Heat blow late lead, Kings take advantage
MIAMI — The energy level was as passive as the pastels on those debuted pinkand-blue Vice uniforms.
The opposition hardly engendered much antipathy, either.
And through the first three periods, Hassan Whiteside had as many baskets as Don Johnson or Philip Michael Thomas. No, this was not a night of inspiration. Just a sluggish 89-88 loss Thursday night for the Miami Heat to the Sacramento Kings, a team that had lost its previous 15 visits to AmericanAirlines Arena.
After Goran Dragic and Wayne Ellington carried the Heat through the opening three periods, the Heat proved unable to protect a 12-point fourth-quarter lead.
Dragic, back from a three-game absence, closed with 23 points. Ellington, on the verge of receiving a formal invitation to the 3-point contest during All-Star Weekend, scored 20, shooting 6 of 13 from beyond the arc.
Those efforts ultimately were not enough to allow the Heat to survive without a basket from Whiteside until 9:34 remained. The Heat center closed with eight points and 13 rebounds.
The Kings closed the scoring off a possession that began with Sacramento down one with 21.9 seconds to play after an illegal screen was called on Whiteside, his sixth and final foul.
Bogdan Bogdanovic then was off with a jumper, but rookie guard De’Aaron Fox cleaned up the miss with a put-back dunk for an 89-88 Sacramento lead with 3.3 seconds to play.
The game ended with Heat forward Josh Richardson left with nothing more than a forced wayward jumper.
Both teams played with adjusted rosters.
The Heat got Dragic back after he missed the previous three games with a bruised left knee sustained in the Jan. 17 road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I got hit in my quad in Milwaukee and in Brooklyn it was really sore,” Dragic said of the following game. “So all my swelling went to my knee. So that was the
main problem.”
The Heat remained without starting shooting guard Tyler Johnson for a fifth consecutive due to a sprained left ankle.
Initially injured during the Jan. 15 road loss to the Chicago Bulls, Johnson had initially been upgraded Wednesday from questionable to probable.
“I’d like to get him another couple of days,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Hopefully get a bunch of treatment and work out.
“Actually, he’s really progressing.”
The Heat again went with Derrick Jones Jr. as a starter in place of Johnson.
Jones is now down to eight days of NBA service time allowed on his two-way deal.
The Heat also were without veteran forward Udonis Haslem on Thursday night, for what Spoelstra said were personal reasons.
The Heat remained without guard Dion Waiters, who underwent Monday ankle surgery in Los Angeles, formally ruled out for the balance of the season by the team on Tuesday. The Heat are awaiting the NBA’s ruling on their request for a $5.5 million salary-cap exception for Waiters’ absence.
In addition, the Heat are without wing Rodney McGruder, who underwent preseason leg surgery, and forward Okaro White, who underwent early-season foot surgery.
The Kings, who have been limiting the time for their veterans to further develop their younger talent, this time sat out Vince Carter and George Hill, with veteran power forward Zach Randolph returning to their starting lineup.
The Kings closed within 8479 with just under four minutes to play.
Then with 2:43 to play, Whiteside was called for his fifth foul, on a Willie CauleyStein basket that drew the Kings within 84-81.
After Dragic was off on a 3point attempt, the Kings committed their 13th turnover.
But a Whiteside put-back of a missed Ellington 3-pointer made it an 86-81 lead, only to have Fox score on a drive to make it 86-83.
A Heat turnover then let the Kings to close within 86-65.
Dragic then got to the line with 1:19 left, putting the Heat up 88-85.
Randolph responded with a jump hook in the lane to draw the Kings within 88-87.
Fox then was off with a 16foot jumper, but Whiteside was called for an illegal screen with 21.9 seconds to play, fouling out.
It was shaky early and into the second half.
With the Kings moving to a 58-50 lead early in the third quarter, the largest of the game to that stage, Spoelstra pulled four starters, leaving only Josh Richardson on the floor, sending in Ellington, Kelly Olynyk, Bam Adebayo and Justise Winslow. That group then pushed the Heat into a 64-64 tie.
The teams went into halftime tied 47-47. Dragic (16) and Ellington (11) combined for 27 of the Heat’s points to that stage.
It was a sluggish start both ways, with the Kings taking a 19-17 lead into the second period, after the Heat shot 7 of 20 in the first quarter. Dragic, with nine points, offered the only offensive consistency for the Heat at the outset.
The game was the first of the two-game season series, with the Heat to play March 14 in Sacramento.