Jimmy Butler faces doubles, late-game struggles and other Heat takeaways from loss in Dallas

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 114-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks (35-28) on Thursday night at American Airlines Center to open its quick two-game trip. The Heat (35-27) wraps up the short trip on Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) to complete the road back-to-back:

Elite defense and the All-NBA version of Jimmy Butler have been at the center of the Heat’s resurgence. But the Heat couldn’t find that winning formula in Dallas.

The Heat, which entered with the NBA’s second-best defensive rating since the start of February, allowed the Mavericks to total 114 points on 46 percent shooting from the field and 16-of-41 (39 percent) shooting from three-point range while committing only 10 turnovers.

Butler, which entered averaging 23.8 points per game on 53.7 percent shooting from the field since the start of February, was limited to 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field as the Mavericks consistently sent double teams at him. He scored just six points through the first three quarters.

“That (the double teams) definitely has an impact,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They were pretty committed to getting the ball out of his hands and getting him out of his sweet spots from there. ... I need to do a better job getting him to the top of the floor and into some other areas, where it’s not as easy to corral him.”

The result was the Heat’s fourth loss in the last 15 games.

Despite all that, the Heat led by as many as 15 points in the first half behind scorching shooting. Miami began 13 of 15 (86.7 percent) from the field and also made nine of its first 11 three-point attempts.

But the Mavericks were able to cut into the Heat’s lead, eventually tying the score at 50 late in the second quarter. The Heat still managed to enter halftime with a four-point lead behind 22-of-42 (52.4 percent) shooting from the field and 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) shooting from three-point range in the first half.

The Mavericks then took their first lead of the night at 69-68 with 6:19 left in the third quarter and extended their lead to 11 points late in the period before entering the fourth quarter ahead by eight. Mavericks star Luka Doncic led the surge with 17 points in the third quarter.

But the Heat, as usual, kept fighting and put together a big run of its own to begin the final period.

The Heat opened the fourth quarter on a 14-4 run to take back the lead, pulling ahead by two points with 6:56 to play.

The teams then went back and forth, with the Heat taking a one-point lead with 4:26 remaining.

That ended up as the Heat’s final lead of the night, as the Mavericks went on a game-winning 11-3 run to pull ahead by seven points with 1:07 to play on their way to the victory.

This game-deciding stretch began when Dante Exum hit an open three after the Heat trapped Doncic and continued when Doncic hit a three over Butler. Those six unanswered points put the Mavericks ahead by five with 2:27 remaining.

After Terry Rozier made a three-pointer for the Heat to cut the deficit to two, Kyrie Irving hit a corner three give the Mavericks a five-point advantage with 1:28 left. Then Exum scored on a fadeaway jumper from inside the paint to put the Mavericks ahead by seven with 1:07 to play.

During the final four minutes of the game, the Mavericks shot 3 of 5 on threes and the Heat shot 1 of 4 on threes.

“They made theirs and we missed some on our end,” Spoelstra said.

The Heat still found a way to make it a one possession game in the final seconds, as Bam Adebayo hit two free throws to cut the deficit to three with 33.8 seconds left.

Instead of getting a defensive stop on the other end, though, Heat forward Caleb Martin committed a bad foul on the perimeter with 12 seconds left on the shot clock and 21.8 seconds to play. The foul sent Exum to the foul line, and he made both free throws to push the Mavericks’ lead to five and close the door on the Heat’s comeback attempt.

“They made more plays than we did down the stretch,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said. “We got to be better, obviously, at closing games.”

In the loss, the Heat wasted Rozier’s best performance since being traded to Miami. Rozier closed the defeat with 27 points, six rebounds and 11 assists.

The Heat also wasted another strong performance from Robinson, who scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting on threes.

But Adebayo struggled to generate efficient offense, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 shooting from the foul line, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. He shot just 0 of 5 on non-rim paint shots.

Doncic was the best player in the game, finishing with his fifth straight triple-double. He recorded 35 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for Dallas.

Irving contributed 23 points for the Mavericks.

As for Butler, he appeared to hurt his left wrist late in the first half. But he was able to finish the game.

“I’ll be alright,” Butler said. “Just some hand stuff. It’s part of the game and we got to play through it right now more than ever.”

