MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Thursday night’s 125-96 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks:
– As with so many things Heat these days, there was a game Thursday night . . . and plenty more.
– Such as Bucks coach Doc Rivers offering his take on Jimmy Butler’s standoff with the Heat, asked pregame if he was surprised by how it is playing out, with Butler amid another suspension.
– “I don’t know if I’m surprised or not,” Rivers said. “I just hope they find a way through it. I’ve been through these things before. I was in Philly with Ben Simmons and all that. It’s no fun for anyone. It’s not fun really for the players, because their brother is the player, and so they don’t want to have to take sides. They don’t want to get involved. And anything they say will be construed one way or the other. The player who’s going through it will listen to it and say, ‘He’s not with me.’ ”
– From there, Rivers referenced Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
– “And then the other way, I feel terrible for Spo,” Rivers said. “I mean there’s no winning for Spo in this. It’s just hard. He’s got to try to get his team focused. It’s our league at times, and it’s no fun to go through.”
– Shortly after Rivers spoke, the voting results were released by the NBA for All-Star Game starters.
– No, Heat guard Tyler Herro did not make it.
– Nor was he expected to make it as a starter in the combined media-player-fan balloting..
– But with LaMelo Ball not riding the wave of fan voting into a starting spot, it eased the path for Herro to be voted in next week as a reserve by conference coaches.
– So Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson it is, as the two East backcourt starters.
– So now, a maximum of four of the following can make the All-Star team as East backcourt reserves (barring injury withdrawals): Herro, Ball, Cade Cunningham, Darius Garland, Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, Tyrese Maxey and Trae Young.
– Earlier in the day, Herro said, I’ll let the coaches pick who they think is deserving. I would love to be a reserve, but we’ll see what happens.”
– Herro placed ninth in cumulative voting for East starting backcourt, placing 10th in both fan and player vote, and eighth in media voting.
– Amid yet another Butler suspension, Spoelstra again turned to youth, this time giving second-round pick Pelle Larsson his first NBA start a game after giving first-round pick Kel’el Ware his first start.
– Along with Larsson and Ware, the Heat opened with Herro, Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson.
– So going with Larsson over both Haywood Highsmith and Terry Rozier.
– It didn’t last long, though, with Larsson forced to the bench just 1:58 into the game.
– Damian Lillard drew two of the fouls on Larsson, with Giannis Antetokounmpo drawing the third.
– That had Highsmith entering first off the Heat bench.
– Terry Rozier was second off the Heat bench.
– Followed by Nikola Jovic and then Jaime Jaquez Jr.
– With Khris Middleton out, the Bucks opened with a lineup of Lillard, Antetokounmpo, Andre Jackson Jr.,Taurean Prince and Brook Lopez.
– Antetokounmpo had sat out the teams’ previous meeting, a Bucks victory in Miami.
– The teams have two meetings remaining.
– The Bucks landed a little over two hours before the tipoff that was pushed back an hour.
– “We sat around a hotel basically since we got there,” Rivers said pregame of that Monday arrival. “But we’re here and I’m glad we’re playing the game.”
– Rivers noted of his career, “When you fly eight years as a player commercial . . . you have a lot of stories.” He said as a player he once showed up with the Knicks 30 minutes before game time due to travel issues.
– Herro was back after sitting out Tuesday night’s home loss to the Blazers due to a groin issue.
– He had been the lone Heat player to appear in the season’s first 41 games prior to Tuesday.
– “So just start a new little streak of games played,” he said at the morning shootaround.
– Returning in his hometown, Herro said, was meaningful.
– “I just really think about growing up here in Milwaukee,” he said. “Playing in the Bucks arena, growing up, that was my dream.”
– Herro has now converted a 3-pointer in the season’s first 42 games, having previously broken the longest such Heat 3-pointer streak to open a season, of 28 set in 1998-99 by Tim Hardaway.
– He also extended his franchise record to 76 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer.
– It was Herro’s 67th consecutive regular-season game scoring in double figures. As a means of comparison, Butler’s longest such streak is 63 consecutive games. The franchise record is 294 by LeBron James.
– Adebayo’s fifth defensive rebound was the 3,500th of his career.
– It was Adebayo’s 214th career regular-season double-double, now seven shy of Rony Seikaly’s franchise record.
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