Heat takes care of business for late-season win over Wizards. Takeaways from the victory

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 119-107 win over the Washington Wizards (14-61) on Sunday night at Capital One Arena to begin and end its quick single-game trip. The Heat (41-33) now returns to Miami to begin a two-game homestand on Tuesday against the New York Knicks:

The Heat started slow, but woke up in time to win another game against an inferior opponent.

It wasn’t as decisive as Friday’s 60-point home win over the struggling Portland Trail Blazers, but this was a win that the Heat needed regardless of the margin of victory.

“We’ll take them literally however we can get them at this point,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Sunday’s victory.

The Wizards, which hold the NBA’s second-worst record this season, actually led by eight points early in the second quarter.

But the Heat closed the first half on a 33-18 run, turning that eight-point deficit into a seven-point lead at halftime behind 20 first-half points from guard Terry Rozier.

The Heat controlled the game the rest of the way, pulling ahead by as many as 18 points in the second half.

The Wizards made a late push to cut the deficit to 10 with 4:17 left in the fourth quarter. But Jimmy Butler closed the door on the Wizards, responding with a dunk and an and-one layup to go on his own personal 5-0 run and push the Heat’s lead back up to 15 with 3:33 to play.

“In the second half when we were able to get some consecutive defensive stops and push it to a double-digit lead, that was the first time we were able to really create some separation and keep it there,” Spoelstra said. “That was encouraging to see.”

After missing its first eight three-point attempts of the game, the Heat went on to shoot 14 of 28 (50 percent) from three-point range the rest of the way to cruise to the 12-point victory.

The Heat outscored the Wizards 42-33 from behind the arc and 25-16 from the free-throw line on its way to the win.

Rozier led the Heat, finishing with a team-high 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 5-of-11 shooting from three-point range while also adding four steals. He left the game briefly because of left knee discomfort but returned to finish the contest.

“It’s just a little discomfort. I’m good,” Rozier said afterward.

Bam Adebayo contributed 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block for the Heat. Butler closed with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Jordan Poole scored a team-high 22 points for the Wizards.

The Heat improved to 24-9 this season against teams currently with a losing record.

The Heat got Duncan Robinson back from injury and that pushed Patty Mills out of the rotation.

After missing the previous five games because of a back issue that was diagnosed as left facet syndrome, Robinson returned to finish Sunday’s win with six points on 2-of-7 shooting from three-point range in 28 minutes.

“It was good for him to get his feet wet and get those game minutes,” Spoelstra said.

Following a scoreless first half, Robinson scored his only six points of the game on back-to-back threes in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

“I think he caught a little bit more of a rhythm in the second half,” Spoelstra said. “Not just with the shooting, just where to go and where the actions are and all those things. You can see what he adds.”

Robinson was immediately re-inserted into the Heat’s starting lineup in his first game back, opening Sunday’s game alongside Rozier, Butler, Nikola Jovic and Adebayo.

It marked the 10th game this season that the Heat has used this starting lineup. No Heat lineup has started more games together this season than this one.

“Syndrome can be misleading,” Robinson said after returning from left facet syndrome. “But I guess that’s the medical name for whatever was going on. But yeah, trying to do everything I can to get back on the floor. Obviously, I pride myself on being out there and being available, so just doing whatever I could to get back.”

With Robinson back, Mills fell out of the Heat’s rotation. He did not play on Sunday after starting the previous five games while Robinson was out.

The Heat went with a bench rotation of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Haywood Highsmith, Thomas Bryant and Delon Wright against the Wizards.

Heat veteran Kevin Love was available for the second straight game after returning from injury. But he’s still waiting to log his first game minutes since Feb. 27.

After missing 14 straight games with a bruised right heel, Love has returned to be in uniform and available for the last two games. But he did not play in either game after missing Thursday’s practice because of personal reasons.

Instead, the Heat continued to play Bryant in Love’s usual backup center spot in Friday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers and Sunday’s win over the Wizards.

“These are fluid decisions when guys are in, out and then we’re trying to keep some level of continuity,” Spoelstra said of playing Bryant over Love for the second straight game.

Bryant closed Sunday’s victory with four points, three rebounds and one block in 10 minutes off the bench.

The expectation is that Love will return to his backup center role soon, but it didn’t happen on Friday or Sunday despite being back from injury and in uniform.

“I’m fully aware of how important K-Love is to us and he’s been great about it,” Spoelstra said. “I think with another day of work, he’ll be ready on Tuesday.”

For a change, there has been a lot of good injury news for the Heat lately.

With Robinson returning from injury, the only unavailable Heat players on Sunday were Tyler Herro (right foot medial tendintis), Caleb Martin (right ankle discomfort) and Josh Richardson (right shoulder surgery).

While Richardson is out for the rest of the season, the expectation is Herro and Martin will return before the end of the season.

In Martin’s case, he could make his return as soon as the Heat’s next game on Tuesday against the Knicks after missing Sunday’s win with a lingering ankle issue. Sunday marked Martin’s first missed game since Jan. 10.

“He’s been dealing with a few nagging injuries,” Spoelstra said of Martin during his pregame media session on Sunday. “They weren’t getting better. We think he’ll feel a lot better with this extended stretch and the two days we had before the last game.”

Herro is also moving closer to a return, resuming on-court workouts recently after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection to treat his injured foot on March 15. He has now missed 18 straight games because of his foot injury.

The Heat entered Sunday with the fifth-most missed games in the league this season due to injuries at 253 games, according to Spotrac’s injury tracker. But the positive news is the Heat is getting healthier as the postseason approaches.

“Considering everything, we’re encouraged where we are right now from a health standpoint and where we’re trending,” Spoelstra said.

The Wizards were the more short-handed team on Sunday, missing Bilal Coulibaly, Richaun Holmes, Tyus Jones, Kyle Kuzma, Isaiah Livers, Eugene Omoruyi and Landry Shamet against the Heat.

The Heat moved closer to sixth place, but still stands in seventh in the Eastern Conference.

With the No. 6 Indiana Pacers idle on Sunday, the seventh-place Heat (41-33) moved from one game to just one-half game behind the sixth-place Pacers (42-33) in the East standings.

But the Heat was not able to add to its lead over the No. 8 Philadelphia 76ers because the 76ers also won on Sunday (135-120 win over the Toronto Raptors). The seventh-place Heat remains 1.5 games ahead of the eighth-place 76ers (40-35).

The Pacers, Heat and 76ers are battling for the sixth spot in the East, with the top-six seeds in each conference going straight to the playoffs without needing to take part in the NBA’s play-in tournament.

Meanwhile, the No. 7 and No. 8 teams in each conference play each other in the play-in tournament, which features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference.

The Heat’s fate could be determined in the coming days, with important matchups against the 76ers and Pacers ahead. The Heat hosts the 76ers on Thursday and travels to face the Pacers on Sunday.

For those with their eyes on fifth place in the East, the No. 7 Heat pulled within two games of the No. 5 Orlando Magic (43-31).

There are eight games left on the Heat’s regular-season schedule.

“I think there’s a lot to be sorted out before we get to the end of the season,” Spoelstra said, “and it’s only eight games.”