MIAMI—Though the Miami Heat lost to the Portland Trail Blazers devastatingly on Tuesday night, 116-107, the one bright spot came from rookie Kel’el Ware. The long-awaited duo of the Heat’s first-round pick and Bam Adebayo is coming off a game in which they excelled against the Spurs.

After the Heat beat the Spurs, Erik Spoelstra speaks on the Bam Adebayo-Kel'el Ware pairing.

As Jimmy Butler is playing with the Miami Heat, he was not the focus of the team’s win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, 128-107. While the Heat still deals with the drama involving Butler, they g

Adebayo's numbers have been head-scratching as he has one of the worst true shooting percentages, which also measures the value of three-point shots and free throws, and even has been struggling close to the paint and restricted area. As he works to figure it out, he would express that his role on the offensive changes frequently.

The defeat to the Lakers also marked the first game back by Heat center Bam Adebayo as he missed the Clippers game because of a lower back contusion. He suffered the injury in the win over the Portland Trail Blazers last Saturday after a bad fall right on the back which made him inactive for the first time this season.

Adebayo produced 12 points (5-10 FG, 0-2 3Pt, 2-3 FT) and 10 rebounds across 22 minutes during Tuesday's 116-107 loss to Portland.

The delicate dance continued for the Miami Heat at Thursday morning’s shootaround at Fiserv Forum, the ongoing discussion about Jimmy Butler’s absences amid the team stressing in advance that coach Erik Spoelstra would not be taking questions on the subject.

That’s because Heat coach Erik Spoelstra played three-time NBA All-Star center Bam Adebayo and rookie center Kel’el Ware together for an extended stretch for the first time during Sunday’s 128-107 home win over the San Antonio Spurs ... and the double-big combination looked better than anybody could have imagined.

"The point that I made to our team is get used to it," Spoelstra said. "Get over it. This is the NBA life; this is the life we chose. If you think it's going to be predictable, you're really mistaken.

In appearance on "First Take" on Thursday morning, ESPN’s Shams Charania described Jimmy Butler‘s situation with the Heat as “ugly, bitter” and “untenable.”

ESPN’s Shams Charania described Jimmy Butler ‘s situation with the Heat as “ugly, bitter” and “untenable.” Miami suspended Butler for two more games on Wednesday after he missed a team flight to Milwaukee.