Coup’s Takeaways: Jimmy Butler Keys One-Minute, Nine-Point Run to Wrest Control From Detroit in Fourth Quarter
- wgclients01
- Oct 31, 2024
- 4 min read
1. One game in Charlotte later and Miami’s offense couldn’t look much more different than it did on opening night against Orlando. Everything they want to be, everywhere they want to be balanced, they were tonight against Detroit.
It helps that Charlotte and Detroit both have matchups to hunt, you still have to have the personnel to take advantage of them. Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler found their spots early, tilting Detroit’s defense past the point of no return to create open looks and closeout situations for Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier as the halfcourt efficiency, and Adebayo for a ridiculous lob, soared. Detroit kept up for most of the first quarter, hammering the offensive glass as Cade Cunningham – one of his best games of last season was their opener against Miami – continued to play calm and composed against Miami’s somewhat irregular defensive aggression.
When the ball wasn’t in Cunningham’s sure hands, though, Detroit’s rhythm hit quite a bit of static. By the time Cunningham picked up his third foul in the second quarter, the turnovers started flowing and Miami turned a small deficit into a double-digit lead, 64-53 at the break, with a 142.2 offensive rating. The Pistons shot well enough in those opening periods, 7-of-16 from three, but 12-of-28 shooting (42 percent) inside the arc had them on creaky footing while Rozier and Herro combined for 28 on 17 attempts. With Dwyane Wade being honored for his newly unveiled statue and street designation at halftime, Miami was in a fine spot to enjoy a no-notes sort of half.
With Cunningham back, Detroit kept their composure early in the third as they came back within one before five minutes had elapsed, Tim Hardaway Jr. finding his groove as Miami’s three faltered a bit. Cunningham picked up his fourth foul soon after that, however, followed by Detroit immediately giving up another pick-six turnover. And yet Detroit found itself in the lead moments after that on a Jaden Ivey corner three. Miami wasn’t without their good looks that weren’t falling, but a few miscues got Detroit going the other way. Pistons by one going into the fourth, Cunningham and Hardaway Jr. with a combined 37 on 18 shots.
Miami back in the lead early in the fourth, Butler going right at rookie Ron Holland for a couple trips to the line. Another pick-six turnover soon after, the HEAT were right back to being up seven, a 9-0 run in the span of just over a minute of action. It wasn’t a complete unraveling – Detroit remained raveled enough to fight back behind Cunningham’s control – but it was a short story you’ve seen from plenty of young teams unsure of how to hold leads.
No clutch game this time, a pair of threes from Herro and Rozier keeping things just out of reach around the five-minute mark as Jaime Jaquez Jr. closed the game with the starters, Detroit missing open threes by the handful until it was just too late. Miami takes it, 106-98.
2. This game turned on the first minute of the fourth quarter, the way it went down a prime example of how this HEAT group can pull their offense together when everything isn’t clicking into place as it was in the first half.
Last year Miami’s best offensive lineups were Butler (23 points on 11 shots, a very Butler line) surrounded by shooting in Kevin Love’s five out units and though Love hasn’t been available (personal reasons) this year the HEAT have attempted to approximate those units with Thomas Bryant at the five. The general idea remains the same, give Butler the space to work against whatever matchup he chooses to work against, either getting himself into scoring range, getting to the line or kicking out for a three. Tonight Butler’s targets were Hardaway Jr. and the rookie Holland, and it was Holland who committed consecutive shooting fouls in that opening fourth quarter minute to plant Butler on the line.
Right after those two trips, Haywood Highsmith – likely to again be one of the team’s unsung heroes due to his lowkey nature – was involved in consecutive steals which became pick-six turnovers going the other way for Miami, two of at least five on the night. For as much as we’ve discussed Miami’s offensive emphasis in these early stages of the season, nothing will affect their overall efficiency more than their defensive emphasis, focused on creating live-ball turnovers. Highsmith and Butler combined for seven steals between them and it was no mistake that Butler (+8) was the only starter in the plus-minus positive due to that specific lineup while Highsmith finished a team-high +17 in just 21 minutes of play.
Spacing, Butler free-throws and steals (a 14-steal night overall for the HEAT when Detroit had total 16 turnovers). On nights when the threes weren’t falling – until just enough fell to put Detroit away – that’s the combination, in those five-out units with either Love or Bryant, that can keep Miami’s offense (112.8 for the game) above water.
3. Tonight was the culmination of days of celebrating Wade in Miami. He spoke to media during pregame – he also spoke after his statue was unveiled Sunday night – and acknowledged that he had seen the internet’s reaction. He also reminded that he was involved with the creation of the statue the entire way, having taken four trips to visit the artist’s studio in Chicago and provide feedback. In other words, Wade sounds enamored with the final product, what he calls an artistic interpretation of the most important individual moment of his career. Nothing else is more important than that.
What’s important to consider is that while the statue is inspired by a story we’re all familiar with, the story of the statue is also just days old. It will mean what the people who come to visit it deem it to mean, over decades and decades and decades. Flags may fly forever, but statues last even longer. The HEAT are now a franchise with a piece of physical history that, unlike a trophy, anyone can come up to and touch. Not many NBA teams, and none as young as Miami, can say that.