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Observations and other notes of interest from Tuesday night’s 112-111 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder:
– As compelling a win as there has been this season.
– One that featured as confounding a moment as seen this season.
– Early in the Pat Riley era, last straws quickly were issued.
– Just ask Smush Parker, Todd Day and select others.
– Then a more conciliatory tone was set after missteps.
– Dewayne Dedmon storming into the locker room between the first and second quarters, after words with Erik Spoelstra, at a time when the Heat were lacking bodies was one thing.
– The slapping of a training device onto the court amid play was another.
– Technical foul.
– Ejection.
– And basically: What the heck just happened?
– On a night when Bam Adebayo wasn’t available.
– And two-way player Orlando Robinson opened at center in his first NBA start.
– Later to get into foul trouble and force the Heat to play Jamal Cain at center.
– Now we’ll see the true definition of Heat patience.
– Even with Spoelstra attempting to downplay it during his televised interview after the third quarter.
– While Dedmon’s contract is not guaranteed beyond this season, his 2022-23 salary still could be useful in a trade.
– Similar to what was done with Meyers Leonard’s contract at the 2021 NBA trading deadline.
– Leonard has yet to resurface in the NBA.
– What the Heat need, with Omer Yurtseven and Nikola Jovic also out, is stability at center.
– Dedmon’s Tuesday moment hardly was a study in stability.
– So stay tuned.
– If there’s an NBA suspension, the Heat save against the luxury tax.
– A Heat suspension provides no such benefit.
– With four starters sidelined, the Heat surrounded Jimmy Butler with four undrafted players in the opening lineup.
– That had Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent starting in place of Adebayo, Caleb Martin, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry.
– With Jovic (back), Duncan Robinson (finger) and Yurtseven (ankle) also not available it left the Heat with only four available reserves: Victor Oladipo, Jamal Cain, Dedmon and Udonis Haslem.
– Haslem had been questionable until just before gametime.
– Adebayo and Herro technically were active, due to roster rules.
– Spoelstra said pregame there was no time for sob stories.
– “We have enough to win this game tonight.”
– He said what mattered the most was living in the moment.
– “We don’t have to wrap our minds around all of the different possibilities of who’ll be available for the next game or how long guys we will be out,” he said.
– Oladipo and Cain entered together as the Heat’s first two reserves.
– With Dedmon then making it eight deep.
– Leaving only Haslem out of the mix
– Strus’ first 3-point attempt was the 900th of his career.
– With his third steal, Butler passed Norm Nixon for 100th on the NBA all-time list.
– Butler’s sixth free throw was the 3,900th of his career.
– To put into perspective how atypical such national-television coverage is for the Thunder, the TNT interview between the first and second periods was the first such moment for Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault, with his previous Thunder national appearances limited to NBA TV (which does not feature coaching interviews between periods).
– Daigneault is in his third season as Thunder coach.
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