Short-handed Heat blown out by Timberwolves to fall to 0-2 on trip. Takeaways from the loss

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s ugly 106-90 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves (1-1) on Saturday night at Target Center to fall to 0-2 on its three-game trip. The Heat (1-2) closes the trip on Monday with a matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and the Bucks in Milwaukee:

Miami’s struggles in Minneapolis continued, as the Heat’s short-handed roster wilted in the fourth quarter on the second night of a back-to-back after losing to the Celtics in Boston on Friday night.

Playing without five players, including star Jimmy Butler and a few other rotation players, the Timberwolves dominated the fourth quarter 26-17 to cruise to the double-digit victory. Minnesota was coming off a two-way break after opening the season on Wednesday.

The Heat has now lost six straight games to the Timberwolves in Minneapolis, with four of those games coming on the second night of a back-to-back like Saturday’s contest. The Heat’s last road win over the Timberwolves came on Nov. 24, 2017.

It looked like the Heat would have a chance to end that losing skid early in Saturday’s game, but the Timberwolves were the stronger team down the stretch.

The Heat led by as many as eight points in the first half and took a two-point lead with 4:47 left in the third quarter during what was mostly a back-and-forth affair.

But the Timberwolves closed the third quarter on a 12-3 run to gain some control and take a seven-point lead into the fourth period.

The Heat chipped away at the deficit, pulling within three points with 9:34 to play.

That’s the closest the Heat got, as the Timberwolves scored 11 unanswered points to push their lead to 14 with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter.

Minnesota’s lead eventually grew to as many as 23 points in the final period.

“I thought we did a lot of really good things,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The guys really competed hard. And then you got those moments of truth, where it can swing either way. And it just was an avalanche there.

“When you’re on the road, it becomes even more challenging to win. It was their home opener, so they were juiced and ready to play. I thought we did a lot of good things, and then there at the end, we just couldn’t get shots to fall even if they were open. And we had some poor execution and they hit some tough shots. And you do have to credit their defense. They stepped it up and then we just could not get a stop those last four minutes.”

Without Butler, the Heat’s duo of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro took most of the shots.

Adebayo finished with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 5-of-10 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds and two assists.

Herro totaled 22 points on 8-of-23 shooting from the field and 4-of-11 shooting on threes, five rebounds and four assists.

Heat starting point guard Kyle Lowry, 37, also played on the second night of the back-to-back, finishing with three points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field, four rebounds and seven assists.

Reserve center Naz Reid led the Timberwolves with 25 points off the bench on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting on threes while posting a team-best plus/minus of plus-30. Reid scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.

When short-handed in recent seasons, the Heat has relied on efficient high-volume three-point shooting efforts and effective zone defense to win games. But the Heat shot just 12 of 39 (30.8 percent) from three-point range and had little success when it threw a few possessions of zone defense at the Timberwolves during the loss.

“It was the second night of a back-to-back and we just weren’t able to match it the entire 48 minutes,” Herro said.

The Heat rested Butler in the third game of the season.

Yes, Butler missed the entire preseason and the regular season is less than a week old. But with Saturday marking the second night of a back-to-back and the Heat’s third game in four nights, the decision was made to rest Butler against the Timberwolves.

“It was part of the plan with Jimmy and the training staff,” Spoelstra said when asked what was behind the team’s decision to rest Butler. “They just want to continue to make sure that he’s feeling good, particularly early on.”

The Minneapolis crowd chanted “Where is Jimmy?” late in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves’ win on Saturday. Butler responded by blowing kisses at the crowd as the final buzzer sounded.

Butler spent one full season with the Timberwolves in 2017-18 before asking for a trade the following season.

Butler, 34, is in his 13rd NBA season and is coming off a short offseason after leading the Heat to the NBA Finals last season.

Butler missed 18 regular-season games last season, with 10 of those absences coming because of a right knee issue. He played in both games of seven of the Heat’s 14 back-to-backs last season.

Saturday’s game marked the end of the Heat’s first of 13 back-to-back sets this season, with the next back-to-back coming on Nov. 11 against the Hawks in Atlanta and Nov. 12 against the Spurs in San Antonio.

Is the Heat’s decision to rest Butler on Saturday a sign of how the team will manage him during back-to-backs this season?

“No, we’re going to take it week by week,” Spoelstra said.

The Heat listing Butler as out for Saturday because of rest did not violate the NBA’s new player participation policy, which is intended to promote player participation in the regular season.

While Butler falls under the star category that the new policy focuses on, the Heat is allowed to rest him since Saturday was part of a back-to-back. It would have only been a violation if both of the Heat’s star players (Adebayo and Butler) missed the contest due to rest.

The other Heat players who missed Saturday’s game are dealing with injuries.

The Heat was without five players: Butler (rest), Haywood Highsmith (left knee sprain), Kevin Love (left shoulder contusion), Caleb Martin (left knee tendinosis) and Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation).

Highsmith and Richardson remain in Miami and have missed each of the Heat’s first three games of the season. Martin is with the Heat on the trip, but missed his second straight game on Saturday because of lingering knee pain.

Aside from Butler, the new addition to the injury report is Love. Spoelstra said Love injured his shoulder during Friday’s loss to the Celtics.

“There’s about three things that happened to K-Love [Friday against the Celtics],” Spoelstra said. “The last two hits kind of jarred his neck and his back. I had a feeling the way he was walking on the plane last night that he wouldn’t be available today. But he’s doing everything he possibly can to hopefully be ready for Monday [against the Bucks].”

Those absences left the Heat with 12 available players against the Timberwolves.

“Not frustrating,” Lowry said of the Heat’s early-season injury issues. “It’s something we’ve dealt with and we take pride in next man up. It’s only three games in. Our guys will be back, they’ll be fine sooner than later, and it’s a marathon not a sprint.”

The Heat’s trust in rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. continues to show.

In Jaquez’s regular-season NBA debut on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons, Spoelstra let Jaquez bring the ball up the floor and ran offense through Jaquez out of the mid-post.

In Jaquez’ second NBA game on Friday against the Celtics, Spoelstra had Jaquez defending Celtics star Jayson Tatum.

In Jaquez’ third NBA game on Saturday against the Timberwolves, Jaquez made his first NBA start while opening the game as the primary defender on Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.

It hasn’t been perfect, but Jaquez has done it all while not looking rattled or out of place.

Jaquez finished Saturday’s loss with seven points, three rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes. He’s still playing on a minutes restriction after suffering a groin injury during the preseason.

“It’s just a day at a time,” Jaquez said of playing on a minutes limit. “Just trying to trust the process, trust the coaches. They have my best interest, so I’m not worried about that at all. It’s frustrating sometimes, but that’s just the competitor in me.”

Jaquez, 22, was drafted by the Heat with the No. 18 pick in this year’s draft.

“Welcome to the league and the introduction of our defense and responsibilities and all that,” Spoelstra said of challenging Jaquez with tough defensive assignments the last two nights. “Because of where he is right now, he’s in a great place, but still on the minutes restriction. I figured it would be best to start him and might as well give that challenge. And he’s a smart player. He picks up things fast, so day by day, he’s improving.”

Jaquez wasn’t the only young developmental Heat player who logged extended minutes on Saturday. Second-year forward Nikola Jovic made his season debut.

The short-handed Heat was forced to use a new starting lineup against the Timberwolves. Miami opened Saturday’s game with a lineup of Lowry, Herro, Jaquez, Jovic and Adebayo.

Lowry, Herro and Adebayo are regulars in the Heat’s starting unit.

But as previously noted, it marked Jaquez’ first NBA start.

And it not only marked Jovic’s first start of this season and ninth start of his NBA career, but also his first action of this regular season after receiving DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) in each of the first two games.

Jovic is in his second season after being drafted by the Heat with the 27th overall pick in last year’s draft. The 20-year-old Serbian forward finished Saturday’s loss with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from deep, four assists and a career-high 11 rebounds in 21 minutes.

“He got us off to a great start,” Spoelstra said of Jovic. “I really liked seeing him get on the glass and go after it and not just be a block-out guy, against their size. He was giving us good stuff in the paint and offensively he’s just a unique player. The way he can rebound and go, those points were really important for us. This is something that we’ll just continue to build with him.”

The Heat then went with a bench rotation of Duncan Robinson, Thomas Bryant, Dru Smith and Jamal Cain. Robinson and Bryant are veterans, but Smith and Cain again were pushed into action because of the team’s injury issues.

RJ Hampton, Cole Swider and Orlando Robinson entered for the Heat in the final minutes with the Timberwolves already in control of the game.