Jimmy Butler's Triple-Double Leads Heat to 101-94 Win over Rockets

The Miami Heat are scorching hot.

With a 101-94 win over the Houston Rockets on the road on Thursday, the Heat claimed their fourth consecutive victory, improving to 11-14 on the season. 

Jimmy Butler finally clinched a triple-double after nearing the line in each of Miami's last three outings. He had 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Heat, who were also helped by a standout performance off the bench from Max Strus.

The Rockets (11-14), who have now lost their last four while playing without Christian Wood, were paced by 17 points each from Eric Gordon and John Wall, while DeMarcus Cousins tallied 16 points and 11 boards.

Notable Performers

Jimmy Butler Saves Banged-Up Heat

Goran Dragic and Avery Bradley were already on the Heat's injury report, but Tyler Herro was ruled out due to the league's health and safety protocols in a game-time decision.

Kendrick Nunn stepped in to fill the hole, but that meant Thursday's game would come down largely to the contributions of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, and Kelly Olynyk and Duncan Robinson would have to step up even more.

Butler is a safe bet. In each of the Heat's three recent victories, he has flirted with a triple-double: 

After missing 10 games due to injury, Butler returned on Jan. 30, and the Heat have been revitalized. According to data from Cleaning the Glass, the Heat have a 4.3 net rating, good for 12th in the league, and have improved exponentially in defensive rating (from 23rd to fourth) since Jan. 28 (h/t Rob Mahoney of The Ringer). 

He dropped 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field while going a perfect 7-of-7 from the line to lead all scorers in the first half, though the Heat trailed by six at the break. 

Nunn was the only other double-digit scorer for Miami, though Robinson ended the half with nine.

The group held that pace into the second half—at the end of the night, Butler finally grabbed that triple-double, while Nunn finished with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists.

A second-half surprise came in the form of first-year Heat player Max Strus, who appeared in just two games for Chicago last season. In 25 minutes off the bench, he tallied 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting form the field, going 5-of-8 from three.

So what does a Heat team without Dragic, Bradley and Herro look like? It looks like Jimmy Butler, Kendrick Nunn and Max Strus. And against the Houston Rockets, that was enough. 

Rockets Can't Get Past Their Defensive Woes

After a disappointing 130-101 loss against the New Orleans Pelicans, head coach Stephen Silas acknowledged that the Rockets were having major issues on defense. 

It was evident from that box score, as they allowed 60 points in the paint and 18 second-chance opportunities in New Orleans. But that wasn't just a one-off.

The night before, the Charlotte Hornets hit 19 of their 41 shots from deep, with Houston posting a minus-12 rebounding margin. 

"If we're not committed to stopping people like we have been up until this point, it's going to be hard for us to win," he told reporters. 

On Thursday, it was a mixed bag. 

Offensively, the Rockets had three different scorers in double digits at the break, with DeMarcus Cousins leading the squad with 11 points while Eric Gordon and Victor Oladipo each tallied 10. 

On defense, they kept pace with the Heat and improved their rebounding, with 23 boards to Miami's 27. They limited Miami to 20 points in the paint while forcing eight turnovers and limiting the group to 34.9 percent shooting from the field (18.2 percent from three). 

But they couldn't hang on in the second half.

In the third quarter, they were outscored 28-10 in a performance that had glaring similarities to their final frame against the Pelicans, when they were limited to seven points.

By the end of the night, the Rockets allowed the Heat to shoot 43.0 percent from the field with 15 threes, with their collapse resulting in another loss. 

Part of the problem is the loss of Christian Wood at center, but he's out indefinitely, so the Rockets will need to find a solution quickly if they have any hope of righting the ship.

What's Next? 

This game marked the start of a seven-game road trip for the Heat, who are headed to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday.

The Rockets will also hit the road, with an 8 p.m. Saturday tip against the New York Knicks.