to start, again, converting 10 of 27 baskets. And the Heat fell behind 24-32 after 12 minutes because it conceded two second-chance opportunities, seven points off turnovers and five triples.

In the second quarter, Duncan Robinson connected on three of four 3-pointers on a handoff against drop coverage, a closely contested left-wing jumper and an opening in the corner.

Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Butler combined for 28 points on 55% shooting in the first half. Yet Dejounte Murray killed the Heat’s defenses, popping on the side of a screen for a triple plus hitting another in the corner, dusting his cover in transition and maneuvering to the elbow for a jumper. Onyeka Okongwu, Johnson and Bey assisted him, logging nine of 17 buckets before intermission.

At halftime, the Heat was down 56-57, with three points scored on the break, a dozen on second tries and eight via turnovers. And here is where the Heat honored Haslem.

Some in attendance were Goran Dragić, Tim Hardaway, Ron Rothstein, Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning, Quentin Richardson, Jason Williams and Dorell Wright.

Team president Pat Riley addressed the crowd, thanking UD for his service. “Udonis Haslem. His force mattered and it counted, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re hanging his jersey here [tonight].”

Then Haslem spoke from the heart, expressing gratitude to colleagues, coaches, friends and family.

In the third quarter, Herro swished the Heat’s only pair of triples out of eight attempts, cut back door for a layup and blew by Patty Mills for an inside finish. Adebayo burst into the paint for a dunk, broke down Capela from the top to the cup for a bank shot and nailed four freebies.

Then Bogdan Bogdanović erupted for the Hawks in the fourth with eight points, coming from a triple behind a flare screen, another on the left side after setting the pick and two free throws. Bey contributed seven points, too, and Mills, Murray and Garrison Mathews each supplied a triple.

In the last two minutes for the Heat, Butler burned Johnson from the left wing to the hoop for a dunk, then hit a floater with contact over Bey. Next, Adebayo nailed a turnaround jumper over Capela in the lane to push the lead to three points.

Subsequently, Capela registered two free throws after Adebayo fouled him, but Herro responded with a tray to put the Heat back up by four with 36 seconds left.

The game should have been over, but afterwards, Richardson fouled Bogdanović on the inbound, sending him to the line for two. He made both.

With 30 seconds left and up two points, the Heat killed the clock on an isolation play for Herro, defended by Johnson that resulted in a failed baseline shot. Murray picked up the rebound, dribbled up the court, and pulled up from 27 feet out in Caleb Martin’s face to take a one-point advantage. That basket was also his only one of the period.

Timeout Heat.

With two seconds left, the ball was inbounded to Butler, he passed to Martin, and the Heat failed to get up a try in time.

The Heat lost 108-109, recording nine fastbreak points, 14 through second chances, 19 via turnovers and six extra rebounds. Butler had 25 on his scorecard on eight of 10 attempts. Herro also had 25 on 55% shooting.

The Hawks scored 22 points from turnovers and 17 on additional opportunities. Murray dropped 22 points, 11 assists and three boards.

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra said the final possession was “One of those plays when I’m going through it in my head, there’s going to be an advantage in that corner, and it just didn’t play out that way… It was a poor play call. I’m disappointed in my call on that.”

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The Toronto squad pounced on the Miami Heat like a swarm of starving velociraptors. The hosts established a 30-point lead within 15 minutes on the evening of Pascal Siakam’s deportation to the Indiana Pacers. RJ Barrett surged for 17 points, stabbing the lane in transition + off the catch for dunks and floaters in the first half. Scottie Barnes supplied five of seven buckets. And deadeye Gary Trent Jr. swished four trifectas.

Without Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kevin Love, the Heat failed to protect the arc and stop dribble penetration. On the former, when the guests tried blitzing, the hosts swung the rock quickly to the corner for multiple strikes. A Raptors stampede went unanswered with 18 consecutive points in five minutes between the end of the first and the start of the second quarter.

On the other side, Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler combined for five of 11 baskets, pressuring the rim, but the rest of the team converted 37% of shots.

