From dealing with a disgruntled star in Jimmy Butler to trading that disgruntled star, to an unusual amount of blown double-digit leads, to some of the lowest scoring fourth quarters in the league, to a stomach bug spreading around the locker room this week and more, it has been a rough season for the Miami Heat. But the Heat has reached the NBA\u2019s All-Star break at the lowest point of its season yet, capping off its pre-All-Star break schedule with a bad 118-113 loss to an undermanned Dallas Mavericks team on Thursday night at American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n
The Heat (25-28) now enters the break on its first four-game losing skid of the season and three games under the .500 mark for the first time this season. \u201cEverybody understands the urgency right now,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Thursday\u2019s defeat in Dallas before heading into the break. \u201cThere\u2019s not a man in that locker room that doesn\u2019t understand it. We\u2019re disappointed, we\u2019re frustrated. This is humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Heat entered Thursday\u2019s game with just 10 available players, missing Bam Adebayo (left knee contusion), Andrew Wiggins (stomach illness), Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Kevin Love (personal reasons), Terry Rozier (stomach illness), Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League). The Mavericks had only nine available players, playing without Anthony Davis (left adductor strain), Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), Kyrie Irving (right shoulder soreness), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture), Caleb Martin (right hip strain), Dwight Powell (right hip strain), Klay Thompson (left foot sprain) and P.J. Washington (right ankle sprain) against the Heat.<\/p>\n
But the Mavericks were the better team down the stretch Thursday. After the Heat pulled ahead by four points with 5:09 left in the fourth quarter, the short-handed Mavericks closed the game on a 20-11 run on their way to the five-point win despite Heat All-Star guard Tyler Herro tying a season high with 40 points in the contest. \u201cIt\u2019s a weird part of the season right now,\u201d Herro said, with the Heat now idle until it resumes its schedule on Feb. 21 against the Raptors in Toronto. \u201cWe just made a trade, some guys that we lean on are dealing with illness.<\/p>\n
You really can\u2019t control that. I think our disposition and the way we came out could have been better. Just our energy and effort, I thought we could have gave a little bit more on both sides of the ball, especially defensively. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s kind of been the case for the last week or so that we\u2019ve fallen short \u2014 Chicago, Brooklyn, Oklahoma City and then [Thursday]. So, all games that we put ourselves in a position to win and then there\u2019s small pockets throughout the game where we\u2019re not giving our effort, lack of attention to detail, lax.<\/p>\n
And you see we\u2019re in the games and then we lose by three or four, whatever it may be. But we\u2019re there, we just got to figure out how we can sustain a 48-minute game so that we can win these games.\u201d While Thursday\u2019s defeat to the Mavericks doesn\u2019t fall under this category, the Heat has already blown a double-digit lead in 13 losses this season. That\u2019s the second-most such collapses in the NBA this season behind only the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n
The fact that there have been four single-digit fourth quarters in the NBA this season and the Heat has three of them has played a role in those in-game meltdowns. \u201cWe\u2019re going to correct that,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to get better. We have enough experience with it now. Our guys are fully aware of that. Everybody wants to be better in these situations when we\u2019re up. We\u2019ll take a few days off. I\u2019ll get to work, the staff will get to work. We\u2019ll do what we need to do. I promise, we\u2019re going to correct this.\u201d What\u2019s the solution to the Heat\u2019s in-game lulls? \u201cI don\u2019t have the answer,\u201d Herro said. \u201cOtherwise, we would do it.\u201d But with only 29 games left in its regular season, the Heat needs to fix this problem quickly along with continuing to integrate its three recent trade additions (Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell and Wiggins) if it\u2019s going to avoid having to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA\u2019s play-in tournament.<\/p>\n
With the NBA\u2019s play-in tournament featuring the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference, the Heat enters the break in ninth place in the Eastern Conference and on track to appear in the play-in tourney for the third straight season. While it would require a major collapse for the Heat to completely fall out of the play-in tournament and out of playoff contention since it\u2019s 5.5 games ahead of the 11th-place Philadelphia 76ers and 12th-place Brooklyn Nets in the East standings, Miami is also now three games behind the sixth-place Detroit Pistons for the East\u2019s final playoff spot that doesn\u2019t require having to take part in the play-in tourney.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is important,\u201d Herro said of the sense of urgency needed during the final two months of the regular season. \u201cThis needs to matter to everybody in this locker room every single day, every single night, every single film session, shootaround, walkthrough, everything. I think that\u2019s something that we also have to continue to improve at. The games aren\u2019t the only thing that matter. Everything matters.\u201d The Heat has at least one thing working in its favor, as 18 of the 29 regular-season games that it has left to play after the All-Star break will come at home.<\/p>\n
Miami has just 11 road games remaining on its regular-season schedule, and six of those 11 road games come against teams currently with losing records. \u201cThis is what the league is right now, where all the teams are on any given week,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cThese games, they have so much impact and so much meaning.\u201d But the bottom line is the Heat is trending in the wrong direction. While the Heat enters the break with the NBA\u2019s 21st-ranked offensive rating, 10th-ranked defensive rating and 17th-ranked net rating for the season, those marks have been worse lately. Since January, the Heat holds the league\u2019s 24th-ranked offensive rating, 20th-ranked defensive rating and 23rd-ranked net rating.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to get on the same page going into these last 29 games,\u201d Herro said. For now, Heat coaches and players will take some time off before reconvening for its first practice following the break on Thursday at Kaseya Center. The Heat\u2019s goal will be to make the most of whatever is left of its season. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be very important,\u201d said Herro, who was the Heat\u2019s only player selected for Sunday\u2019s NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco. \u201cI think, obviously, everybody needs time away, enjoy their breaks, take care of their bodies. I think we\u2019re going to get healthy, which for the most part we\u2019ve been this year. But just getting everyone after making that trade, just getting everyone together, spending time with each other and we\u2019ll be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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