Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat looks to shoot against Jock Landale #31 of the Atlanta Hawks during the first quarter at State Farm Arena on February 20, 2026 in Atlanta.
Todd Kirkland
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ATLANTA
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 128-97 blowout victory over the Atlanta Hawks (27-31) on Friday night at State Farm Arena to kick off its post-All-Star break schedule and another back-to-back set. The Heat (30-27) now returns home to host the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday to complete the back-to-back (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and WPLG Local 10):
The Heat returned from the All-Star break and had its full rotation available for just the sixth game this season on Friday. The results were impressive against the Hawks.
With guard Tyler Herro missing 45 of the Heat’s 56 games before the break, Miami hasn’t had its full core available much this season. But after missing 15 straight games because of a rib injury, Herro made his return on Friday to make the Heat as healthy as it has been all season.
Things went well for the Heat, as it earned its sixth win of the season by 30 or more points.
“We have legit depth, we’ve been talking about it all year,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Friday’s victory “But when you have guys out, the depth is used to plug in and fill in some gaps when guys are out. But when we have everybody available, we look a lot different. This is one game, but this is something that we’ve felt about our team for a while. We just have our guys available right now.”
But Friday’s contest included the usual ebbs and flows despite the lopsided final score.
The Heat started fast, opening the game on an 18-7 run and eventually pulling ahead by 15 points early in the second quarter.
But the Hawks made a push before the end of the first half, going on a 28-13 run to tie the score at 46 with 2:12 left in the second quarter before eventually entering halftime trailing the Heat by six points.
The Heat regained control in the third quarter, though, taking a 17-point lead late in the period. The Hawks again responded, scoring five unanswered points over the final 31 seconds of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 12 points entering the fourth quarter.
But the duo of Herro and Kel’el Ware then combined for the Heat’s first 11 points of the fourth quarter during an 11-0 run to extend the lead to 23 points and put the game away.
While the Heat was outscored 48-39 from three-point range, it dominated the Hawks 72-38 in the paint on Friday. Atlanta shot just 37.5 percent from the field and 20 of 58 (34.5 percent) on two-pointers.
The Heat’s depth shined through, with seven players scoring double-digit points.
Herro finished with 24 points, Bam Adebayo finished with 17 points, Norman Powell finished with 15 points, Ware finished with 14 points, Andrew Wiggins finished with 13 points, Pelle Larsson finished with 12 points and Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with 10 points on Friday.
Jalen Johnson produced a triple-double stat line for the Hawks, totaling 16 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists. But Johnson shot just 6 of 22 from the field.
“You love a team that has that much depth,” Adebayo said. “Because now you’ve got different people that can step up at any moment. And throughout the rest of the season and going into the playoffs, you need that.”
Herro played off the bench in his first game in over a month.
In Herro’s first game action since Jan. 15 and just his 12th game of the season, he recorded a game-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 23 minutes off the bench. He also posted a plus/minus of plus 10.
Herro, who missed the previous 15 games because of a rib injury, wore a flak jacket in his return to protect his ribs.
“It felt great,” Herro said of being back in the mix. “Ultimately just being out there was what felt amazing. Being out there with my teammates, playing in the game, being able to go through my routine again. It felt good.”
Despite the missed time, Herro showed little signs of rust. He totaled 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting from three-point range and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line in Friday’s first half.
Herro scored eight points in the second half.
“It was definitely encouraging,” Spoelstra said of Herro’s performance in his return. “Obviously, it’s been a unique season for him. We know how competitive he is, we know how much he wants to be out there. But those are the things you can’t control. But we have never forgotten about the talent that he brings. He changes our dynamic quite a bit.”
Herro, who turned 26 on Jan. 20, missed 45 of the Heat’s first 56 games of the season before playing on Friday. He missed the first 17 games of the season due to offseason ankle surgery, 13 games because of a toe contusion and then 15 straight games because of his rib injury.
The fact that Herro was used as a reserve is certainly noteworthy.
Friday marked only the fourth game that Herro has played off the bench since the start of the 2022-23 season. His only three games as a reserve before Friday during this stretch came on April 5, 2024 and April 7, 2024 after he returned from a 20-game absence due to right foot medial tendinitis, and then earlier this season in a Jan. 6 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves when he returned from an 11-game absence due to his toe contusion.
But after those two games off the bench toward the end of the 2023-24 season and the one game as a reserve earlier this season, Herro returned to a starting role. It remains to be seen how long Herro will play as a reserve after returning to a bench role on Friday.
