Heat’s Lowry returns and talks knee issue. Also, Strus’ career night and All-Star update

Point guard Kyle Lowry’s return was overshadowed by the Miami Heat’s most dominant performance of the season.

But Heat coaches and players say they felt the effects of Lowry’s presence in Wednesday night’s 124-98 blowout win over the Pelicans in New Orleans.

Why Spoelstra remains intrigued by Heat’s preferred starting unit, and what the numbers say

Lowry, who returned to the starting lineup after missing the previous four games because of left knee discomfort, closed the Heat’s most lopsided victory of the season with a modest stat line of seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 shooting from three-point range, eight rebounds, four assists and one steal in 22 minutes that were limited in his first game back.

But Lowry’s impact was felt most through his ball movement that helped the Heat close Wednesday’s win with a season 37 assists on 50 made field goals. His first assist came on a well-timed pass to Bam Adebayo in the pocket on a pick-and-roll, the second went to Tyler Herro for a baseline drive that resulted in a layup after Lowry saw a Pelicans defender vacate the paint, the third came after Lowry took one dribble inside the arc to draw an extra defender before taking advantage to find an open Victor Oladipo for a three-pointer, and the final one was a simple entry pass to Jimmy Butler in the post.

Lowry delivered 37 passes on Wednesday. That was the third most on the team behind only Max Strus and Victor Oladipo, who both played more minutes than him.

“Kyle’s smart. He’s always seeing matchups that he wants to get guys involved in, or he knows who has to have the ball,” Butler said, with the Heat set to close its three-game trip on Friday against the Dallas Mavericks (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and ESPN). “Obviously he can shoot the ball incredibly well, but he makes sure everybody is in the right spots on both offense and defense. And then you know, just his energy, how fun he makes the game, how he’s always smiling, we needed that back.”

The most encouraging sign was that Lowry, 36, looked to be moving well and was active on both ends of the court Wednesday. He opened the game by doubling Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas in the post to come away with a steal before turning it into a transition layup on the other end for the Heat’s first points of the game, and then raced down the court after a Pelicans missed shot to score on another transition layup while drawing a foul less than a minute later.

“His minutes, particularly in that first half were really good,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was a big contributor of setting the tone on both ends. Right out of the gate, you want to set the tone for the game on the road. He had that early steal on the post-up and a couple of other physical defensive possessions, and he had two early attacks before the defense was set. That just kind of set the tone for everybody else to do something similar.”

Lowry used the time he missed to rest and treat his ailing left knee.

“It was good to just get myself right,” said Lowry, who took a little more than a week off from game action. “My knee has been a little bit bothering me for a while. So it was good to get back. But just being able to watch the team and figure out what I can do to contribute and try to help as best as I can.”

Lowry, who also missed two games in mid-December because of left knee soreness, hopes the issue is behind him.

“I feel good,” he continued. “I feel pretty good right now and hopefully it doesn’t re-occur, and we just kind of build on that. You keep the body right and keep the mind sharp.”

STRUS’ CAREER NIGHT

Strus is known for making threes, and he hit four of those to finish Wednesday’s win in New Orleans with 16 points.

But the conversation after the game had to do with Strus’ passing, as he closed with a career-high 10 assists to just one turnover.

“His career high probably at any level,” Spoelstra said with a smile.

Spoelstra probably isn’t wrong, considering Strus’ career high at the college level was seven assists.

“Man, I’ve never passed the ball that much in my life,” Strus said. “That’s the truth. I’ve never even been close to it.”

For perspective, Strus delivered 41 total passes in Wednesday’s win, according to NBA tracking stats. He has averaged 36.1 passes per game this season.

But it also came down to others hitting shots, as Strus’ 10 potential assists (any pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving the ball) in New Orleans all became actual assists.

THIS AND THAT

▪ The third returns of fan balloting for the All-Star Game released Thursday has Butler (954,799 votes) fifth among Eastern Conference frontcourt players behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (4,318,035 votes), Boston’s Jayson Tatum (4,521,414 votes), Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant (5,838,182 votes) and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (5,970,196 votes).

Surprisingly, Adebayo is not among the top 10 fan vote-getters for East frontcourt players.

There are no Heat players among the top 10 East guards when it comes to fan balloting.

Fans account for 50 percent of the vote to determine the 10 starters for the Feb. 19 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. All current NBA players and a media panel account for 25 percent apiece of the vote, with every voter completing a ballot featuring two guards and three frontcourt players.

Voting for fans will conclude Saturday.

While it seems that no Heat players will make it to this season’s All-Star Game as starters, they will still have an opportunity to get in as reserves. Head coaches will select the seven reserves from each conference.

▪ The Heat ruled out Omer Yurtseven, Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic and Jamal Cain for Friday’s game at Dallas. Udonis Halem is probable.