Winderman’s view: Heat show fight in Houston; will fight up the standings follow?

Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 104-100 victory over the Houston Rockets:

– So much of this game said so much about who the Heat are and what they want to be.

– When push came to shove, they pushed and shoved.

– Showing, just like the victory a few Sundays back against Cleveland, that the fight remains.

– But it also showed how difficult it can be at times.

– This one as much of a struggle at times as Saturday’s loss in Atlanta.

– This time they made shots.

– And, so, ballgame.

– But as a possible future without Jimmy Butler is considered, this one also showed that there are catalysts elsewhere on the roster.

– Tyler Herro continues to fill the boxscore beyond the scoring column.

– Nikola Jovic did the same in this one.

– And even on an off night by his standards, another double-double for Bam Adebayo.

– So now is mixing Butler back in enough?

– Because those final seconds showed there is plenty of fight there.

– So 16-14 with two days to recover from the road.

– With Butler then expected back.

– And then a push to something better?

– Or was the feistiness in Sunday’s final seconds as festy as it gets?

– With Duncan Robinson (foot) out along with Butler, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra opened with a lineup of Herro, Adebayo, Kevin Love, Haywood Highsmith and Terry Rozier.

– It was the fifth time the Heat opened with Sunday’s lineup, now 3-2 with that lineup.

– The Heat’s sixth lineup of the season.

– Spoelstra spoke pregame about Robinson attempting to push through the inflammation in his right foot that flared up in Saturday’s loss in Atlanta.

– “I don’t have a timeline,” Spoelstra said, “but he really wanted to try to go today, just didn’t really pass his protocols. So we don’t think it would be a long-term thing.”

– The Heat next play Wednesday night against the Pelicans at Kaseya Center, on New Year’s Day.

– A starter the previous three games, Jaime Jaquez Jr. played as the Heat’s first reserve.

– Kel’el Ware and Jovic then followed together, growing into a preferred pairing by Spoelstra.

– With Alec Burks, who has become a rotation staple amid Butler’s absence, making it nine deep for the Heat.

– That had Pelle Larsson out of the mix.

– Spoelstra said pregame he embraced the back-to-back set after Saturday’s loss in Atlanta.

– “We feel like we need more games right now,” he said. “It was an emotional game last night going down the stretch. We had plays to make to win the game, and Atlanta made more plays. That’s the bottom line, it’s a possession game going down the stretch the last two minutes, and that’s what you want in this league. So there’s some definite learning points from that, but we’ve got to get on to this one.”

– He added, “And our guys love to compete and you have a tough game like that, I think the best thing to do is come right back at it 24 hours later.”

– He proved prescient.

– Spoelstra before the game also addressed how the Heat’s defense has been 15 1/2 points a game worse in losses.

– “It shows you how important it is, particularly to us,” he said. “That’s what we pride ourselves on. It is not an easy league to be able to defend every single night. And you have to do it with great effort, great focus, great collective commitment. It takes emotional, mental and physical commitment every night. Otherwise things can just go on you.”

– This time they held Houston to .392 shooting.

– Herro extended his career-best streak of games scoring in double figures to 60. His previous high was 38 in a row.

– Herro also extended his career best streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 64, five games off Robinson’s franchise record. Herro has now converted a 3-pointer in the season’s first 30 games, having previously broken the longest such Heat 3-pointer streak to open a season, of 28 set in 1998-99 by Tim Hardaway.

– Adebayo recorded the 208th double-double of his career, now past Alonzo Mourning (205) for second on the Heat all-time list. Only Rony Seikaly (221) has more.

– Spoelstra was asked pregame of the two-season turnaround by the Rockets under coach Ime Udoka.

– “He definitely created an identity and they bought into that identity,” Spoelstra said. “They defend at a high level, arguably as well as anybody in this league. And you could see it once he started to put in his culture, they started to defend with more physicality, more purpose. And this year they’re healthy, they’ve had more guys in the system and they know what they’re trying to accomplish there.”

– The game closed the Heat’s sixth of the Heat’s 15 back-to-back sets this season, after losing Saturday in Atlanta The Heat went into Sunday 3-2 on the second nights of such pairings.

– The Heat next move into another back-to-back set, home games Wednesday and Thursday against the Pelicans and Pacers, respectively.