Hot Takes from the Heat’s Epic OT Victory over the Mavs

The Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks on an exciting Sunday night in overtime, 123-118, as they now have won two straight games. The Heat’s last win was last Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers, where they were itching to get back on the floor after a week-long break.

It was another marvelous game for Jimmy Butler as he finished with 33 points, nine rebounds, and six assists as he shot 11 of 17 from the field and made 11 of 16 from the free-throw line. Bam Adebayo had 19 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists, while Tyler Herro scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and five assists.

Here are three takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Mavericks:

A solid first half for the Heat against Luka Doncic-less Mavericks

It was a relatively high-scoring first quarter for both teams as it came down to the final few minutes, where Miami out-scored Dallas 33 to 28, and Adebayo scored nine points. Even though they had the lead, both teams shot 45.8 percent from the field, but the Heat made one more three than the Mavericks.

A stand out was the defense of Heat forward Haywood Highsmith, who has been known to have the task of guarding the opponent’s best player. Without Luka Doncic, the Mavericks were likely to make Kyrie Irving the focal point of the offense. Right from the start, Highsmith was guarding Irving and was successful in providing pressure. So much so that the Mavericks tried hard to get Highsmith off Irving in the hopes of getting him going.

Still, Dallas was finding easy shots in the paint to start and, by the end of the half, outscored Miami 30-26 in the restricted area. On the other hand, the Heat would build up an 11-point lead at one point, but the NBA Finals team from last season would fight back, going on an 11-1 run that tied the game with six minutes and change left in the second quarter.

The home team would find more semblance after, especially from Butler, who scored eight in the period, finding ways to slow the game down if Dallas was picking up some momentum. Butler would have 14 in the half, with Herro trailing with 10 on shooting four of 10 from the field.

At the end of the half, the Heat shot 35.8 percent from the field and five of 20 from deep, while the Mavericks shot 44.4 percent from the field and four of 14 from deep.

A hectic Heat second half vs. Dallas

While the Heat have been known for their struggles in the third quarter, both Miami and Dallas would score 33 points in the third period where the home team found tons of stride, but the opponent wouldn’t let it go too out of hand. There would be huge momentum swings in Miami’s favor, like at one point getting their lead back to double-digits, but Dallas would roar back with a little run of their own.

It was another nice quarter for Butler, who had eight points, and even Heat rookie Pelle Larsson, who had extended minutes tonight as through three periods, had 14 points on an efficient six of eight shooting and one of two from deep, which led any player coming off the bench.

An important development was when Highsmith left the game in the third quarter due to “not feeling well,” as said by the team’s official X, formerly Twitter, account. This led to Butler taking some of the duties defensively, but Irving got hot in the fourth, making a couple of threes, giving back Dallas the lead, which was their first since early in the first half.

It became a game of possessions towards the final minutes where, at one point, Butler made an impressive behind-the-back shot under duress and made it to give them a 112-111 lead with 1:03 left to play. However, it would be Irving who makes a jumper to put them ahead, and a scramble for the ball made events harder for Miami.

However, Butler found an open lane with just over five seconds left in the game and dunked the ball to tie the game at 114. As Dallas couldn’t convert after, the game went into overtime.

Overtime insanity for the Heat, plus still concern on Terry Rozier

The overtime period was one to remember for the Heat as they outlasted the Mavericks, which saw Butler close this game out while the other team had chances but just couldn’t capitalize. Especially Irving, who had a ton of good looks, but they wouldn’t go in, as it ended in a huge win for Miami.

Coming out of the contest Sunday evening, the Heat have to wonder about Terry Rozier, who missed his second straight game with a foot injury. It was a confusing journey as throughout the week of practice, Rozier and the team were confident in his return against the Mavericks, even to the point where they had him as “probable” but then downgraded him to “out” the day of the game.

While he has been struggling on a major level in recent weeks, Rozier, along with Herro, makes the Heat have a dynamic backcourt. On the season so far, Rozier has been averaging 12.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 38 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from deep.

At any rate, the monumental win from the Heat over the Mavericks takes them to 7-7 as they are on a two-game winning streak heading into another big game Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks.