A win-win night? Heat follow up Butler trade with 108-101 victory in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – Oh and there was a game Wednesday night, too.

In action as disgruntled teammate Jimmy Butler was being dealt to the Golden State Warriors, the Miami Heat maintained enough focus to push through for a 108-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center.

With the Butler deal going public before halftime, and therefore with complete awareness of the team’s new and next reality coming out of the locker room at the intermission, the Heat went from a 62-57 halftime lead to their second victory on this four-game trip that concludes Friday night against the Brooklyn Nets.

More than used to being without Butler, considering he was in the midst of serving his third team unpaid suspension, the Heat faced an opponent also without a leading man, with Joel Embiid out for the 76ers amid his continuing knee issues.

Through it all, guard Tyler Herro, whose emergence as Heat leading man reduced this season’s reliance on Butler, led the way with 30 points, supported by 23 points from Nikola Jovic and 20 from Terry Rozier.

The Heat also got 18 points and 13 rebounds from Bam Adebayo and 13 rebounds from Kel’el Ware as they improved to 25-24.

The 76ers were led by the 31 points of guard Tyrese Maxey.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s game:

1. Closing time: The Heat led 29-25 after the first period and 62-57 at halftime.

From there, the Heat pushed to a 12-point lead late in the third period and went into the fourth quarter up 86-79.

After the 76ers clawed within 97-93, the Heat got a huge relief 3-pointer from guard Pelle Larsson to go up 100-93 with 2:47 to play.

And, still it remained shaky, with the 76ers three times moving within 104-101 on a Maxey 3-pointer with 28.7 seconds to play.

A Herro insurance layup followed, effectively ending it.

2. A bounce back: After uneven shooting performances in the Heat’s trip-opening victory in San Antonio and then Tuesday night’s loss in Chicago, Herro bounced back in his matchup against fellow former Kentucky guard Maxey.

Having earned an All-Star berth this season over Maxey, Herro closed 11 of 20 from the field, including 5 of 11 on 3-pointers.

It was Herro’s 72nd consecutive regular-season game scoring in double figures. As a means of comparison, Butler’s longest such Heat streak was 63 consecutive games.

Herro was coming off a 4-of-15 shooting performance in Saturday night’s victory over the San Antonio Spurs at the start of this four-game trip, and then a 5-of-15 night in Tuesday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls.

3. Apparent need: If nothing else, recent games, including this one, showed how the Heat should benefit by the acquisition of forward Andrew Wiggins, the key component acquired in the Butler trade with the Warriors.

With Haywood Highsmith limited in his offense and Duncan Robinson uneven with his shooting, coach Erik Spoelstra should have multiple avenues to work Wiggins into his starting lineup.

Robinson went scoreless through Wednesday night on 0-for-4 shooting, with Highsmith closing with three points.

Before the game, of his recent uneven use of Highsmith recently, even as a starter, Spoelstra said, “It depends on the game. And we’re getting an idea of our rotation and learning more each game. Things that look great one game, it’s not necessarily the case the next game. And I think that oftentimes has to do with the competition and the matchups.”

With Wiggins with two additional seasons on his contract, his fit figures to become a Heat priority.

4. Early adjustments: The Heat’s big lineup became something less by the midpoint of the first period. That’s when Adebayo and Ware both found themselves on the bench after a pair of early fouls for both.

That had Jovic entering for Ware and then Kevin Love for Adebayo, just the second action for Kevin Love in 11 games, having played just 1:57 since Jan. 13.

Adebayo came around to fill the boxscore, while Ware was mostly a spectator in the second half.

5. The road to . . .: Up next for the Heat is a bus ride Thursday up the New Jersey Turnpike concurrent with Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trading deadline.

While there still is time for additional moves, the sense is the Heat now have their working mix going forward.

Asked pregame if there would be relief after Thursday’s impending trade deadline, Spoelstra spoke of greater concerns, including a bounceback from Tuesday night’s loss in Chicago.

“I’m sure there will be,” he said of an exhale. “After last night’s game, none of this swirl that’s going on out there even crossed my mind.”

It turns out, plenty actually was on his mind.