Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 115-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets:
– Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo were moving well on the bench.
– Just not in uniform.
– Haywood Highsmith felt good enough to get an on-court workout pregame.
– The trends toward health are encouraging for the Heat.
– Even with Josh Richardson sitting this one out.
– Because for all you can get away with against the Hornets, more will be needed for the upcoming challenges.
– Against Charlotte, the nine first-quarter turnovers weren’t fatal.
– Nor was standing with 14 at the intermission.
– But it also has been a while since the Heat have looked truly convincing.
– The buzz Wednesday was Herro soon, perhaps very soon.
– With Adebayo also progressing.
– In that regard, coach Erik Spoelstra downplayed the need for sidelined players to necessarily go through a full practice before a return.
– “Even if we don’t have an official practice,” Spoelstra said, “we have enough guys that we can get these guys full-contact workouts.”
– It’s not that the Heat are desperate to get anyone back.
– Not with the way Duncan Robinson and Kevin Love have been playing.
– And Jaime Jaquez Jr., too.
– But the Heat over these past few weeks aren’t the real Heat.
– That still awaits.
– Particularly as Caleb Martin regains his stride.
– So soon.
– Perhaps very soon.
– With Adebayo, Herro and Highsmith again out, the Heat again opened with Orlando Robinson, Martin, Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry.
– Also unavailable for Heat was Richardson, who missed the morning shootaround with a bad headache.
– The hope now is a Richardson return for Thursday night’s second night of this back-to-back set, against the visiting Bulls.
– Spoelstra, as is his wont, downplayed the shortage.
– “We’ll adjust however we need to,” he said.
– And they did.
– “And we’ve had a bunch of guys preparing for this, whether we have to go deep in the rotation, we’ll see,” Spoelstra continued.
– After a rough start for Orlando Robinson, the Heat midway through the opening period subbed in Love, Jaquez and Jamal Cain.
– Cain essentially took the rotation spot of Richardson.
– With Thomas Bryant later playing at center ahead of Orlando Robinson.
– Cain played his minutes well.
– The promise remains there with Cain.
– The erratic play of Orlando Robinson and Thomas Bryant has shown just how valuable Love has become.
– Even when not scoring, Love rebounding remains a major asset.
– Soon the tough decisions won’t be as tough for Spoelstra.
– Butler’s first offensive rebound gave him 1,250 for his career.
– The Heat went in seeking their first sweep of a two-game set against the same opponent, having previously split with the Bulls and Pacers.
– “These are unique scheduling deals, where you play the same team two games in a row,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve had two of these before. We haven’t been able to get two wins out of these.”
– The Heat entered having won their past 18 regular-season divisional home games.
