MIAMI — Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra began the night speaking about recent quality pockets of play, even as his team entered on a three-game losing streak. He also warned of how third-period lulls had produced that skid.
So again on Monday, quality pockets of play.
And, again, a third-quarter lull.
This time, though, a different final chapter, with Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell draining late 3-pointers to end the skid and produce a 127-121 victory Tuesday night over the Phoenix Suns at Kaseya Center.
“It was good to see us overcome the third quarter. There was a little bit of a glitch there,” a relieved Spoelstra said afterward.
From a 20-point lead early in the third period, the Heat had to fight to the finish, with the fight there on a night Adebayo found his shooting stroke and Powell returned from a one-game absence due to back pain.
Adebayo led the Heat with 29 points and nine rebounds, supported by 27 points from Powell and 23 from Tyler Herro.
“It was good to see us come out on the winning side versus a very competitive team that was making plays,” Spoelstra said.
Up next on this three-game home stand is a Thursday night game against the Boston Celtics.
“We had the right intentions coming out, trying to play the right way, play with the right energy,” Powell said. “I just liked our mentality and the way we stuck together and kept fighting and didn’t cave in.”
Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday night’s game:
1. Game flow: The Heat led 36-28 after the first quarter, went up 18 in the second period before taking a 71-54 lead into the intermission.
But that is when the Suns outscored the Heat 20-4 to open the third period, ultimately resulting in a 92-92 tie going into the fourth.
With 9:11 to play, the Suns then took their first lead, at 101-99, eventually pushing their lead to seven.
A pair of Adebayo 3-pointers then cut the deficit to 114-113 with 2:27 to play, with another putting the Heat up 116-114 with 1:49 left.
“The ball found the right karma,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo’s 3-pointers. “I thought he earned it, to have a great night. He just really did.”
From there, it was tied twice, before a Powell 3-pointer put the Heat up 121-118 with 48.2 seconds to play.
“I thought tonight we did a great job of holding on to the rope,” Powell said, “trusting one another, continuing to fight, continuing to make winning plays down the stretch of the game.”
A pair of Suns turnovers followed, leaving the Heat in possession up three with 11.5 seconds to play, effectively ending it.
“The fourth quarter was terrific,” Spoelstra said, “just from a competitive standpoint and the mental toughness to come back.”
2. Bam back: After a miserable stretch of low scoring and missed shots, Adebayo took and made the Heat’s first two shots, then moving to 4 of 4 from the field and 2 of 2 on 3-pointers, scoring 10 of the Heat’s first 21 points.
Adebayo entered having scored in single digits in two of his three previous games, including six points in Sunday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Adebayo’s 16 points at halftime match his high over the previous 11 appearances.
Spoelstra also noted the defense and leadership at the moments of truth.
“He was basically doing everything,” Spoelstra said. “So he filled up the box score in all the statistical ways, but then all the winning and tangible ways, as well. And that’s why I say the karma of the game, it found him.”
Adebayo said he had no doubts of better days ahead.
“It feels great to see the ball go in,” he said. “I’ve been through a slump two weeks, and you don’t overreact to it.”
3. Tyler time: Meanwhile, Herro continued with his ease of offense in his fourth game back after being sidelined since Dec. 9 with a toe contusion.
Herro then got a chance as the focus of the Heat offense when Powell was forced to the bench with his fifth foul with 5:02 to play.
Herro closed 8 of 18 from the field, and made it work alongside Powell.
“The synergy will be there if we just can consistently play the way we know we need to play,” Spoelstra said of the Herro-Powell pairing.
Of continuing to regain his stride, Herro said, “Just continuing to play the right way and just making the right plays for each other, leaning on each other.”
4. Powell plays: Sidelined Sunday by lower-back soreness, Powell returned to the mix, which required another Spoelstra shuffle.
This time it was Powell back into a starting lineup alongside Adebayo, Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell.
Pelle Larsson had started Sunday in place of Powell.
The revised mix had Dru Smith out of the initial rotation, as was the case when Powell last played, in Saturday’s loss in Indiana.
Through it all, Kel’el Ware played his third consecutive game off the bench.
As for working alongside Herro, Powell said he sees only positives.
“We’re just going to keep working,” Powell said. “We’re both confident, not only in our own abilities, but in each other. We’re talking to each other out the course of the game. We’re talking to each other on the bench.”
5. Mitchell goes out: Mitchell took a jolt to his left shoulder fighting through a screen early in the third quarter. With his left arm hanging at his side, he then scored in transition on the next possession.
But with 9:07 left in the third quarter, after being called for his fourth foul, Mitchell went to the locker room, replaced by Smith.
He closed with nine points and six assists in his 19 minutes.