Kyle Lowry was ineffective, missing all his triples. Tyler Herro (or a souped-up Jerry Sichting with an Instagram account, usually) was almost a zero, lacking precision on deep shots and had one at close range emphatically rejected. Also, Barnes beat him twice off the dribble and another instance under the rim for a putback.

Through 24 minutes, while playing a third team in four nights, the Heat had surrendered 60.4% of the Raptors’ attempts. Bottom line: The group didn’t care enough. It was down 43-78, with four points on the break and a paltry deuce via second chances. Had one of coach Erik Spoelstra’s trusted lieutenants advised him to bench the starters for their failures, and he followed through, it wouldn’t have been a wrong move. Such an act could send a message of displeasure.

But in the third quarter, the defense tightened up, permitting just six of 22 shots and forcing 11 straight misses in between. The Raptors’ long jumpers were contested and help defenders were quicker to blow up drives.

Offensively, Herro erupted for nine points, maneuvering into the lane for close baskets and a corner triple after pump-faking Dennis Schröder into his team’s bench. Nikola Jović used a Butler pick to get into the paint for a nine-foot hook, scored in the open court and splashed a 3-pointer in Barnes’ face. And the stars (Adebayo, Butler) contributed 10 to the scoreboard, but it wasn’t enough.

In the frame, the Heat outearned the Raptors by 14 points, but it was still behind by 21.

In the fourth, it chopped the deficit down to 13 marks with nine minutes left, but then the Raptors logged nine of 15 baskets to close. Barnes hit backbreaking shots- a turnaround jumper at the nail with Richardson all over him after getting forced to pick up his dribble and another difficult fallaway blast on the baseline with Adebayo nearly breathing on him.

The Heat lost 97-121, with break 10 fastbreak points and six through second chances. Getting behind on the glass by eight boards resulted in the Raps registering 19 second chance points. Butler had 16 on his scoring log on 54.5% shooting. Adebayo also had 16 on seven of 13 tries.

At the postgame presser, Spoelstra said he didn’t see the early onslaught that transpired coming. “It just happened. It was an avalanche at the beginning of the game. Our starters definitely did not set the tone for the game and then it just proceeded to get worse as that first half went on…”

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On the second night of a back-to-back set in Brooklyn, the Heat produced its worst output of the season (31 points) in the first half of Jimmy Butler’s return. He had 10 points at intermission on a backdoor feed, plus two layups, but the offense was stuck in the mud, going uphill while jammed in second gear. The Nets were holding the visitors to 26.2% shooting and no baskets outside of the paint.

For the hosts, Nic Claxton finished over mismatches and broke the zone for a slam. Cam Thomas scored at close and long range in transition and evaded defenders for lane access in the halfcourt. And Bridges disposed of Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith and Nikola Jović for four of six baskets inside the arc.

At the break, the Brooklyn squad led 45-31. The guests had recorded just six fastbreak points to the Nets’ 16 and had zero second-chance marks to the hosts’ seven. Eight extra boards gave the Nets seven more tries on the goal, and its bench was outscoring the Heat’s 18-5.

Then the Heat’s offense went off like a grenade, notching 37 points in the third quarter, ignited by Herro’s consecutive triples on the break. He continued carbonizing drop coverage and connecting on a 14-foot floater in Dorian Finney-Smith’s eye, totaling a dozen points for the interval. And Butler converted all three attempts, endlessly drawing contact to the hole like a running back punishing defenders at the line of scrimmage. He accumulated 14 points

Defensively, the Heat permitted four of 12 triples and were disruptive near the hoop. Adebayo switched on to Bridges, denying his jumper at the elbow, and Butler + Lowry came up with steals.

Four possessions were wasted in the fourth off with a careless pass by Kyle Lowry into a defender’s chest, Adebayo getting ripped and setting an illegal screen and Caleb Martin traveling. But the Heat held the Nets to five of 21 shots, and Herro nailed consecutive baskets with under a minute left- a floater at the right elbow and another from 13 feet out on the left side- to force overtime.

In the extra period, Brooklyn’s Thomas beat Martin on the baseline, and Royce O’Neale swished a right-wing trifecta after the Heat blitzed up top to take a five-point lead. Next, Herro canned a right-wing banger in transition (unbelievable he wasn’t tagged).

