Jimmy Butler’s uninspiring play, Tyler Hero’s absence culminated in the loss of the Heat to the Blazers

MIAMI – Ace Miami Heat star Tyler Hero missed his first game season, it led to the team’s double-digit loss to the Portland Trail Blazers 116-107 on Tuesday night. There was some excitement in the Heat’s win over Spurs after lineup change including Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Vare together, but it was wasted with a terrible defeat.

Jimmy Butler he finished the game with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting, eight assists and four rebounds in 27 minutes. Duncan Robinson led the team with 22 points, while Kel’el Ware had another impressive game, posting a career-high 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Bam Adebayo also had a double-double finish with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Here are three takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Trail Blazers.

A rough first half for the Heat

It would be chaos in the first half for Miami, as the first quarter was a major highlight offensively, as they scored 38, shot 63.6 percent from the field and were an efficient seven-of-nine from beyond the arc. If we compare that to the second quarter, they shot 30.8 percent from the field and missed all 12 of their three-point attempts.

But to return to the first period, Butler would engaged early in the game as he noticeably drove to the rim at a harder pace, even calling the ball a few times. He would have seven points, shot two of four from the field, two of two from the free throw line, had four assists and was a +5 on the floor.

The explosive start from deep was largely contributed by Robinson, who had 11 points in the opening frame on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. It all went downhill in the second quarter where the team scored 17 points and made none of their 12 attempts from deep compared to Portland’s 27, and the only bright spot was Adebayo going three of five from the field in the second period.

The The Heat’s first-round rookie Kel’el Ware started alongside Bama Adebayo after a great outing on Sunday in a win over the San Antonio Spurs that saw the long-awaited frontcourt return. That immediately led to the great results that Miami is trying to find in the second half.

A disappointing second half for the Heat against the Blazers

Things would get worse for the team in the second, as the third quarter saw a terrible result in terms of Miami’s three-point shooting. The streak continued in the third quarter where the Heat missed 19 straight 3-pointers before Ware hit one with more than three minutes left in the period.

Miami would shoot 39.1 percent from the field and two of 10 from deep as Butler led the way in the quarter with six points. As for the Blazers, they would be hard to miss as they shot 65 percent and 6 of 12 from three in the first quarter of the second half.

The Heat passed on Tyler Hero, needing more than Jimmy Butler in the midst of trade talks

The Heat would gather some momentum towards the end of the game and cut the deficit to single digits, but it would be too little too late for a comeback as Portland handed them a devastating loss. There’s no question the team has been missing their leading man this season in Hero, as head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke after the game about what was missing.

“It’s really hard to judge. “Without Tyler and our overall intent, it wasn’t at the highest level,” Spoelstra said.

With very little offensive production without Herro, one would wonder if Butler would get a spike in activity, but that never happened during the game. Spoelstra was even asked about playing around Butler’s play but it would diminish the significance that’s the reason and more accredited how the whole team played.

“I know you’re trying to get out of me,” Spoelstra told a member of the media. “You won’t get anything of value.” Only, the first three quarters were not very inspiring for the whole group. So it’s hard to pinpoint one person in that as you sub, get deeper into the rotation, it just didn’t seem to catch on until we got to that last group, that was probably the most inspiring group.”

Tyler Hero injury, Jimmy Butler trade likely imminent

There are some interesting stories surrounding the team that was out of action against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. One is with Tyler Hero’s Olympic Hope after missing his first game of the season with a right groin strain with which the guard woke up on Tuesday morning.

Herro was added to the injury report on game day and was listed as “questionable” all day until it was announced that he would be inactive, having played every game of the season thus far. He leads the team with 24 points and five assists per game as he is in the midst of his best season as a pro to date.

Is Jimmy Butler leaving soon?

Looking at Butler, there could potentially be a trade with him ending up with the Phoenix Suns shortly after they recently acquired draft picks, Ira Winderman reported that “one of the steps” leading to a deal for the 35-year-old. Looking on a recent trade involving the Sun via ESPN’s Shams Charania:

“Phoenix Suns trade their unprotected 2031 first to Utah Jazz for three first-round picks, sources tell ESPN,” Charania wrote. “Suns get worst first in 2025 Cleveland/Minnesota, 2027 Cleveland/Minnesota/Utah and 2029 Cleveland/Minnesota/Utah.”

After that, Phoenix looks to acquire some starting capital, which appears to be one of the many returns Miami wants if they were to trade Butler before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Naturally, fans speculated about it as it could be a close trade for Butlerhe seemed more engaged and had the “joy” the star said was missing on January 2.

That remains to be seen, but Miami now embarks on a two-game road trip that begins Jan. 23 against the Milwaukee Bucks.