“Right now we’re just trying to get him out there,” Spoelstra said when asked about his decision to play Herro off the bench on Friday. “We are going to manage the minutes. I’m not overthinking it, I’m not putting anything in cement, I don’t have a timeline for anything.”
Instead, the Heat continued to use Larsson as a starter.
The Heat opened Friday’s game in Atlanta with a starting lineup of Davion Mitchell, Powell, Larsson, Wiggins and Adebayo. It marked the seventh game this group has started for the Heat this season, improving to 4-3 in those games.
Mitchell, Powell, Wiggins and Adebayo have started in all of their appearances this season.
But Larsson has played as a starter and as a reserve, as he has been used off the bench in 13 games this season.
However, Larsson has seemingly settled into a starting role. Friday marked the 14th straight appearance that he has played as a starter.
Larsson has played well during that stretch, averaging 12.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 55.9 percent from the field and 9 of 30 (30 percent) from three-point range in his first 13 starts of this span. The Heat has outscored opponents by 20 points with Larsson on the court during this 13-game stretch.
Larsson again produced positive minutes in Friday’s win, contributing 12 points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals in 32 minutes. He also posted a plus/minus of plus 16.
“He’s the glue that really can help maximize lineups,” Spoelstra said of Larsson. “Whenever he’s been with that starting unit, it’s been incredibly dynamic. He does all the little things that aren’t seen or not really noticed on the outside, but we notice it. The cuts, the movement, taking charges, running the floor, just moving the basketball, being a ball mover, allowing the scorers to just focus on their strengths.”
With the Heat as healthy as it has been all season, a few notable names were left out of the rotation on Friday.
The Heat’s starting lineup included Mitchell, Powell, Larsson, Wiggins and Adebayo.
The Heat’s bench rotation featured Herro, Jaquez, Kasparas Jakucionis, Ware and Myron Gardner.
Six of the 10 players in the Heat’s rotation on Friday are 26 or younger.
But that left Nikola Jovic, Dru Smith, Keshad Johnson, Simone Fontecchio and Trevor Keels as the only available Heat players who weren’t in the mix on Friday.
While Johnson has been out of the rotation for most of the season and Keels just signed a two-way contract with the Heat earlier this week, Jovic, Smith and Fontecchio have spent a large chunk of the season in Miami’s rotation.
It appeared that Jovic was on the way to his fourth DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season, Smith was on the way to his second DNP-CD of the season, and Fontecchio was on the way to his fourth DNP-CD of the season.
But Jovic, Smith and Fontecchio played the final 2:43 of the Heat’s blowout win.
It’s also worth noting that Ware and Adebayo didn’t play together on Friday, with their minutes staggered throughout the game.
Herro and Powell only played just three minutes together on Friday, as Spoelstra also staggered their minutes.
The only unavailable Heat players on Friday were Terry Rozier (not with team), Vlad Goldin (G League) and Jahmir Young (G League).
The Heat began its post-All-Star break push on Friday in hopes of avoiding the NBA’s play-in tournament.
With Herro back on Friday, the Heat is getting healthy at the right time.
Another thing that will help the Heat is it has a relatively soft schedule ahead. The Heat came out of the All-Star break with NBA’s seventh-easiest remaining schedule, according to Tankathon.com, based solely on the current combined winning percentage of teams left to play.
The Heat hopes a healthier roster and a favorable schedule is enough to avoid the play-in tournament for the first time in four years. Miami needs to finish among the East’s top six teams to qualify for the playoffs without needing to take part in the play-in tourney.
After Friday’s win, the Heat is one-half game behind the seventh-place Orlando Magic and just one game behind the sixth-place Philadelphia 76ers in the East standings with 25 regular-season games left to play.
“We have a great opportunity in front of us,” Spoelstra emphasized before Friday’s game. “There’s been a lot of narratives around the league, a bunch of different things. We just see opportunity in front of us. We’re getting healthier right now just at the right time. We feel like we have everything we need to make a run. But we have to prove it. And that’s what’s exhilarating about it is the competition.
“There’s only one team that wins it. Everybody else is chasing it, and it’s what keeps us feeling alive. We’re just looking forward to this final run. It’s the best time of year. The playoff picture starts to become a little bit more clear. The games are really competitive. You can see what’s about to happen in the middle of April. And I know our guys are competitors, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Next up for the Heat is a matchup against the struggling and injury-depleted Grizzlies on Saturday at Kaseya Center. The Grizzlies have lost 10 of their last 13 games, but defeated the Utah Jazz in Memphis on Friday night.
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 9:48 PM.
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Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.