Subsequently, Bridges received the sideline inbound, dribbling past Richardson to the paint for a turnaround jumper. The Nets led 95-91.

On the following sequence, Herro made another at the top of the key 3-pointer on a broken play when multiple defenders unsuccessfully swarmed Adebayo at the nail. When the Nets got the ball back, Bridges charged into the paint against help for a vain floater that Claxton illegally touched.

Butler then isolated Dennis Smith Jr., drawing a foul en route to the cup and buried both. The Nets still had a timeout left, but coach Jacque Vaughn didn’t use it to advance the ball up the floor. Bridges got it back, challenging three defenders for a failing jumper.

The Heat won 96-95, making 37.9% of tries with 17 fastbreak points, four off second chances and eight via turnovers. Butler had 31 on his ledger on 67% shooting and 15 of 16 made freebies. Herro recorded 29 points on half of his attempts with 11 rebounds and assisted in the on-court interview.

“It wasn’t easy in the first half,” Herro said. “Not easy in the second half either, but to come in, regroup at halftime and come in and take care of business in the second half, that’s who we are and what we do, and it’s a great win for us on the second night [of a back-to-back].

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra joked his team didn’t get the win out of the mud but instead cement. “You see that first half? That was about as ugly as it could get… So now that’s three games where we held our opponents under 100. Two out of the three have been in the mud, and that’s progress for our team.”

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The blossoming Orlando Magic’s defensive pressure put the Heat’s attack in the mud early and kept the game close the whole way. After Duncan Robinson seemingly unbuttoned the offense with consecutive triples against the drop and the Magic overhelping on Bam Adebayo in the post, the hosts endured five minutes recording just two field goals. But then Robinson set Adebayo up with a pick-and-pop jumper at the nail, and Josh Richardson scored the last two baskets of the first.

On the other side, Paolo Banchero rattled off seven points, Chuma Okeke stung from the corner, and Jalen Suggs ruined the Heat’s offense with help defense and three blocks on Robinson.

In the second quarter, Adebayo continued feeding cutters, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. abused each Magic defender in his path. The rook looked like a mini Kevin McHale, pivoting past them for a layup on the baseline, then breaking down Banchero from the top to the cup and finishing three baskets on the break with no misses in six tries.

Defensively, the Heat struggled to contain Moritz Wagner’s mobility (at 6-foot-11) after the switch, conceding the baseline, a rim roll and a putback. Additionally, Caleb Houstan poured in three triples- Jaquez couldn’t shade and recover on time after the screen and no one tagged him in transition after Nikola Jovic’s turnover. The one in between was nailed with Jović practically breathing on him.

At halftime, the hosts led 56-50, up on the glass by two, with 28 paint points, 12 on the break, eight off turnovers and five via second chances. Robinson had 14 on his scorecard on five of 11 attempts. Jaquez logged 15 on 70% shooting.

In the third quarter, both units upped their defensive pressure. The Heat quickly recovered onto Banchero on the wing to successfully contest his wing jumper, Jaquez forced him into an 11-foot miss on the baseline, and Adebayo, coming in as the helper, spiked his layup away. And the Magic permitted the Heat only six of 20 shots to fall. Adebayo registered three, attacking Goga Bitadze twice in the lane and cleaning up JJJ’s miss for a putback.

Next, coach Erik Spoelstra stashed Jović for Caleb Martin and Richardson. The Heat binged on baskets inside the arc (eight of 13), mainly behind the work of Adebayo schooling Wagner and Robinson getting into the lane with the help of the screen. But the squad committed four turnovers trying to pull off dangerous passes and losing it on the wing, blessing the Magic with extra possessions.

Wagner produced eight points on a rim roll, back door cut and pump-faking Adebayo at the top of the key to get inside for a layup.

Banchero scored 10 points on three of 10 tries late. With 39 seconds left, he dribbled to the right baseline, covered by Jaquez and hit a 15-footer to give the Magic a one-point advantage.

