Adebayo, Herro keep Heat on a roll, win streak now at five with 120-94 rout of Wizards (2025)

WASHINGTON — The goal during this season-best five-game Miami Heat winning streak has been about attempting to set the table for something better, even while positioned for no better than a third consecutive trip to the play-in tournament.

In that regard, another mission accomplished in Monday night’s 120-94 victory over the league-worst Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.

“We’ve developed some much better habits, the process has been solid, guys are gaining confidence,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I think all of this has built off the adversity and playing well.”

So 10-game losing streak followed by five-game winning streak.

“It feels like we’re really connected,” guard Tyler Herro said. “It feels like everyone’s covering for each other and we’re all playing really well off each other right now.”

Once again, the leaders led, with Bam Adebayo closing with 28 points and 12 rebounds, and Herro with 27 points, five assists and five rebounds.

That remains the requisite, particularly with forward Andrew Wiggins still sidelined with a hamstring issue.

But this also was a different path to victory, one not nearly as dependent on 3-point shooting.

This time, there was serviceable play and solid playmaking from Terry Rozier, who finished with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds.

This time, there was Jaime Jaquez Jr. finding 3-point success and also a return of the spark that had been missing during this sophomore slump, closing with 14 points and seven rebounds.

And this time there were even more hustle points (and hustle rebounds, hustle assists) from rookie second-round pick Pelle Larsson, who closed with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in a second consecutive start.

No sooner did Adebayo return for his second-period stint then he took a Larsson feed for an alley-oop dunk.

Adebayo was up to 20 points, seven rebounds by halftime.

He closed 11 of 19 from the field, 2 of 5 on 3-pointers.

“It’s really a collective energy right now and guys are pouring life into each other, following Tyler and Bam,” Spoelstra said.

3. Not so much: Having entered torrid with their 3-point shooting the previous four games of the winning streak, the Heat this time stood 3 of 17 from beyond the arc in the first half, with the only conversions over the first two periods coming from Adebayo, Jaquez and Alec Burks.

In fact, the lone Heat player with multiple 3-pointers through the opening three periods was Adebayo, at 2 of 5 (when the rest of the roster stood 2 of 17).

Still, even at 0 for 4 on 3-pointers through three periods, Herro still was up to 24 points entering the fourth, closing 0 for 6 on his 3-point attempts.

The Heat closed 9 of 32 from beyond the arc.

“Just finding different ways to score,” Herro said. “Obviously, we have an identity we want to get to offensively. We have a bunch of guys that when you run them off the 3-point line or shots are not falling, we can get into the paint and make plays for each other.”

That alternate path Monday led to 68 points in the paint for the Heat, compared to 36 for the Wizards.

“Good teams find different ways to win,” Jaquez said. “I think that’s what makes good teams good. We’re still learning how to figure that out, and tonight was another great step forward of figuring out new ways to win games.”

4. Subtle alteration: While the Heat opened with the same lineup as Saturday night’s victory in Philadelphia, adjustments were required with Davion Mitchell ruled out an hour before tipoff due to a stomach illness.

With Wiggins and Duncan Robinson (back) again out, Spoelstra opened with Adebayo, Herro, Larsson, Ware and Burks.

From there, there were minutes off the bench for the second consecutive game for Rozier, rotation minutes for the first time in more than a week for Jaquez, with Haywood Highsmith and Kyle Anderson also seeing early action.

It again was Larsson who drew considerable praise for his relentless hustle.

“Man, to me it started with Pelle,” Adebayo said. “That young kid was really getting in the paint, putting guys in the basket, and we need that from him, that bulldog mentality. We had Davion out, so he stepped into that role.”

5. Lotto-mania: For the Wizards, as it has been all season, Monday night stood as another must-lose game, with the NBA draft lottery the priority.

The Wizards entered the night a league-worst 16-58, just barely ahead (behind?) of the 16-59 Utah Jazz and 18-56 Charlotte Hornets.

Among those not playing Monday night for the Wizards were Khris Middleton, Malcolm Brogdon, Bilal Coulibaly, Saddiq Bey, Corey Kispert, Anthony Gill and former University of Miami forward Kyshawn George, a Washington first-round pick last June.

Adebayo, Herro keep Heat on a roll, win streak now at five with 120-94 rout of Wizards (2025)

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