Norman Powell #24 of the Miami Heat tips the ball away from Jaylen Wells #0 of the Memphis Grizzlies during the second quarter of the game at Kaseya Center on February 21, 2026 in Miami. Tomas Diniz Santos Getty Images
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 136-120 win over the Memphis Grizzlies (21-34) on Saturday night at Kaseya Center to complete a back-to-back set. The Heat (31-27) now enters a two-day break before going on the road to begin a two-game trip on Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks:
Don’t look now, but the Heat has now won three straight games for the first time in almost two months on a memorable night for Andrew Wiggins.
After defeating the Pelicans in New Orleans before the NBA All-Star break, the Heat returned from the break to earn a road victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday and a home win over the Grizzlies on Saturday.
This is the Heat’s first three-game winning streak since winning four straight from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1.
The Heat has done it in convincing fashion, too. All three victories during this current three-game winning streak have come by double-digits. Saturday’s win over the Grizzlies came by 16 points.
The Heat led the undermanned Grizzlies by as many as 10 points in the first half before entering halftime with a 73-68 lead.
The Heat then blew the game open in the third quarter, outscoring the Grizzlies 39-26 in the period to take an 18-point lead into the fourth quarter.
The Heat’s lead grew to as large as 24 points in the fourth quarter.
But the game didn’t end without a scuffle, as Grizzlies guard Scottie Pippen Jr. sought out Myron Gardner and shoved him to the court to start a dust-up between the two teams with 1:55 to play. Pippen and Gardner were both ejected from the game.
With the Heat nearly at full health, its depth was on display. Eight Heat players finished with double-digit points on Saturday.
Wiggins led the way with a near perfect shooting night, finishing the Heat’s win over the Grizzlies with 28 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field, 4-of-4 shooting on threes and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal. Along the way, he reached 15,000 career points in the NBA on Saturday.
Heat guard Norman Powell added 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 shooting on threes, two rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block.
Then there were 14 points from Tyler Herro, 13 points from Bam Adebayo, 12 points from Kasparas Jakucionis, 12 points from Jaime Jaquez Jr., 11 points from Kel’el Ware and 10 points from Pelle Larsson.
GG Jackson scored a team-high 28 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for the Grizzlies.
Even with starting guard Davion Mitchell unavailable on Saturday because of an illness, Herro again played off the bench in his second game back from injury.
After totaling a game-high 24 points in 23 minutes off the bench in his return from a rib injury to help the Heat defeat the Hawks in Atlanta on Friday, Herro again played as a reserve on Saturday.
Herro wasn’t as efficient, though, finishing Saturday’s win with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting on threes, five rebounds and six assists in 23 minutes off the bench.
Before this two-game stretch, Herro hadn’t played in a game in over a month. He missed 15 straight games because of his rib injury prior to making his return on Friday.
In fact, Saturday only marked Herro’s 13th game of the season due to injury issues. He missed the first 17 games of the season due to offseason ankle surgery, 13 games because of a toe contusion and then 15 straight games because of his rib injury.
Saturday also only marked the fifth game that Herro has played off the bench since the start of the 2022-23 season. His only four games as a reserve before Friday during this stretch came on April 5, 2024 and April 7, 2024 after he returned from a 20-game absence due to right foot medial tendinitis, earlier this season in a Jan. 6 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves when he returned from an 11-game absence due to his toe contusion, and then Friday when he returned from his rib injury.
Herro played as part of a Heat bench rotation that also included Ware, Jaquez, Dru Smith and Gardner on Saturday.
With Herro now playing two straight games off the bench, it remains to be seen how long he’ll play as a reserve this time.
Instead, the Heat started Jakucionis in Mitchell’s place against the Grizzlies.
Jakucionis made the ninth NBA start of his rookie season, beginning Saturday’s game alongside Powell, Larsson, Wiggins and Adebayo in the Heat’s starting unit.
This lineup has now started seven games this season, with the Heat 5-2 in those games after Saturday’s win.
Jakucionis, 19, again made the most of his opportunity. He finished Saturday’s victory with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds and five assists in 23 minutes.
The Heat’s trust in Jakucionis continues to grow. He has now logged double-digit minutes in 17 of the Heat’s last 18 games after playing only 53.7 seconds in the NBA through the Heat’s first 26 games of the season.
The rebuilding Grizzlies didn’t offer much resistance, missing most of their regulars on Saturday.
Along with trading two-time NBA All-Star center Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz earlier this month, the Grizzlies were without Santi Aldama (right knee injury management), Kyle Anderson (knee soreness), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (finger surgery recovery), Brandon Clarke (calf strain), Cedric Coward (knee hyperextension), Zach Edey (ankle stress reaction) and Ja Morant (elbow UCL sprain) against the Heat.
That left Memphis going with a starting lineup of Jaylen Wells, Ty Jerome, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr. against Miami.
The Grizzlies, which have now lost 11 of their last 14 games, had just 11 available players on Saturday.
With the Grizzlies now in 11th place in the Western Conference and moving in the wrong direction, one could say there is an element of tanking going on at this point of the season. Memphis owns its first-round pick in this year’s draft.
But Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo made it clear before Saturday’s game that the team is still “trying to accomplish a lot.”
“The expectations have not changed,” Iisalo said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the roster we play. We still expect everybody to give max effort, max focus, play for the team and learn new things.”
Meanwhile, the Heat was without Mitchell, Nikola Jovic (low back tightness), Vlad Goldin (G League), Jahmir Young (G League) and Terry Rozier (not with team) against the Grizzlies.
It was a productive night for the Heat in its effort to avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament for the first time on four years.
The Heat’s win over the Grizzlies paired with the Orlando Magic’s double-overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday moved Miami past Orlando for seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.
After Saturday’s win, the seventh-place Heat (31-27) is one-half game ahead of the eighth-place Magic (29-26).
With the sixth-place Philadelphia 76ers also losing to the Pelicans on Saturday, the Heat moved closer to sixth spot it needs to reach to avoid the play-in tourney.
The Heat is now just percentage points behind the sixth-place 76ers (30-26).
The Heat needs to finish among the East’s top six teams to qualify for the playoffs without needing to take part in the play-in tourney. Miami has 24 regular-season games left to play after Saturday’s victory.
The Heat has needed to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA’s play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons.