{"id":535470,"date":"2026-01-14T06:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/535470\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T06:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:01:34","slug":"an-analysis-of-tuesday-nights-miami-heat-phoenix-suns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/535470\/","title":{"rendered":"An analysis of Tuesday night&#8217;s Miami Heat-Phoenix Suns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MIAMI \u2014 Observations and other notes of interest from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2026\/01\/13\/adebayo-find-stroke-as-heat-find-way-back-to-win-column-with-127-121-decision-over-suns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tuesday night\u2019s 127-121 victory over the Phoenix Suns<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 We appear to have reached the crossroads again where Erik Spoelstra does not believe Kel\u2019el Ware and Bam Adebayo can play together.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 At least not on a highly productive basis.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Which many metrics confirm.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 But with Adebayo back with his offense in this one, it again appears to be nothing more going forward than Short Minutes Theater for Ware.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Which is fine if the thought is he solely is capable of contributing as a backup center.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Performances this season say otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 It is one thing to protect Ware on the trade market as a valued asset.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 It is another thing not to play him as one.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 No, it doesn\u2019t mean Ware has to start.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 But it might mean that the Nikola Jovic minutes also go to Ware.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 There has to be a way to carve out more.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 If even solely for development.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Which means Spoelstra at least relenting for some Adebayo-Ware.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Instead, Adebayo back in and Ware out early in the fourth.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 With Ware with just 16 minutes of action.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Nonetheless with 10 points and five rebounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Double the minutes and the math speaks for itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Yes, Adebayo was good, very good in this one. But it\u2019s not as if Ware was minimal-minutes bad.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 With Norman Powell back after missing a game with lower-back soreness, the Heat went back to a lineup of Powell, Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 That lineup entered 2-3.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 The Suns opened with a lineup of Collin Gillespie, Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, Royce O\u2019Neale and Mark Williams.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Booker then was forced to the locker room with an injury late in the third period, before returning in the fourth.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 With Mitchell retreating earlier to the Heat locker room with a game-ending shoulder contusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Jaime Jaquez Jr. again was first off the Heat bench.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 With Pelle Larsson and Ware then following together.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 That again had Dru Smith out of the initial mix, before entering for the first time with 54.2 seconds left in the first half.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 As Kasparas Jakucionis looked on, again a spectator.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 In entering on a three-game losing streak, Spoelstra said one priority was clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cWe just have to be better at sustaining,\u201d he said, lamenting recent third-quarter struggles.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Didn\u2019t happen, with a 20-4 Suns run at the top of the third.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Spoelstra added, \u201cI would say the largest part of our team right now is being able to sustain our style of play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Spoelstra then clarified to avoid misconception.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cThat doesn\u2019t just mean the pace, what everybody thinks about,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is our type of defense, the activity level, the physicality. And then, yes, offensively doing things with a fullcourt pace and a halfcourt pace and intention, when we do get forced into the halfcourt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 The sky, Spoelstra said, is not falling.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cWe\u2019ve shown more times a game that we can play well, and then there\u2019s these pockets where we just haven\u2019t been able to sustain,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I would say the last month or five weeks, we\u2019ve only had two duds of games.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 As in the losses to the lowly Kings and Pacers.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cThe rest of them,\u201d he said, \u201cwe\u2019ve played really well for large stretches of games.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Spoelstra added, \u201cTo me, that says we should have more wins than we have right now. But this inability to really sustain and have that consistency more throughout the course of the game has really, really hurt us. And we have to grow from that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Through it all, a level of hope.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cI think we will. Our guys understand that. We have a competitive group,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a group that has big aspirations, that wants to win, wants to move up in the East.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Spoelstra was asked before the game why this has worked so well this season with Powell.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cHe still has that kind of chip on his shoulder and willingness to play a role of who he used to be, but an ambition to try to do more and be more, given opportunities,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cHe\u2019s found a nice balance in that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Spoelstra said the Suns, in exceeding expectations, are where the Heat thought they could be.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cWe view them as probably similar to us. I just think they\u2019ve done that at a higher level and more consistent,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they\u2019ve been pretty steady and steadfast in who they are. They defend at a higher level, they share the ball, they play a collective game, and they don\u2019t fatigue. They do it night in and night out, and that\u2019s given them the opportunity to be plus nine, where we hoped we would be at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 He added, \u201cThey\u2019ve done it, and that\u2019s a good example for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Of the Heat\u2019s offense, Suns coach Jordan Ott was complimentary.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u201cKind of similar to OKC in a different way, but they\u2019re going to come right to you, and they\u2019re going to be aggressive,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re physical, trying to get to the rim.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Observations and other notes of interest from Tuesday night\u2019s 127-121 victory over the Phoenix Suns: \u2013&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,165,189,3880,6,2065,472,4045,66,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-535470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-miami-heat","11":"tag-miami-heat-blog","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-phoenix-suns","15":"tag-phoenixsuns","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115891934684365580","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}