Jimmy Butler returns from suspension, but Heat returns to .500 after loss to Nuggets. Takeaways

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 133-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets (25-16) on Friday night at Kaseya Center to open a three-game homestand. The Heat continues the homestand on Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs:

Jimmy Butler returned from suspension to play for the Heat on Friday, but it didn’t matter. The middling Heat still lost its third straight game to reach the 40-game mark at 20-20.

With Butler making his return after a drama-filled few weeks that included a trade request and suspension, Friday’s matchup against the Nuggets turned into one of the most intriguing regular-season Heat games in recent history.

But the game itself didn’t turn out to be that interesting, as the Nuggets led for essentially the entire contest on their way to the 20-point win.

Butler recorded 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, 0-of-2 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes in his first game action since Jan. 2 after serving his team-issued seven-game suspension.

Butler’s best quarter of the night came in the third quarter, when he contributed 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, three rebounds and two assists in the period.

“I guess it’s basketball at this point,” Butler said following his return amid the drama. “I know what I’m expected to do while I’m here. I tried to do that to the best of my ability, but we are where we are.”

None of it really mattered because the Heat’s defense didn’t have an answer for the Nuggets’ offense.

“I know what storylines you’re looking for,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Butler’s performance and whether the team needs more production from him. “I’m not feeding into any of that tonight. We got our [butts] kicked.”

Led by three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets totaled 133 points on 54.3 percent shooting from the field and 16-of-33 (48.5 percent) shooting on threes while committing only six turnovers. As a result, the Heat allowed 134.3 points per 100 possessions for its worst single-game defensive rating of the season.

Jokic recorded 24 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his 17th triple-double of the season.

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray scored a game-high 30 points to go with seven rebounds and eight assists.

“They’re not an easy team to guard,” Spoelstra said. “They play with great pace. That’s one of the most underrated things that they do. They really push. Jokic has a great feel for that. I think [Russell] Westbrook has really helped their style of play. He just pushes it and it’s not necessarily the transition points, it’s the cross-matches they get. They get you scrambling around trying to fix the matchups and then they end up with a wide open shot.”

Meanwhile, the Heat struggled to keep up with the Nuggets’ offense because of its three-point shooting struggles. The Nuggets outscored the Heat 48-27 from three=point range, as Miami shot just 9 of 33 (27.3 percent) from behind the arc

Heat guard Tyler Herro scored a team-high 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and 2-of-7 shooting from three-point range to go with five rebounds and four assists.

Bam Adebayo contributed 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and 0-of-2 shooting on threes, 11 rebounds and four assists.

Butler received a mixed reaction from the Miami crowd in his return.

When introduced as a Heat starter, there were some scattered boos and also some loud cheers for Butler.

When Butler touched the ball on the Heat’s first possession of the game, there were also some scattered boos from the Kaseya Center crowd.

“Look, we work in a league of complexity,” Spoelstra said during his pregame media session Friday regarding the evolving Butler situation. “We’re in an unusual place right now. But really all it is is complex and we fully plan on operating within this complexity. So it’s my job to prepare this team, get them ready to play at a high level and that’s what I’m doing. That’s what the plan is. My methods for doing it are really none of your business.”

Butler announced his return through a pregame statement issued by his agent Bernie Lee on social media less than two hours before tipoff.

Copying the press release that Michael Jordan used to announce his return to the Chicago Bulls following his first retirement, the statement issued by Lee said simply: “I’m back.”

Immediately after Lee posted that statement, Butler’s Instagram story showed photos of him wearing the No. 45 Bulls jersey that Jordan switched to after returning from his first retirement.

But Butler wasn’t returning from retirement on Friday, he was just returning from a team-issued seven-game suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season.”

The alternative to bringing back Butler on Friday was to resume paying his $48.8 million salary now that he’s longer suspended while also reaching an agreement to keep him away from the team. But up to this point, the Heat is against having Butler remain away from the team while also continuing to pay him.

Butler met with Heat owner Micky Arison and chief executive officer Nick Arison on Thursday to discuss the path forward, league sources told the Miami Herald.

The bottom line, though, is Butler’s thinking hasn’t changed. He still wants the Heat to trade him and the Heat will still try to trade him, according to league sources, but there has been little progress in trade talks so far.

When asked if he could re-discover his “joy” with the Heat, Butler said following Friday’s loss: “I was told to say no comment, so no comment.”

When asked if his situation with the Heat is fixable, Butler again said: “No comment.”

The NBA’s trade deadline is Feb. 6.

With Butler back, the Heat returned to its preferred starting lineup.

The Heat opened Friday’s game with the lineup of Herro, Duncan Robinson, Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Adebayo.

This is the Heat’s most used starting lineup this season, as Friday marked the 15th time it has opened a game together so far this season. It’s also been, statistically, one of the most effective lineups in the league.

This lineup entered Friday outscoring opponents by an impressive 9.7 points per 100 possessions in 168 minutes together this season. Among the 27 lineups around the NBA that entered Friday with at least 140 minutes played together this season, this Heat group held the seventh-best net rating.

But this Heat starting unit didn’t produce positive results on Friday, as Denver opened the game on a 17-8 run before Miami made its first substitution of the night.

The Heat’s starters outscored the Nuggets by one point during their time on the court together to begin the second half, but still finished the loss as a minus 8 in 13 minutes together.

With its starting lineup back intact, the Heat used a bench rotation of Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Terry Rozier and Kel’el Ware before playing Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson late in the lopsided loss.

The attention was on Butler’s return, but Jovic continued his encouraging stretch for the Heat.

Jovic finished Friday’s loss with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists in 31 minutes off the Heat’s bench. It marked the seventh time that Jovic has scored double-digit points in the last eight games.

Jovic, 21, has averaged 14.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and four assists during this eight-game stretch.

Jovic, who was drafted by the Heat late in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft, is in his third NBA season.

The Heat’s struggles against the Nuggets continued.

The Heat has now dropped 19 of its last 22 games against the Nuggets, including the 2023 NBA Finals. The last time the Heat defeated the Nuggets in Miami was nearly seven years ago, with a double-overtime home win over Denver on March 19, 2018.

With the Nuggets also defeating the Heat in Denver on Nov. 8 earlier this season, the Nuggets have now swept their two-game regular-season series against the Heat in five straight seasons.

“We’ll figure it out at some point,” Adebayo said of the Heat’s issues against the Nuggets.