Following the Heat’s timeout, the Magic had one plan: get it to Banchero. The difference at the end was JJJ, Adebayo and Highsmith guarding his jumper and influencing misses on his last three attempts. And, at 18 seconds left, Adebayo caught the inbound and pulled up at the nail in front of Wagner to take the lead.

The Heat won 99-96, with an edge on the boards by three and taking one more field goal. Adebayo supplied 21 points with 11 rebounds and seven dimes. Robinson scored 23, making four of 10 trifectas. And JJJ had 19 points with seven rebounds.

At the on-court interview, Robinson said the games had a “grind it out” finish. “No matter if it’s pretty ugly or somewhere in between…[We] had some real stretches where we showed resolve and found a way to get out a win.”

At the postgame presser, when asked about Adebayo, Spoelstra said, “He had his fingerprints all over this game. Defensively, he was anchoring everything. We had him, sometimes on the five (center), sometimes on the perimeter. If he was on the perimeter, he was there to plug everything up…”

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Coach Erik Spoelstra is teasing the transition-starved fan base by using Nikola Jović as the playmaker during Jimmy Butler (toe injury) and Caleb Martin’s (ankle sprain) absence. The Serbian kid, who didn’t even have his high school diploma on draft night, is the best on the team at running the break and his tools create devastation on defense.

Early, Jović shot poorly, registering only one layup in the open court with three misses at close range and behind the arc. But he recovered seven rebounds, three of which were offensive, and set up Jaime Jaquez Jr. under the basket in transition, tipped a loose ball to Herro on the left side plus, used the dribble handoff at the top to create space for Herro and Duncan Robinson’s trifectas.

Vintage Kevin Love backed down Jae’Sean Tate, canned a 3-pointer behind a pindown and made two free throws, piling on to the Heat’s blazing first frame.

On the other side, the defense wasn’t as strong. Houston’s Fred VanVleet nailed a 25-footer with Jović, who is 11 inches taller, all over him, another at the left wing when Josh Richardson doubled to Alperen Şengün in the post and one at the elbow as Bam Adebayo dropped. Additionally, the club inflicted four of nine triples to start.

In the second quarter, the hosts could barely convert from deep but managed 12 free throw attempts and logged 67% of its two-pointers. In this period, the defense slipped, allowing six of 11 triples to fall.

At halftime, the game was tied at 59. The Heat were ahead by four on the glass, with 24 points coming in the paint, four off second chances and five off turnovers.

In the third quarter, Herro connected on three triples- one assisted by a Jović DHO on the left wing, a straight-away jumper at the top of the key, and another set up by Jović on the break. Adebayo was perfect on four paint shots. And Jović had his finest spurt of the season, hustling for loose balls to set up the break and pulling up for one trifecta.

On defense, despite permitting two deep looks that missed, the Heat contested two of seven triples cleanly.

The Heat entered the fourth quarter ahead by nine, and Adebayo’s production carried the group until the finish line. First, he contested Jabari Smith’s 3-pointer and was first in the open court, receiving the outlet pass from Robinson for a two-handed jam. He also hit a jumper at the nail, rolled to the rim for a layup between three defenders and swished four freebies.

Herro, Jaquez and Robinson each converted a tray in the fourth, too.

Defensively in the fourth, Smith was held to zero baskets in four tries covered by Adebayo, Richardson and Jaquez, forcing him into deep jumpers.

The Heat won 120-113, starting its four-game homestand. The group finished with 15 fastbreak points, 11 scored via second chance, and 13 off turnovers. In the half court, it scored 121.8 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 95 percentile of all games this season, per Cleaning the Glass.

Adebayo was in charge with 22 points on 75% shooting with 12 rebounds. Jović finished with six points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.

At the on-court interview, Adebayo said he was getting greedy about possibly making his third All-Star team. (He previously repped the East in 2020 and 2023.) “The biggest thing about it is improving and getting better. As you grow in this league and you got two All-Star [appearances], you want three, you want four, you want five. So you just keep that mentality.”

At the postgame presser, Spoelstra said Jović was “really good” in his minutes. “I don’t know what his stat line was, but he was able to generate a lot of easy opportunities for us in the open court…”

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