Five takeaways from the Heat’s 130-117 win in Sacramento on Tuesday night at Golden One Center:
▪ Thanks to simmering shooting and just enough defensive resistance, the Heat snapped a dismal stretch of four lopsided road losses in a row.
Miami stayed in relative control throughout, scoring 77 in the first half (its second-highest total of the season) while hitting 15 of 24 on threes before intermission.
The Heat cooled a bit, but the woeful Kings (12-32) never had enough to make a serious push in the second half.
Ahead by 13 at the break and by 11 after three, Miami pushed the margin to 17 early in the fourth and Sacramento never drew within single digits.
The Heat closed 21 for 42 on threes (50 percent), a night after shooting 13 of 45 in a loss to the Warriors.
Miami entered having lost its past four road games by an average margin of 21.8 points while permitting 126 points per game over that stretch.
The Heat moved to 8-14 on the road, 13-3 against teams with losing records and 23-21 overall.
Miami is now 11-2 when scoring at least 130 points.
▪ The Heat’s shooters feasted, particularly early.
Miami’s 15 first half threes (on 24 attempts) were second most in franchise history, behind only the 24 that the Heat drained in a win against the Clippers earlier this season.
Norman Powell shot 4 for 6 on threes in the first half and his 15 first-half points helped set the tone on a 22-point night.
Andrew Wiggins (19 points) made three of seven three-pointers, and Bam Adebayo (25 points) drained four of five.
And Simone Fonteccio hit three three-pointers in the fourth quarter and closed with five threes (in nine attempts) to highlight a 15-point, 7-rebound game.
Pelle Larsson was the only Heat player who didn’t attempt a three, but he delivered exceptional work: 16 points on 7 for 9 shooting, nine assists, six rebounds and a steal.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 13 points and 9 rebounds.
The Heat did it without second-leading scorer Tyler Herro, who’s back in Miami with a rib injury, and Kel’el Ware, who leads centers in three-point shooting.
▪ Adebayo shook off a dismal night in Golden State and a 1 for 4 start Tuesday en route to scoring 25.
After Tuesday’s slow start, Adebayo came alive offensively just as soon as he hit a three.
That began a stretch in which he made 8 of 11 shots.
This looked like the Adebayo who averaged 27 points on 50 percent shooting (and 12 for 23 on threes) in three games last week while winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors.
Adebayo finished 8 for 15 from the field, a night after he mustered four points on 1-of-13 shooting from the field and 0-of-5 shooting on threes.
He added seven rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block.
▪ The Heat played without a natural center off its bench.
Ware missed the game with hamstring tightness, leaving Miami with only two available players taller than 6-8: Bam Adebayo (6-9) and Nikola Jovic (6-10).
Adebayo has logged most of his minutes at center in recent weeks but is a natural power forward. The Heat has played Jovic regular minutes at center since last season, even though he’s more of a swing forward.
Miami did not have 7-foot center/two-way contract player Vlad Goldin, who’s on a G-League assignment.
Spoelstra used Jovic as the backup center, and he was again off with his shot, finishing 3 for 11.
Ware and Dru Smith were the only Heat players who hadn’t missed a game this season. And neither played Monday, though Smith’s absence was a coach’s decision.
▪ Larsson continues to make a case to start.
His first half was an across-the-board beauty, featuring eight points on four of four shooting, four rebounds and eight assists.
Larsson continues to be anywhere and everywhere at once, drawing charges, making pinpoint passes and slicing to the basket for layups.
A fourth foul sent him to the bench in the third, but he re-entered early in the fourth and hit a layup and dunked a bit later, as Miami held the Kings at bay.
The Heat entered 13-9 with Larsson starting.
Larsson, as usual, was subjected to a physical pounding, this time administered by Demar DeRozan, who committed two fouls that seemed to cross the line.
DeRozan body-checked Larsson on the first foul, sending him tumbling to the fllor; Bam Adebayo then pushed DeRozan, who had to be restrained.
The second foul seemed more egregrious, as DeRozan clotheslined Larrson but nonetheless avoided a flagrant 2 foul.
Miami continues its five-game road trip on Thursday in Portland (10 p.m., FanDuel Sports Sun).