The Heat essentially lost the game at the free-throw line.

It’s not that simple, of course. There’s a lot that went into the Mavericks’ win, but the Heat’s struggles at the foul line were costly.

The Heat, which entered with the NBA’s fourth-best team free-throw percentage this season at 81.9 percent, shot just 11 of 17 (64.7 percent) from the foul line on Thursday.

That allowed the Mavericks to close with a big advantage in that area, outscoring the Heat 18-11 at the free-throw line on their way to the six-point win. Dallas took 23 free throws on Thursday.

The Heat fell to 6-12 this season when outscored by its opponent at the foul line and 7-13 this season when attempting fewer free throws than its opponent.

It didn’t help that the Mavericks also closed with a 16-5 edge in second-chance points behind 10 offensive rebounds. The Heat grabbed just two offensive rebounds on Thursday.

“They got way too many offensive rebounds, we didn’t really dive on the floor like we always say we’re going to do,” Butler said. “I guess it’s kind of like the karma of the game a little bit.”

Newly-acquired guard Patty Mills was active and available to make his Heat debut, but he did not play on Thursday.

The Heat’s bench rotation against the Mavericks included Jaime Jaquez Jr., Martin, Haywood Highsmith and Thomas Bryant.

Mills, 35, received a DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) in his first game with the Heat after signing a minimum contract for the rest of the season earlier this week.

Mills became available after being waived by the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 29, in time to preserve his postseason eligibility with another team.

The expectation is that Mills will also be a depth piece with the Heat rather than a consistent part of the rotation at this late stage of his NBA career. But Spoelstra is excited to add a player with Mills’ experience and winning pedigree to the roster in the final weeks of the regular season.

“At this time of the year, to be able to add somebody with that much experience, playoff experience, winning experience and he’s a great teammate,” Spoelstra said during his pregame media session on Thursday in Dallas. “He knows how to fit in. We just think he’s another really good fit for a lot of different reasons. Stylistically, the way he plays, the way he competes. Offensively, he can create space. And his catch-and-shoot game, his dribble hand-off game is something that we already have in our system.”

Mills has played in 95 playoff games (11 starts) during his NBA career. The 6-foot-2 native of Australia won an NBA championship as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, defeating the Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals.

“We’re just tired of being on the other side of him being a Heat killer,” Spoelstra joked. “If we can get him to join us, that’s a really good thing. I have deep respect for him.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Spoelstra also spoke about Heat guard Josh Richardson ahead of Thursday’s game.

Richardson underwent successful season-ending surgery on his right shoulder on Wednesday. He played in 43 games (six starts) for the Heat this season before dislocating his right shoulder during a Feb. 11 home loss to the Boston Celtics.

Richardson, who joined the Heat as a free agent last offseason, has a $3.1 million player option in his contract with the Heat for next season.

“It’s a shame,” Spoelstra said of Richardson. “But some of these things happen. You can’t control it. He had really a great spirit going into it and the surgery went really well. We’ll just look forward to rehabbing him and getting him ready for next year.”

Along with missing Richardson, the Heat was also without Tyler Herro (right foot medial tendinitis) and Kevin Love (right heel bruise) against the Mavericks. Herro and Love did not travel with the team to Dallas for the game.

The Heat is right back at it Friday against another quality opponent.

Following Thursday’s loss in Dallas, the Heat will make the 45-minute flight to Oklahoma City for Friday night’s game against the Thunder to complete its 10th of 13 back-to-backs this season. The Heat is 6-4 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-4 on the back-end of those back-to-backs.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back is challenging enough, but the opponent will make this one especially difficult.

The Thunder entered Thursday tied for the NBA’s second-best record at 43-19 and as one of only two teams with both a top-five offensive rating and top-five defensive rating this season along with only the Celtics.

With Thursday’s loss, the Heat fell to 14-19 this season in games against teams currently with a winning record. The Heat will get another opportunity to face a winning team on Friday against the Thunder.

After falling to the Mavericks on Thursday, the Heat will also be trying to avoid its first set of consecutive losses since late January.

“Bounce back. Look at film, see what we can do better and bounce back tomorrow,” Adebayo said.