Miami Heat fight to finish to hold of New Orleans Pelicans

The Miami Heat were up big. Then not up at all.

Jimmy Butler was back. And then gone.

And the twists and turns kept coming Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center.

Through it all, including a fourth-quarter melee that left four players ejected, the Heat made it seven wins in their last nine games, returning from their eight-day All-Star break with a 106-95 decision.

“Just keep chipping, keep fighting and keep willing these wins,” center Bam Adebayo said.

Despite  blowing several sizeable leads and despite losing Butler as a result of a melee with 11:19 to play, the Heat settled themselves at closing time to offset the Pelicans inside game, including a 23-point, nine-rebound power play from New Orleans’ Zion Wiliamson.

“We were able to win that in the mud,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Butler helped set the tone early, as the Heat pushed to a 19-point lead, closing with 23 points, before ending the game in the locker room.

Adebayo then took over from there for the Heat, including at closing time, finishing with 24 points and seven rebounds, with 12 of his points coming in the fourth quarter. Adebayo also had three of the Heat’s season-high 11 blocked shots.

“Bam made so many great defensive plays down the stretch,” Spoelstra said. “And it’s a sign of a good team that even with Jimmy out, other guys can step up and they wanted it.”

The Heat also got 17 points from Duncan Robinson and 14 from Tyler Herro, who limped to the locker room late with a knee injury.

“It was just unfortunate having my knee bumped a little bit,” Herro said, “but I think structurally, everything is good, no major, even minor damage. They thought that everything was good. It just kind of scared me more than anything. It’s a little soreness. But I’ll see how I respond in the morning and go from there.”

While the Heat continued in the injury absences of Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson, the Pelicans arguably were more debilitated.

Not only was Brandon Ingram out due to illness, but guard CJ McCollum played only 15 minutes before leaving with an ankle sprain, limited to two points on 1-of-7 shooting, with the Pelicans losing their seventh in a row to the Heat.

The Heat’s four-game trip continues Monday against the Sacramento Kings.

“It just goes to show, we’ve been winning with and without guys all year long,” Butler said “This is just no different.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:

1. Closing time: The Heat went up 12 early and led 31-24 at the end of the opening period. The Heat then went up 19 in the second period only to see the Pelicans tie it 58-58 at halftime with a 16-1 run.

The seesaw continued in the third period, with the Heat going up 11 in the quarter before seeing that reduced to an 84-80 lead entering the fourth.

Then came the melee, then came a 91-89 Pelicans lead, before the Heat then went up 98-91 with 4:42 to play, with an Adebayo basket with 2:03 to play pushing the Heat lead to 102-93 to cap an 11-0 Heat run.

Herro then limped off with 1:40 to play and the Heat up 102-95, going directly to the locker room after seemingly hyperextending his left knee.

From there, a Robinson dunk helped put it away for the Heat, who suffocated the Pelicans at the close with their zone defense.

But it was Adebayo as closing catalyst that mattered most.

“It’s guys believing in me, coach believing in me, believing in myself to make plays down the stretch,” he said. “We did that as a team collectively, got stops and ran away with this one.”

2. Ugly moment: An attempt by Heat backup center Kevin Love to wrap up Williamson and prevent a basket turned into a melee after the Love foul with 11:19 to play.

The ensuing sequence included Butler being put into a chokehold by Pelicans forward Naji Marshall.

Players then massed on the court, leading to possible further sanction for those not in the game and leaving the bench.

Such a sanction certainly will follow for Heat backup center Thomas Bryant, who was ejected for his role in the fracas, despite not seeing action in the game.

Ejected were Butler, Bryant, Marshall and Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado, who appeared to have thrown a punch.

Based on the Heat traveling Saturday and not playing until Monday, sanctions likely could be delayed until Sunday, or later.

“I think it was a misunderstanding on the play,” Spoelstra said. “I honestly think Zion slipped on the play when K-Love grabbed him. And it looked a lot worse than what it was. And then everybody kind of overheated to that point. I think they interpreted that K-Love threw him down, which I think K-Love’s best day, I don’t think he can throw him down. K-Love and Zion didn’t have anything going on with him. K-Love I think helped him up and then it was unfortunate from that point.

“And it escalated and we’ll just see what happens from the league. But I think everybody’s intentions were right at first. But you get a bunch of competitive people out there and it kind of boiled over. But after that point, I did appreciate the response.”

3. Butler back: Butler, back after missing the previous three games following a death in the family, scored 10 in the first period.

On his first attempt, Butler in the first quarter extended his career-best streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 11. It was his lone attempt from beyond the arc.

Butler also extended his season-best streak of games with at least one steal to 10, closing with three.

He closed 7 of 12 from the field, 8 of 12 from the line, with nine rebounds and six assists.

“I don’t want to get ejected, not because I’m not out there with my team, but I don’t like the fine I’m going to get,” Butler said. “I don’t think I should have gotten thrown out of that game.

“I put my hand around his neck. He put his hand around my neck, and it took off the way it did.”

4. Matchup lineup: Faced with the Pelicans’ mix of size and skill, Spoelstra turned to an opening lineup of Butler, Adebayo, Herro, Caleb Martin and Nikola Jovic.

While that lineup had gone 0-2 prior to this reunion, it allowed Spoelstra to play Adebayo defensively on Williamson, Jovic on Jonas Valanciunas and Martin on McCollum.

The Heat then blitzed to a 12-4 lead, leading to a Pelicans timeout.

Jovic, though, did not take a shot until he drained a 3-pointer 45 seconds into the second half. Those proved to be his only points of the game.

5. No Wright: Even with Rozier (knee) and Richarson (shoulder) sidelined, Delon Wright did not see action in his first game since joining the Heat during the All-Star break on the buyout market.

Spoelstra instead moved Martin into his backcourt, going with a backcourt rotation of Herro, Martin, Duncan Robinson and Jaime Jaquez Jr., as part of an overall nine-player rotation.

Robinson’s shooting was particularly crucial, at 5 of 11 from beyond the arc as part of the Heat’s 13-of-29 3-point shooting.