SAN ANTONIO, Texas — For only the 15th time in 53 games and the first time since Thanksgiving weekend, the Heat opened Thursday with the starting lineup that it hopes will carry them well into June.
That starting group of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, PJ Tucker, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry looked good to open the second half.
But this 112-95 road win over San Antonio, snapping a three-game losing streak, was fueled in large part early on by a Heat bench anchored by Sixth Man of the Year candidate Tyler Herro, who was again ignitable on a night he was snubbed for the All Star game.
With the Heat hitting an offensive lull late in the first quarter, the quartet of Herro, Dwayne Dedmon, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent energized Miami and at one point had 31 of the Heat’s first 46 points.
Herro didn’t make a three-pointer but closed with 24 points on 11 for 20 shooting, and Dedmon (9 points, two blocks, five fouls) made his presence felt.
Lowry struggled in his first game back after missing nine because of a family issue, closing with two points, six turnovers and four assists and three rebounds in 25 minutes. He missed his only shot from the field.
But the starting group played very cohesively in the third quarter, stretching a 10-point halftime lead to 16.
Adebayo - off a 32-point, 11-rebound game on Tuesday in Toronto - finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, again displaying polished moves around the basket.
And Butler was sharp on a night he was named to the All Star team, contributing 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Robinson broke out of a slump, scoring 17.
There were plenty of empty seats for a game moved up 90 minutes - to 6 p.m. local time - because of anticipated icy road conditions in San Antonio. That A&T Center crowd watched the Heat build a 22-point lead after three and shoot 51 percent from the field, including 38 percent on threes. The Spurs shot just 38 percent from the field.
Five takeaways from the game:
Herro seems back to himself after a brief slump.
After shooting 10 for 40 over a two-game stretch, Herro appears back on track. He shot 7 for 12 on an 18-point night in Toronto on Tuesday and was 10 for 16 on Thursday. And an unusual twist, Herro didn’t hit a three -- missing his five attempts - but had two thunderous dunks.
He made five of his first six shots and changed the dynamics of the game in the first half, with the Heat outsourcing the Spurs by 19 in his 15 first half minutes.
He also had four assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Shortly before Herro entered Thursday, TNT’s Charles Barkley said he should have made the Eastern Conference All Star team and called him clearly the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.
Herro’s only chance of making the All Star game will be if commissioner Adam Silver picks him as a replacement for an injured player. Silver must still replace Kevin Durant, but a frontcourt player could get the nod for that slot.
On Thursday, we also saw what could be a Heat closing lineup in the playoffs – Lowry, Herro, Butler, Adebayo and Tucker. That group had played only 17 minutes together all season.
Lowry was rusty and cranky in his return. But he ran the offense well to start the second half.
Lowry opened the game with seven scoreless minutes - without a shot attempt - and two turnovers and no assists and then picked up a technical foul for complaining on his walk to the bench. (Butler, soon after, also picked up a technical. So did Dedmon, his coming in the third quarter.)
When Lowry returned in the second quarter, there was one sequence where he picked up the ball to pass and lost it as if it were covered with hot grease. Then he made an errant pass to Herro - Lowry’s fifth turnover of a scoreless first half - and motioned demonstratively to Herro.
He scored his only points of the night on two free throws nearly five minutes into the third quarter.
The Heat’s preferred starting lineup was back together for the first time since late November.
The Butler/Adebayo/Lowry/Robinson/Tucker lineup entered having played just 14 games together and having outscored opponents by 37 points in their 185 collective minutes, all in the first five weeks of the season.
But it’s notable that when that group has played together, Miami has shot only 29.3 percent on threes entering Thursday. Tucker hit two threes and Robinson missed three threes when that group played together on Thursday.
Nobody seems at all concerned that the starting five hadn’t played together for two months, because there’s plenty of time to get ready for the playoffs. And frankly, nobody should be concerned.
They were very good as a quintet to open the second half Thursday, sharing the ball with crisp passes and sharp cuts to the basket.
With Caleb Martin out, Spoelstra didn’t need to agonize over any lineup decisions.
Vincent, who had been playing very well recently, kept his spot in the rotation and was the third Heat reserve to enter, following Dedmon and Herro.
Strus, as expected, also remained in the rotation. He entered having scored 47 points in the previous three games, while shooting 15 for 29 on threes. He hit his first two three-point attempts but didn’t score again.
And Dedmon hit his one three-point attempt and is now 13 of 25 on threes this season. Spoelstra played him some alongside Adebayo - a pairing he has used very selectively, including during the first-round playoff loss to Milwaukee.
The only other available players - Udonis Haslem, Chris Silva and Kyle Guy - did not play.
Unless Spoelstra goes 10 deep, more difficult decisions potentially await when Martin returns after resting his sore Achilles. He said he hopes to play Saturday at Charlotte but wasn’t sure.
And even tougher choices loom when Victor Oladipo and Markieff Morris return in the weeks ahead. The Heat hasn’t offered timetables on either, but Adebayo said Oladipo appears close to being ready after last summer’s right quadriceps tendon procedure.
Robinson worked to shoot himself out of a slump.
He entered the night fifth in the league with 149 threes but also having made just 3 out his last 18 threes, scoring just 11 points in those three games,
Robinson was off early, opening 0 for 3 from the field. But that didn’t deter him; he then nailed two threes.
He finished 5 for 10 from the field and 4 for 8 on threes on a 17-point night.
