ATLANTA — The attrition continued Friday night for the Miami Heat, this time with power forward P.J. Tucker lost with knee soreness.
But the fight remained.
So down 16 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Heat found themselves in possession down one with 31.4 seconds to play.
Because Bam Adebayo again stepped up late, Duncan Robinson again was draining 3s, and tormenting the Hawks has been the story of these past nine days.
This time, though, the Heat can up short, with Jimmy Butler coming up short, failing to make it 3-0 over the Hawks in those nine days, falling 110-108 at State Farm Arena.
It certainly wasn’t for a lack of fortitude, just Butler missing a point-blank alley-oop feed from Adebayo on one of the game’s decisive sequences.
What did not change in the equation for the Heat was again offering something less than whole, this time not only was Kyle Lowry out for a third consecutive game due to personal reasons and Tyler Herro a second consecutive game in COVID-19 protocols, the Heat lost Tucker to knee soreness after his initial stint.
It added up to the Heat’s lead in the four-game season series cut to 2-1, with one meeting remaining April 8 in Miami.
Adebayo led the Heat with 21 points, with Robinson scoring 19 and Max Strus 15. In another off night, Butler was limited to 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting, missing a potential winning 3-point attempt just before the final buzzer.
Trae Young led Atlanta with 28 points, his 29th game of 25 of more.
Five Degrees of Heat from Friday’s game:
— 1. Closing time: The Heat trailed 95-79 at the end of the third period and were down 105-94 with 4:01 to play, leading to a timeout.
From there, a Butler jumper and a Robinson 3-pointer made it 105-99, with an Adebayo driving layup bringing the Heat within 105-101 with 2:41 remaining.
A pair of Young free throws pushed Atlanta’s lead to 107-101 with 2:29 left, with an Adebayo jumper making it 107-103 with 2:07 left.
With 1:26 to go, Butler got to the line, with his free throws cutting the Heat deficit to 107-105.
After an alley-oop dunk by Clint Capela off a Young assist, Robinson drained another 3-pointer, with 55.1 seconds to play, to get the Heat within 109-108.
A Hawks 24-second violation followed, putting the Heat in possession down one with 31.4 seconds left.
And then, wide open off an inbounds play following a timeout, Butler missed a point-blank layup with 22.8 seconds to play.
Young then got to the line with 10.7 left, making only the second of his two foul shots, to make it 110-108.
Without a timeout left, the Heat got the ball to Butler, who was off with a 3-point attempt.
— 2. Another man down: The latest injury concern for the Heat is the soreness in his left knee that had Tucker done for the night after his initial 8:04 stint.
Tucker previously missed four games in December with nerve inflammation in his lower left leg.
He closed with two points on 1-of-3 shooting and three rebounds.
The Heat already were down in their power rotation, with Markieff Morris recovering from a neck injury sustained in his Nov. 8 run-in with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and with KZ Okpala missing his 11th consecutive game with a sprained right wrist.
— 3. Yurtseven-Adebayo: After declining for years to go with dual big men in his rotations, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was left with no choice with Tucker unable to make it back for the start of the third period.
That had Omer Yurtseven starting the second half alongside Adebayo, their first action together other than scant seconds previously.
Yurtseven’s only action in the previous two games after Adebayo’s return from a seven-week absence due to a thumb injury was seven seconds at the end of Wednesday’s first half against the Trail Blazers.
Spoelstra opted for opening the second half with Adebayo and Yurtseven rather than going with Dewayne Dedmon, Chris Silva or Udonis Haslem, his only other players available in the power rotation.
Yurtseven wound up playing 6:46, making both of his shots, to close with four points and two rebounds.
— 4. Half empty: As was the case before he was ejected just before halftime on Wednesday night, Butler got off to a decidedly passive start, this time 1 of 4 from the field for two points at halftime.
Butler also was 1 of 4 from the field when he was ejected against Portland Trail Blazers. Two games before, Butler closed 1 of 11 from the field in a home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Butler had nine points entering the fourth quarter.
— 5. Strus early: As has become a pattern, Strus again got off to a solid start, this time with 13 points in his first eight minutes.
Strus made his first two 3-point attempts and later improved to 3 of 5 from beyond the arc early in the second period.
Strus made it multiple 3-pointers in 14 consecutive games, tying Robinson for the third-longest such streak in the franchise’s 34 seasons. Robinson also has the two longest, at 25 and 24 games.
Strus, who showed up on the pregame injury report with a knee bruise, was up to 15 points by halftime, not scoring again.
