Jimmy Butler seizes control as Heat hold off Mavericks 123-118 in overtime

MIAMI — Jimmy Butler was back in attack mode.

Luka Doncic was missing for the opposition.

It was an advantage the Miami Heat needed.

It was an advantage the Heat seized.

With Butler scoring 33, including the tying basket at the end of regulation and a key basket in overtime, the Heat outlasted the Dallas Mavericks 123-118 in overtime Sunday night at Kaseya Center.

“The efforts are starting to get a little bit more consistent,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

With the victory, the Heat moved back to .500, at 7-7, and ultimately had enough to offset 27 points from Dallas guard Kyrie Irving.

“I feel like I’ve got to start attacking more often,” Butler said of his aggression. “If I can spearhead that part of the offense, we’re good.”

Beyond Butler’s effort that was built on 11-of-16 foul shooting and also included nine rebounds and six assists, the Heat also got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Bam Adebayo and 18 points and 11 rebounds from Tyler Herro.

Perhaps just as significant, there also were 15 points and 14 points, respectively, off the bench from Alec Burks and Pelle Larsson.

“I mentioned that in the locker room,” Spoelstra said of his team’s bench play. “It really gave us a boost again.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:

1. Regulation: The Heat led 33-28 after the first quarter, pushed their lead to 10 in the second, went into halftime up 56-51, and were up 89-84 going into the fourth.

Then, with 63 seconds to play in regulation, Butler went into attack mode, took on the length of Mavericks center Dereck Lively II at the rim and converted a driving, spinning layup for a 112-111 Heat lead.

Irving countered with an 8-foot jumper on the other end for a 113-112 Dallas lead. Then, down by that margin, the Heat put Irving on the line with 8.2 seconds to play in regulation, where he was off with his first attempt and true with the second for a 114-112 Dallas lead.

Off a timeout and a Dallas foul, Butler broke free for a tying layup off a Duncan Robinson assist to close the regulation scoring at 114-114.

The Heat thought Butler was fouled on the attempt.

“These are really tough to get any kind of freedom on sideline-out-of-bounds,” Spoelstra said. “Jimmy made a hell of a cut. And Duncan again with a great pass. It seemed like it was a foul.”

2. Overtime: After falling to 10 of 15 from the line, Butler gave the Heat a one-point lead early in overtime, with Adebayo’s third 3-pointer of the night later putting the Heat up 120-118.

After a defensive stop by Adebayo and a wayward 3-point attempt by Adebayo, Butler scored on a driving layup for a 122-118 Heat lead with 1:38 to play.

Adebayo made it five consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer and the third game in the last five with multiple 3-pointers.

Adebayo had converted 3-pointers in only two games prior to the current streak, taking advantage Sunday night of the Mavericks’ paint-based big men.

He closed 3 of 6 on 3-pointers.

“Stay with the preparation,” Adebayo said of his 3-point shooting. “Keep working behind the scenes.”

3. Toeing the line: A game after going 13 of 13 from the line, Butler again was in attack mode.

Butler was 8 of 12 from the line at halftime, with the Heat just 13 of 21 on free throws over the first two periods.

“That’s what I want to see,” Spoelstra said of the volume of the attempts. “Our guys work on free throws. We’re a good free-throw shooting team. Sometimes you get into these deals during the season.

“The difficult thing is getting to the line.”

Butler’s previous performance came after nine days off, following an ankle sprain, this one after the Heat’s five-day break.

The next question is the performance on shorter rest, with a back-to-back set up next on Tuesday night against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks in an NBA Cup game, and then Wednesday at the Charlotte Hornets.

“He has the highest percentile of processing speed,” Spoelstra said of the way Butler crafted Sunday’s effort. “He’s not just putting his head down and crashing into people, three yards and a cloud of dust.”

4. Rotation reshuffle: The Heat again had to realign with guard Terry Rozier missing his second consecutive game due to foot pain.

Rozier had been expected to return after the Heat’s five-day break, having sat out last Monday night’s victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Instead, the team said Rozier awoke Sunday with recurring foot pain.

That had the Heat again opening with a lineup of Butler, Adebayo, Herro, Haywood Highsmith and Duncan Robinson.

In addition, Burks remained in the rotation after his solid effort against the 76ers.

5. Pelle time: With Highsmith and Robinson both with four fouls by the opening ticks of the third period, and then Highsmith dealing with an illness, Pelle Larsson wound up getting an extended run.

Rather than going with veteran Josh Richardson, Spoelstra instead turned to the second-round pick out of Arizona, whose energy was needed on a night the Heat offense largely was a series of wayward shots.

Larsson closed with 14 points and five rebounds.

“It’s really going to be hard for Spo taking him off the floor,” Butler said of Larsson. “He reminds me of myself, when I was younger in this league.”