Rockets let halftime lead slip away to the Heat.
Despite halftime lead, abysmal second-half shooting allows Miami to cruise even without top three scorers
The Rockets were scoring. They were getting inside. They were drawing fouls. For a half, they even led.
It was not going to last. The Heat, or what was left of them with so much manpower sitting out, would not allow that.
If the Rockets believed they had the ability to burn Miami from the perimeter, they were welcome to try. But the Heat lock up the paint every night. The Rockets were not going to layup them to death.
The Rockets gave it a try Monday night but clanked their way through the second half, with the Heat picking them apart until rolling to a 29-point lead on the way to a 113-91 victory at American Airlines Arena in Miami.
Even without so much of their usual rotation — top three Miami scorers Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro sat out — the Heat (30-28) beat the Rockets (15-43) their usual way. They took away the paint on one end and moved the ball sharply on the other.
The Rockets faded so badly in the second half that they went through a stretch to end the third quarter and start the fourth in which they made just 4 of 23 shots, relying heavily on 3-point shooting.
By the time the Heat pushed their lead to 105-82 with 4:20 remaining, the Rockets had made just 10 of 33 second-half shots, just 3 of 17 3-pointers. It was their sixth game in the past seven they trailed by 20 or more points.
After scoring 28 points in the paint in the first half, the Rockets had 12 in the first 20 minutes of the second half, alternating between missed 3s and drives into the thick of the Heat defense.
The Rockets had been outscored 51-27 in the second half when they cleared the bench. Guard John Wall had scored one point since his 13-point first quarter. Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. led the Rockets with 18 points, though Wood had just five in the second half.
As short-handed as the Heat were, they got a huge lift from Kendrick Nunn, who had a season-high 30 points and eight assists, and still had Goran Dragic, who had been questionable to play, score 19 points off the bench.
Yet as well as the Heat executed — they had 10 assists in the third quarter — and scored through the second half, the Rockets’ breakdown was on the other end, where they could not solve the Miami defense or do anything with the shots left open.
Even during a flurry with the benches cleared and a good first half, the Rockets made just nine of 38 3pointers in the game, shooting 38.8 percent overall.
Though the Rockets got off to another slow start defensively, with the Heat needing 7½ minutes to attain their double-digit lead, the Rockets had found in Orlando the night before that it is easier to come back from down 10 or more by keeping it to less than 20.
They had trailed by at least 20 in five consecutive games, losing them all, before the 114-110 win against the Magic. When they rallied from down 12 to beat Orlando, it was just their third win in 43 games when trailing by at least 10 points.
Against the Heat, when the Rockets fell behind 26-14, they took care of the ball better long enough to get shots to drop, with Wood and Wall bringing them back to within two by the end of the first quarter. The makeshift and youthful second unit — with rookies Jae’Sean Tate, Armoni Brooks and K.J. Martin and second-year guard Porter — pushed the lead to as much as six in the second quarter. The Rockets led 54-52 at halftime.
Once they cut back on the turnovers, the Rockets were increasingly aggressive offensively, not only scoring 28 points in the paint in the first half against the team that allows the fewest in the league but drawing enough fouls to go 10-of-11 from the line. That made up for shaky 3-point shooting, with the Rockets making 5 of 16.
That also allowed them to set up their defense after giving up points early in the open court.
The Heat, however, were certain to do anything necessary to take away the lane and see if the Rockets could make shots from the perimeter. When they couldn’t, Miami picked them apart on the other end and blew open the game.