Heat end winning trip on high note with 111-102 victory over Suns

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Jan 25, 2026

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PHOENIX – Salvage mission complete.

Moving past bad losses to the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers that could have made this a road to run, the Miami Heat followed up Saturday night’s blowout victory over the Utah Jazz with a 111-102 victory Sunday night over the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center.

With the victory, the Heat closed out the five-game trip at 3-2 to improve to 25-22.

Shorthanded and sleep deprived, the Heat found a way, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. settling things in the fourth quarter,

Both teams were significantly shorthanded.

For the Heat, it was Tyler Herro (ribs) and Kel’el Ware (hamstring) already back in South Florida and Davion Mitchell (shoulder) missing the final three games of the trip.

For the Suns, it was Devin Booker (ankle) and Jalen Green (hamstring) sidelined.

In addition, the Heat did not arrive in Phoenix until 4:30 a.m. Sunday, after a late-arriving plane in Salt Lake City.

Of that turn-and-burn scenario, coach Erik Spoelstra said, “They just dropped us off in parachutes like Navy SEALs. We’re ready to go.”

That they proved to be, getting 22 points from Bam Adebayo, 20 from Jaquez, 16 from Norman Powell and 10 points and 10 rebounds from Andrew Wiggins.

Five degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:

— Game flow: The Heat led 32-21 after the first period, 58-48 at halftime and 82-77 going into the fourth.

The Heat consistently built double-digit leads through each of the first three quarters, only to see the Suns consistently close the gap.

The Heat then matched their largest lead to that point when they went up 89-77 with 10:09 to play.

The difference then was the Heat reverted to a formula that had been so successful early this season, a Jaquez takeover, with the Heat giving the ball to their sixth man and getting out of the way, a payoff that included a 3-pointer that gave the Heat a 101-83 lead.

— Miss or miss: The Heat opened 1 of 13 on 3-pointers, with the lone conversion coming from Adebayo. The Suns weren’t much better at the outset, opening 2 of 12 on 3-pointers.

The Heat’s second 3-point conversation did not come until Nikola Jovic converted from the left corner. Powell followed with a 3-pointer on the Heat’s next possession.

The Suns stood 2 of 19 on 3-pointers at the half, the Heat 3 of 17. In that first half, Royce O’Neale was 0 for 6 on 3-pointers for the Suns, Powell 1 of 6 for the Heat.

The Heat closed 9 of 36 on 3-pointers, on a night they had to find another way. The Suns finished 7 of 35 on 3-pointers.

— Powell persists: For weeks now, Powell has been a constant on the Heat injury report with back soreness.

The fact that he perseveres has been laudable, but the struggles have been real, as he stands now less than a week from finding out Sunday if he makes his first All-Star Game, when conference reserves are named.

It wasn’t just the need for a high volume of shots to get to his scoring total in this one, it was coming off a pair of games when he closed a combined 0 for 11 from behind the arc.

This time he closed 5 of 21 from the field, 2 of 11 on 3-pointers.

— Pesky presence: If Spoelstra was looking to inject energy into his team on the second night of the back-to-back, then he picked the right man in playing two-way player Myron Gardner as this third player off the bench.

In one first-quarter sequence, Gardner was part of a video review that ruled his hard foul on Oso Ighodaro was not a flagrant foul, then saw a video review go in his favor when a defensive goaltending call against him was ruled not to be goaltending, followed up by being called for a double-foul with the Suns’ Collin Gillespie, when push came to shove between the two away from the ball.

After that brief Gardner jolt, Dru Smith then took over in the second half, with arguably one of his best stretches in weeks. Smith closed with 11 points.

— Now, (brief) rest: After the five road games in seven days, the Heat now get their lone two-day break of January, with Monday and Tuesday off.

But then it’s back to the grind, with four games in five nights to follow, the product of the rescheduled game in Chicago from the Jan. 8 postponement there due to condensation on the court at the United Center.

That has the Heat hosting the Magic on Wednesday night, in Chicago on Thursday and then home against the Bulls on Saturday and Sunday.

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