MIAMI – The NBA’s two fastest teams as measured by pace not only were off to the races on Saturday night at Kaseya Center, but in a race that went to the wire.
In many ways, it was as much a series of sprints, in the form of surges by each team, as a race of constant pace, with the Miami Heat entering No. 1 in that category and the Portland Trail Blazers at No. 2.
So down the stretch they came, the Heat again attempting to conjure a path to victory while playing in the injury absences of leading men Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
Ultimately, Erik Spoelstra’s team found a way, with late scores by Jaime Jaquez Jr., Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins helping close out the 136-131 victory that lifted the record to 6-4.
“Obviously our guys are getting pretty comfortable with it,” Spoelstra said of the whole new Heat world of playing at pace. “I’m not putting the brakes on anybody who is trying to attack.”
Nikola Jovic led the Heat with a career-high 29 points, with Powell adding 22, Pelle Larsson 16, Wiggins 15 and Jaquez closing with 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.
“It’s an offense where it can be anybody’s night.” Jaquez said. “Tonight, it was Niko.”
For Jovic, the style made the game – and made his night.
“You can see the way it makes everybody look better,” he said. “It’s an easy way to play basketball. And I think it suits us really well.”
Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 33 points.
“Both teams were attacking,” Spoelstra said. “This was a helluva basketball game.”
The Heat next play consecutive home games against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday and Wednesday nights.
Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday night’s game:
1. Game flow: The Blazers led 30-27 at the end of the first period, before the Heat moved to a 72-65 halftime lead.
The Heat then went up 12 in the third period, before the Blazers closed within 100-97 entering the fourth.
It all led to a 119-119 with 4:45 to play, as Powell began to warm up with his scoring and then another tie at 123-123 with 3:25 to play.
“It was just a lot of high-level basketball going back and forth,” Spoelstra said. “We had to make a lot of plays there at the end.”
Later, a 3-point play by Jaquez put the Heat up 127-125, with a Wiggins 3-pointer making it 132-127 with 1:32 to play.
“Wiggs continues to be a big-moments guy for us,” Spoelstra said. “It was who would blink first.”
2. Abject opposite: Friday night, the Heat practically were a can’t-miss proposition in the first quarter, converting their first six shots against the Hornets and rolling to a franchise-record 53 first-quarter points.
This time, the Heat opened 1 of 15 from the field, their second conversion not coming until Pelle Larsson made a driving floater with 7:05 left in the opening period.
That had the Heat with an early 12-point deficit and playing from behind, something never the case a night earlier against the Charlotte Hornets.
“Just to start, I thought we were sluggish, all of us, running in the mud,” Powell said.
The Heat recovered from that 1-of-15 start to close the opening quarter 10 of 27.
The Heat entered averaging a league-leading 36.6 points in first quarters.
3. Buying time: It almost has gotten to the point where the Heat merely are buying time until the reserves can enter.
“It’s kind of our thing,” Jaquez said. “We want to take pride to bring the energy boost for our team.”
In Saturday night’s case, the Heat were +23 with Jovic on the court in the first half.
And each time Jaquez entered, good things happened.
“Jaime at 3 o’clock was not cleared to play,” Spoelstra said of the ankle sprain Jaquez sustained a night earlier in the victory over the Hornets. “He gave us everything he had.”
Factor in Dru Smith and Jovic (see below) and the possibilities have been on display all season.
And needed – as Saturday night’s start showed.
“We do have depth,” Spoelstra said, “and that’s something we want to lean into.”
4. Speaking of: Jovic was at his energetic best in a pace that played to his strength, as if straight out of EuroBasket.
For as much of a spark as Jaquez provided with his energy, it was Jovic who took care of the scoring, including draining 3-pointers when there wasn’t much in that regard from the starters.
“My teammates got me going,” Jovic said.
Jovic closed 10 of 16 from the field, including 3 of 7 on 3-pointers, along with nine rebounds and seven assists.
“I like his energy. I like his intent. He was assertive, aggressive on both sides of the court,” Spoelstra said. “You can choose to float or you can impose your will. I just like the assertiveness tonight.”
5. Dru, too: Earlier, Smith helped turn the game with his opening stint that included 4-of-4 shooting from the field and four rebounds, including the basket that gave the Heat their first lead of the night.
“Dru comes in,” Powell said, “and just has a nose for the ball.”
Based on Smith’s play, it seems unlikely that first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis, now back from his preseason groin strain, will be seeing rotation minutes anytime soon.
As for Smith, he has made a case for keeping his rotation role even when Tyler Herro makes his expected return later this month from September ankle surgery.
Smith finished with 13 points, six assists and five rebounds.
“He was all over the place, so impactful,” Spoelstra said.
Smith (four) and Davion Mitchell (five) combined for nine steals.