Winderman’s view: As Heat regain stride, it looks like even better footing ahead

Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 115-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets:

– Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo were moving well on the bench.

– Just not in uniform.

– Haywood Highsmith felt good enough to get an on-court workout pregame.

– The trends toward health are encouraging for the Heat.

– Even with Josh Richardson sitting this one out.

– Because for all you can get away with against the Hornets, more will be needed for the upcoming challenges.

– Against Charlotte, the nine first-quarter turnovers weren’t fatal.

– Nor was standing with 14 at the intermission.

– But it also has been a while since the Heat have looked truly convincing.

– The buzz Wednesday was Herro soon, perhaps very soon.

– With Adebayo also progressing.

– In that regard, coach Erik Spoelstra downplayed the need for sidelined players to necessarily go through a full practice before a return.

– “Even if we don’t have an official practice,” Spoelstra said, “we have enough guys that we can get these guys full-contact workouts.”

– It’s not that the Heat are desperate to get anyone back.

– Not with the way Duncan Robinson and Kevin Love have been playing.

– And Jaime Jaquez Jr., too.

– But the Heat over these past few weeks aren’t the real Heat.

– That still awaits.

– Particularly as Caleb Martin regains his stride.

– So soon.

– Perhaps very soon.

– With Adebayo, Herro and Highsmith again out, the Heat again opened with Orlando Robinson, Martin, Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry.

– Also unavailable for Heat was Richardson, who missed the morning shootaround with a bad headache.

– The hope now is a Richardson return for Thursday night’s second night of this back-to-back set, against the visiting  Bulls.

– Spoelstra, as is his wont, downplayed the shortage.

– “We’ll adjust however we need to,” he said.

– And they did.

–  “And we’ve had a bunch of guys preparing for this, whether we have to go deep in the rotation, we’ll see,” Spoelstra continued.

– After a rough start for Orlando Robinson, the Heat midway through the opening period subbed in Kevin Love, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Jamal Cain.

– Cain essentially took the rotation spot of Richardson.

– With Thomas Bryant later playing at center ahead of Orlando Robinson.

– Cain played his minutes well.

– The promise remains there with Cain.

– The erratic play of Orlando Robinson and Thomas Bryant has shown just how valuable Love has become.

– Even when not scoring, Love rebounding remains a major asset.

– Soon the tough decisions won’t be as tough for Spoelstra.

– Butler’s first offensive rebound gave him 1,250 for his career.

– The Heat went in seeking their first sweep of a two-game set against the same opponent, having previously split with the Bulls and Pacers.

– “These are unique scheduling deals, where you play the same team two games in a row,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve had two of these before. We haven’t been able to get two wins out of these.”

– The Heat entered having won their last 18 regular-season divisional home games.