Adebayo, Butler, Herro available vs. Spurs. Also, a look at how Ariza is helping the Heat

The Miami Heat will have Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler available for Wednesday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center.

Adebayo missed Monday’s win over the Houston Rockets because of right knee soreness and Butler missed the past two games because of a sprained right ankle. Butler (21.4 points per game) and Adebayo (19 points per game) are the Heat’s top two scorers.

In addition, veteran center Dewayne Dedmon has been upgraded from questionable to available for Wednesday’s contest. He did not travel with the Heat to San Antonio on Tuesday, but he re-joined the team Wednesday in time for the game after clearing the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

Heat second-year guard Tyler Herro is also available Wednesday. He was listed as questionable because of right foot soreness.

However, the Heat will be without veteran forward Andre Iguodala (left hip soreness) and starting guard Victor Oladipo (right knee soreness) against the Spurs.

Iguodala, 37, is with the team on the trip. Wednesday marks the fifth game in the past five weeks that he has missed because of left hip soreness.

Oladipo did not travel with the Heat to San Antonio and has been ruled out for the seventh straight game because of his knee issue.

HOW ARIZA IS HELPING THE HEAT

Trevor Ariza has been used as the Miami Heat’s starting small-ball power forward for nearly a month. But the veteran is just starting to settle into his role within the offense.

“I’m starting to understand a bit more,” Ariza said recently. “Coach simplified it for me a little bit, made it a lot easier to understand what to do, where to be aggressive, how to move, how to help my teammates get open. So yeah, I’m getting a little bit more comfortable with those things.”

Ariza, 35, entered Wednesday night’s matchup against the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center averaging 8.5 points while shooting 39.2 percent from the field and 37.1 percent on threes, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 26.4 minutes over 17 games (14 starts) since he was acquired on March 17 in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But Ariza has been more efficient recently, averaging 13 points on 52.3 percent shooting from the field and 14-of-25 (56 percent) shooting from three-point range in his past five games.

Ariza said in late March that he was still learning “when to pull the trigger and shoot the ball” with the Heat because he felt like he was “in between trying to run an offense and passing up open looks.” But he noted last week that the recent uptick in his shooting efficiency stems from a better understanding of his offensive responsibilities.

“I can say my defense is ahead of my offense as far as catching up to what we’re doing,” said Ariza, who had not played this season before joining the Heat last month. “But as time has gone on, my teammates have done a great job of telling me where to be aggressive. Coach has definitely simplified things for me to understand how to be aggressive, how to make plays and put me in positions to be the best player that I can be to help this team.”

Offensively, Ariza can help the Heat with his three-point shooting to help create additional space on the court for Adebayo, Butler and Miami’s other attackers.

With Ariza known as one of the league’s most efficient corner three-point shooters, coach Erik Spoelstra and his staff have found ways to generate shots for him from those spots.

Ariza entered Wednesday shooting 16 of 39 (41 percent) on corner threes with Miami and 10 of 31 (32.3 percent) on other three-point attempts. Those 16 made corner threes since making his Heat debut on March 19 is five more than any other player on the team during that stretch.

Ariza, who will be a free agent this upcoming offseason, has also shown the ability to take advantage of defenses overplaying him at the three-point line with 22 points off cuts and 18 points off drives to the basket in 17 games, according to NBA tracking stats. Ariza is shooting an inefficient 22 of 51 (43.1 percent) in the paint with the Heat, but just those attempts are important because it helps to diversify his offensive game and gives opposing defenses another thing to guard against.

“He’s a savvy offensive player,” Spoelstra said. “He’s not one-dimensional. He knows how to take advantage of overextending defenses, and I think the area that he’ll be able to help us even more will be his off-ball cutting. He has been a very good cutter over the course of his career. As he’s learning our system, I think he’s seeing more spots where he can be effective in that kind of game where a lot of our guys have that skill set to be able to move without the ball and find open opportunities at the rim.”

Ariza’s fit within the Heat’s defense has more natural. His defensive versatility at 6-8 and 215 pounds, with a 7-2 wingspan, has already been on full display, serving as the Heat’s primary defender on guards such as Portland’s Damian Lillard, Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving, Phoenix’s Chris Paul and Memphis’ Ja Morant and centers such as Indiana’s Myles Turner and New York’s Nerlens Noel.

With the switchable and versatile defensive trio of Adebayo, Ariza and Butler on the court together, the Heat has posted an elite defensive rating of 100.2 points allowed per 100 possessions in 209 minutes this season.

“Trevor is a great defender,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said. “He can basically switch from one to four, even sometimes with the five especially now that fives are not playing in the low post so much. His ability to recognize the offense’s schemes and he’s great with his hands. He creates a lot of deflections.”

Jae Crowder excelled as Miami’s starting small-ball power forward during last season’s playoff run before he left to sign with the Phoenix Suns in free agency, and the Heat has been looking for a player to fill Crowder’s void ever since.

With Ariza’s outside shooting and functional defensive versatility, it’s already evident that he fits the mold.

“His versatility is so critical for this team,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not underrated at all for us and certainly not from his head coach or his staff or his teammates. He just unlocks so much of our versatility. Then offensively, he just knows how to play off of people. He has played this role for a long time with some of the best players in this league. He knows how to fit in. He knows how to make you pay if you’re trying to help too much. He knows how to get behind the defense on cuts. Just a very heady, savvy veteran winner.”