Tyler Herro scores 24 in return as Heat push past Hawks, 128-97
Published in Basketball
ATLANTA — For almost the entire season, the Miami Heat have played like a team in need of a jolt.
Friday night, in a 128-97 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena, Tyler Herro provided that jolt.
Back after a month away due to a rib injury, Herro sparked the Heat with 24 points off the bench as they returned from their eight-day All-Star break.
With the offense uneven early, including struggles for Norman Powell, Herro energized on a night he closed 9 of 14 from the field in 23 minutes, showing no discomfort from the rib injury that had him out since Jan. 15, with Friday night only his 12th appearance of the season.
With Herro handling the wing scoring, centers Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware took care of business inside, with Adebayo closing with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists, and Ware with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Those efforts helped offset an uneven 15-point performance from Powell in his first game back after his first-ever All-Star appearance, having been listed on the injury report earlier in the day with back pain.
Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:
— 1. Game flow: The Heat led 29-16 after the first period and after all of their early 15-point lead was lost, then were up 57-51 at halftime.
The Heat then pushed their lead back to 17 late in the third period, before taking an 87-75 lead into the fourth.
Energetic play by Ware, then pushed the Heat’s lead into the 20s early in the fourth, allowing for added rest for some of the rotation, with the Heat playing on the first night of a back-to-back set.
— 2. More change: Even with Herro back, the Heat opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Davion Mitchell.
That lineup is now 4-3, with Friday the ninth consecutive time the Heat opened with a different lineup than the previous game.
Mitchell had been questionable just prior to the game with a head illness.
The Heat’s revised rotation also had Dru Smith, Nikola Jovic and Simone Fontecchio out of the mix, with Myron Gardner instead getting some early action.
— 3. Herro time: Herro entered for the first time since Jan. 15 when he subbed in with 5:26 to play in the opening period along with Kasparas Jakucionis, part of coach Erik Spoelstra’s second substitution, after Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Ware previously entered together.
Herro then scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting as he played out the balance of the first quarter, up to 15 points at halftime and 18 going into the fourth.
Herro just before the game opted not to play with the Kevlar-type insert in his chest protector, as he returned from his rib issue, saying he felt it too constricting.
— 4. Captain connector: With Herro back to pick up the scoring slack, Adebayo played more of an all-around game, including playing as facilitator.
Save for his errant 3-point shooting, Adebayo often helped settle the Heat, closing 7 of 10 on his two-point attempts.
Adebayo then positioned Ware to play some late minutes in the middle, with Ware converting a 3-pointer with 9:46 to play that put the Heat up 96-75.
— 5. More indifference: After somehow losing their final home game before the All-Star break to a team that was trying to lose, the Heat will find themselves in a similar situation in their first home game after the break on Saturday night.
Prior to the break, the Heat managed to lose to a Utah Jazz team tanking to a degree that it was fined $500,000 by the NBA.
On Saturday night at Kaseya Center, the Heat face a Memphis Grizzlies team that also basically has quit on the season, dealing Jaren Jackson Jr. ahead of the trade deadline and then finding numerous reasons to sit multiple contributors, including Ja Morant.
The Jazz on Friday night against Utah started a lineup of GG Jackson, Taylor Hendricks, Lawson Lovering, Jaylen Wells and Jahmai Mashack.
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