NEW YORK — Observations and other notes of interest from Thursday night’s 106-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets:
– Even with a needed win, the math problem continues.
– The Heat simply don’t take enough 3-pointers.
– With the other part of the equation is they don’t have many to make 3-pointers.
– This time 9 of 28.
– Nine.
– With Tyler Herro out, it’s basically Norman Powell or bust.
– Because it’s not Simone Fontecchio and hasn’t been for a while.
– Yes, the occasional Jaime Jaquez Jr. 3-pointer is heartening.
– As is a 41-footer from Powell at the halftime buzzer.
– Or even the now unexpected from Andrew Wiggins.
– But this roster is not built for the 3-point game.
– Or at least not now, with Herro out.
– The Heat need his 3s.
– And could have used Nikola Jovic’s.
– Where is Alec Burks when you need him?
– In this one, it was a case of allowing the Nets to hang around with 3-pointers while the Heat were loading up on twos.
– Somehow it worked.
– This time.
– Next up are the Celtics, who take 43.3 3-pointers per game, third in the NBA.
– The Heat went into Thursday night 21st on that list.
– Don’t expect Herro back Friday.
– And don’t expect another Powell midcourt 3-pointer.
– But the Heat have to find a way to baskets that are worth more.
– Or else the math problem will follow.
– Because up Sunday are the Knicks, who are seventh in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game.
– With Herro missing a fourth game with a toe contusion, the Heat returned to their big lineup, opening with Kel’el Ware, Bam Adebayo, Wiggins, Powell and Davion Mitchell.
– It was Ware’s first start in three games.
– The Nets opened with a lineup of Egor Dëmin, Terance Mann, Michael Porter Jr., Noah Clowney and Nic Claxton.
– Jaquez, Dru Smith and Kasparas Jakucionis entered together first off the Heat bench.
– With Fontecchio making it nine deep.
– Heat coach Erik Spoelstra entered with the perspective amid the five-game losing streak his team carried into the night.
– “Yeah, we have been working through it,” he said pregame. “Look, this league is not easy. Even when you’re on a stretch like this, we’re closer than what it would appear. But we just haven’t been able to come away with a win, and that’s all we’re focused on.”
– He added, “You always say you want to be worthy enough to win. These practices and sessions together don’t guarantee anything, but you just keep on stacking up good days. You want to have your team feel like they’re worthy enough to win, and I feel like we are. But we have to do the work in the game.”
– Spoelstra said steeling his team remains an ongoing process.
– “We have to have a will to overcome, to handle some things that happen through competition,” he said.
– He added, “We take pride in, as an organization and with this team, to be able to, as competitors, find a way to win. Bottom line.”
– Going in, Spoelstra said of getting the team’s game right on the road, “Anything right now. The focus is just on this game. Just to put it together for 48 minutes, if not more, to be able to do enough to win the game.”
– On that subject, Adebayo said, “This is an important road trip for us. This is a road trip where it can define how we obviously are seeded. But more importantly, how we are about to fight.”
– Of the Heat needing to get more shots up, Adebayo said, “Just take care of the ball. Taking care of the ball makes it easier for us to get shots on goal. So, yeah, that’s the most important thing.”
– The game gave the Heat a reunion with forward Haywood Highsmith, who was offloaded in the offseason in a salary-cap move.
– Highsmith is recovering from August knee surgery and has yet to play for the Nets.
– Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said Highsmith has been doing on-court work but has yet to begin five-on-five work.
– “He’s in a good place, shows up every day and does his job, is an ultimate pro,” Fernandez said. “But he’s done a good job. And the most important thing to me is his veteran leadership, and how important he is to the rest of the group, especially the young guys.”
– Spoelstra addressed the parting pregame.
– “The fact that he initially joined our team during that COVID year, when we really only had seven players during that Texas trip. He made enough of an impression on us that we gave everything we had as a staff to develop him,” Spoelstra said.
– He added, “He gave us everything he had, and he’s carving out a nice role in this league. It shows a lot of perseverance on his part. He had to go through the G League for several years before he even had that opportunity. You just really respect guys that take that kind of journey.”
– The Nets after the first quarter paid tribute to the victims of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah Massacre. As part of the solidarity event, a giant “basketball menorah” was lit by the 14-year-old nephew of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in the attack.