Miami Heat's new stars step up in first win of post-Jimmy Butler era

With the Jimmy Butler trade taking the news by storm, the Miami Heat had to put the news behind them and take care of business in a close battle with the Philadelphia 76ers. Led by two strong performances from Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, the Heat defeated the 76ers 108-101 Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.

Miami's two best players came up clutch to seal a victory.

Now that Butler is officially out of the picture, Herro and Adebayo must consistently play at an elite level and close when called upon. The Heat received key contributions from Terry Rozier and Nikola Jovic who combined to score 43 points off the bench. But when it mattered most, the ball was in the hands of both Herro and Adebayo, and both players delivered to give the Heat a much-needed victory.

The first big bucket came from Herro, who rose up and hit a nice mid-range jumper over Guerschon Yabusele to extend the Heat lead to six.

Shortly after, with under a minute to go, it seemed as if Miami was about to have another sloppy possession which would have been fitting given the Heat had 22 turnovers for the game. Instead, Adebayo saved the possession by hitting a jump shot to push the lead back to six.

Lastly, in what ended up being the dagger, Erik Spoelstra drew up a great out of bounds play that set up Herro for a layup with a great find from Jovic.

Even though Adebayo and Herro filled up the stat sheet, the one category they also had a high count in was turnovers, with both players being responsible for 14 turnovers. But to their credit, both Herro and Adebayo made game-changing plays that ended up preventing Miami from losing another embarrassing game.

This needs to be the new norm for the Heat if they want to make the playoffs this season. There is no more relying on Butler to seal the deal and turn the momentum back in Miami's favor. That responsibility now falls on the shoulders of Herro and Adebayo. Wednesday night's victory was a step in the right direction, and it's now time for both players to show they can close consistently against high-level competition with Butler now in Golden State.