Takeaways from Heat’s win over shorthanded Wizards. A big night for the offense and Herro

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 128-124 win over the Washington Wizards (2-8) on Saturday at Capital One Arena to begin a four-game trip:

The Heat’s (4-4) road trip is filled with opponents that have recently been hit by COVID-19 issues, and it began with the Wizards. The trip is scheduled to continue Sunday against a very shorthanded Boston Celtics team.

Wizards star guard Bradley Beal, who entered averaging a league-high 35 points per game this season, was held out of Saturday’s game against the Heat because of the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Beal was forced to miss the contest because of contact tracing exposure to Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum stemming from a conversation they had following Friday’s game between the Wizards and Celtics, according to Shams Charania from The Athletic.

Players out because of contract tracing are expected to be sidelined for seven days in most cases.

Charania reported Saturday that Tatum is expected to enter quarantine and miss 10 to 14 days because of the league’s health and safety protocols. Tatum tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday and was awaiting a confirmation test, according to Mark Murphy from the Boston Herald.

After Saturday’s matchup against the Wizards, the Heat continues its trip with a Sunday night game against the Celtics to close a back-to-back set before two games against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday and Thursday.

The Celtics and 76ers will both be shorthanded because of players testing positive for COVID-19 and contact tracing.

“I think this right now is a reflection of the virus everywhere in the states,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Saturday’s game against the Wizards. “The numbers are spiking. That is the reality. We are committed to proceeding with our industry. Now we’re doing it with all of the best science and adherence to the protocols, but it is sobering because ultimately we’re not in control.”

As of Saturday evening, the Heat’s games against the Celtics and 76ers were still expected to be played as originally scheduled. The NBA requires each team to have eight available players to proceed with the game.

Boston will likely be very close to that eight-player minimum, though.

The Celtics are expected to be without Tatum, who is listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game, against the Heat because of health and safety protocols.

The Celtics have already ruled out center Robert Williams, who The Boston Globe reported tested positive for COVID-19. Boston will also be without forwards Tristan Thompson and Grant Williams because of contact tracing.

In addition, the Celtics listed Semi Ojeleye, Jaylen Brown and Javonte Green as questionable because of health and safety protocols.

Boston has also already ruled out Kemba Walker (left knee injury recovery) and Romeo Langford (right wrist surgery) for Sunday’s game.

But there are eight Celtics players who were not on Saturday’s injury report: Carsen Edwards, Tacko Fall, Aaron Nesmith, Payton Pritchard, Marcus Smart, Jeff Teague, Daniel Theis and Tremont Waters. That would be just enough for Boston to be able to play Sunday’s game against Miami.

Meanwhile, the 76ers took on the Denver Nuggets on Saturday with only eight active players in large part because of health and safety protocols.

As of Saturday, Miami did not have any players whose status was in question because of the league’s health and safety protocols. The Heat had its full roster available for its game against the Wizards.

“It’s very humbling and sobering,” Spoelstra said. “Each day to find out updated news on players being out for possibly contracting the virus or just being out for safety and health protocols. There is an element of unknown and uncertainty that it’s just a reality. It makes everybody feel a little bit uncomfortable.”

The Wizards also took on the Heat without guard Russell Westbrook, but he was unavailable because of left quadriceps soreness.

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Without Beal and Westbrook, the Wizards just couldn’t overcome their struggling defense. It was a big night for the Heat’s offense and Herro.

Washington entered the game with the fourth-worst defensive rating in the NBA, leading to Beal saying after Friday’s loss to the Celtics that the Wizards “can’t guard a parked car.”

On Saturday, the Wizards couldn’t guard the Heat.

Miami scored a season-high 128 points while shooting 49.5 percent from the field, 16 of 43 on threes and 20 of 26 from the foul line. The Heat scored at a pace of 115.3 points per 100 possessions Saturday, which is its third-best single-game offensive rating of the season.

“I feel like we all are pretty locked in on the offensive end,” Heat All-Star wing Jimmy Butler said. “... Offense has never been a problem for us and never will be.”

Herro set a new regular-season career-high with 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting, to go with nine rebounds and two assists in 37 minutes.

Butler nearly finished with a triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and two steals.

And sixth man Goran Dragic was sharp, with 21 points with the help of 7-of-9 shooting on threes and five assists in 20 minutes.

The night began with the highest-scoring first quarter in Heat history. Miami scored 47 points in the first quarter Saturday, surpassing the previous franchise record of 46 first-quarter points set in a Nov. 3, 2019 win over the Houston Rockets.

The Heat shot an ultra-efficient 18 of 23 from the field and 9 of 12 on threes in the opening quarter against the Wizards, led by 13 first-quarter points from center Kelly Olynyk.

Olynyk, who started for the third consecutive game, finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.

While it came against one of the NBA’s worst defenses, Saturday’s offensive performance is an encouraging sign for the Heat. It has been a shaky start for Miami’s offense, a top-10 unit last season that entered the game with the league’s fifth-worst offensive rating this season.

As impressive as Miami’s offense was Saturday, its defensive performance against Washington was just as underwhelming in the first half. But the second half was better.

The shorthanded Wizards, which were without their top two scorers in Beal and Westbrook, managed to score 71 first-half points on 55.8 percent shooting to keep up with the Heat’s hot shooting for the first two quarters.

The story was different in the second half, though.

Washington scored 53 points on 35.7 percent shooting in the final two quarters.

What changed? Spoelstra said the turnaround came from simply “doing things harder and doing things more committed.”

“Everybody could see it,” Spoelstra said. “We were not defending or doing things with enough energy and connection. That was pretty obvious. It was just going back and forth. It almost felt like a pickup game in the first half. But in that third quarter, it was much more committed defensively, which allowed us to create some separation.”

Garrison Mathews led the Wizards with a team-high 22 points.

Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo battled foul trouble for most of the game, forcing Spoelstra to turn to the Heat’s depth.

Adebayo was limited to just eight first-half minutes Saturday because of four fouls in the first two quarters. It didn’t help that rookie big man Precious Achiuwa was called for three fouls in five first-half minutes.

That led to Spoelstra calling on reserves KZ Okpala and Meyers Leonard to play in the first half. It marked just the second time this season Okpala has received first-half minutes and the third time for Leonard.

Okpala was scoreless with two rebounds and one assist in seven minutes Saturday.

Leonard finished with one point and four rebounds in eight minutes before leaving the game in the fourth quarter because of a shoulder injury. Spoelstra called the injury a shoulder strain, with Leonard’s status for Sunday’s game still undetermined.

The second half wasn’t much better for Adebayo, who picked up his fifth foul with 7:12 left in the third quarter.

Despite the foul trouble, Adebayo finished Saturday’s win with nine points, 16 rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes.

The Heat knows it needs to improve its rebounding, and Saturday was a step in the right direction.

Miami, which entered the game averaging the second-fewest rebounds per game this season at 41.4, outrebounded Washington 61-39. The Heat owns an all-time record of 47-5 when outrebounding its opponent by 20 or more.