Short-handed Heat rout Wizards, 140-117, keep hope alive of moving up in play-in race

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Apr 10, 2026

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Plenty was missing Friday night at Capital One Arena, including several Miami Heat mainstays, and any semblance of competition. But at least hope remains, still with an outside chance of moving up in the standings.

To their credit, even while short-handed, the Heat seized the moment, rolling to a 140-117 victory over the league-worst Washington Wizards in their final road game of the regular season.

With Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Davion Mitchell among those sidelined, others stepped up for Erik Spoelstra’s team beyond another tone-setting performance from center Bam Adebayo, who closed with 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

That included 24 points from emergency starter Simone Fontecchio and 24 in reserve from Pelle Larsson and 23 in reserve from Jaime Jaquez Jr., who continues to state his case for NBA Sixth Man of the Year.

At 42-38, a winning record is now assured ahead of Sunday night’s season finale against the Atlanta Hawks. The Heat entered with 10 losses in their previous 13.

At 17-63, the Wizards met their season-long mandate of finishing with the league’s worst record.

Still No. 10 in the East even with the loss, the Heat could move up to No. 9 and therefore host a play-in game if they defeat the Hawks on Sunday and the No. 9 Charlotte Hornets lose at the same time to the New York Knicks.

Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:

— 1. Game flow: The Heat led 34-23 after the opening period and 72-52 at halftime.

From there, the Wizards climbed within 10 late in the third period, before the Heat went into the fourth up 105-82.

Soon enough the Heat’s lead was back in the 20s early in the fourth quarter, as the Heat closed out their league-high 17th back-to-back set of the season with a 13-4 record on the second nights of such pairings.

— 2. Nine time: The Heat went in with only nine available players from their standard roster. Sidelined were guards Herro (foot), Powell (groin), Mitchell (shoulder) and Dru Smith (foot) and forward Nikola Jovic (ankle), with Terry Rozier waived earlier in the day.

That had Spoelstra working through a rotation that had Fontecchio and Kasparas Jakucionis in the starting lineup and Keshad Johnson and Myron Gardner off the bench.

— 3. Keshad time: Spoelstra before the game was complimentary of Johnson’s emergency duty a night earlier in Toronto amid Heat foul trouble.

“KJ just continues to get better,” Spoelstra said. ” And I really commend him for that, and not succumbing to frustration or feeling like there’s not the opportunity. He just focuses on getting better.”

Johnson will be a restricted free agent this summer.

“He has improved dramatically in the last two years,” Spoelstra said of the forward who went undrafted out of Arizona in 2024. “And that’s why he also has deep respect of the locker room. You can’t buy that. That’s earned.”

Johnson closed with 10 points.

— 4. Fontecchio, too: With Herro, Powell and Mitchell out, it not only opened minutes for Fontecchio, but allowed Spoelstra to take measure of whether he might yet have a 3-point specialist in scoring mode for the postseason.

Fontecchio was 3 of 3 on 3-pointers at halftime, then converting another three by the midpoint of the third period.

The effort came after Fontecchio was held out of the losses in Toronto on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Fontecchio closed 8 of 10 from the field, including 6 of 8 on 3-pointers as part of the Heat’s 20 of 37 from beyond the arc.

— 5. One more: The Heat conclude the franchise’s 38th regular season at 6 p.m. Sunday against the Hawks. Atlanta will have motivation in that one, with eyes on holding off the Raptors for the No. 5 seed.