Is There A Plan B Without A Butler Plan For Erik Spoelstra And The Heat?

Observations and other notes of interest from Monday night’s 123-118 double-overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings: – Erik Spoelstra went back to the expected on Monday night. – Jaime Jaquez Jr. responded with a bit of everything. – After some creative, albeit unproductive, lineup tinkering by the Heat’s coach in the first game of Jimmy Butler’s seven-game suspension in Saturday night’s blowout loss to the Jazz, Spoelstra went with Jaquez as a starter Monday night. – Jaquez responded with one of his best performances of the season. – And certainly his most compete. – No, not a dynamic scorer. – No, not Jimmy Buckets 2.0. – But mature beyond his NBA experience. – And able to fill the boxscore. – So rebounds when needed Monday. – Assists when needed. – Enough points to join in the scoring. – And a mix of blocks and steals, to boot. – The finals numbers: 16 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 steals. – Yes, a couple of costly missed free throws. – But also the aggression to go for that critical late rebound. – If this is the Jaime Jaquez Jr.

The Miami Heat flew Delta to Sacramento on Sunday. Flying on Southwest would have been more apropos. Because Wanna Get Away assuredly had to be the theme for this six-game western swing, with Erik Spoelstra’s team coming off consecutive lopsided losses and dealing with the seven-game team suspension of Jimmy Butler for conduct detrimental to the team. As it is, there was no escape, just a 123-118 double-overtime loss to the Kings at Golden 1 Center despite holding a 17-point fourth-quarter lead. And, so, the misery continues, despite a triple-double from Jaime Jaquez Jr., a double-double from Bam Adebayo and 26 points from Tyler Herro. Unable to get the win at the end of regulation when Herro was off with a jumper, and unable to close it out in overtime, when Jaquez missed a pair of free throws, the Heat fell back to .500, at 17-17, done in by long-time nemesis DeMar DeRozan, who seized control in overtime to close out his 30-point night. And now, no rest for the weary, with the Heat off to San Francisco, for a Tuesday night game against the Golden State Warriors, 0-2 in these first two games of Butler’s suspension. Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game: 1.

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