South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Heat stumble to sixth straight loss
All the perspective needed about the hole the Miami Heat dug for themselves in the first half Friday night is this: Erik Spoelstra’s team went on a 16-2 run in the third period — and still trailed by 13 going into the fourth.
And then went on a 17-3 fourth-quarter surge. And still lost.
Such is reality of an early
30-point deficit.
Such also is the reality of the energy required, and ultimately lacking, to complete such a comeback.
And so make it six consecutive losses for the Heat, their longest slide of the season, after falling
110-105 to the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center.
“The same thing that always happens, not taking anything away from the opposing teams: not guarding, turning the ball over, fouling and definitely not making shots on the other end hurts us,” Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. “Same story, different day, I guess.”
For most of the night, the Heat looked like a team in need of a makeover, unable to keep up with the 32 points of Malik Monk and
26 of Terry Rozier, as the Hornets matched last season’s win total even while playing in the absence of sidelined prized rookie LaMelo Ball.
Fortunately, that Heat makeover is imminent, with Victor Oladipo and Nemanja Bjelica, the Heat’s primary additions at Thursday’s NBA trading deadline, expected to join the team ahead of Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the second stop of this three-game trip.
With Goran Dragic still away from the team due to back spasms, and starting guard Kendrick Nunn lost for the night with an ankle sprain in the second quarter, not even the return of Butler was enough to stop the Heat’s slide.
Butler, who missed Thursday night’s home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers with a stomach illness, led the Heat with 20 points and nine assists, supported by 20 points from Duncan Robinson and 17 from Bam Adebayo. Ultimately, it was not enough to
overcome 10 missed Heat free throws, on an 10-of-20 night from the line.
“We’re going to be fine,” Butler said. “We’ve just got to play a little bit harder, a lot of bit harder, I should say. Be a lot of bit smarter. You know, winning streak just starts with a single game.”
Three Degrees of Heat from Friday’s game:
1. Closing time: The Heat got within 92-79 at the end of the third period, not having been that close since the closing seconds of the opening period.
The Heat then got within
105-100 with 1:09 left on three consecutive Adebayo layups.
“At times like that,” Adebayo said, “you got to put your head down. My teammates were finding me and just making plays.”
From there, a Rozier jumper put Charlotte up 107-100 with 43.1 seconds to play, with a Robinson
3-pointer cutting the Heat deficit to 107-103 with 28.7 seconds left.
The Heat then were late in fouling, leaving only 6.6 seconds left when a Tyler Herro layup got the Heat within 108-105.
“We were trying to get a clean trap and they got out of the trap,” Spoelstra said of the costly delay in fouling. “We just did not catch up from there.”
A loose-ball scramble and fight for possession followed with 2.7 seconds left on the Hornets’ ensuing possession. After replay, the Hornets were awarded possession, effectively ending it.
With the loss the Heat fell to No. 8 in the East, tied in the loss column for 10th.
2. Nunn lost: The Heat lost Nunn for the night with 3:13 left in the second period. Nunn was
leading the Heat in scoring at that stage, with 10 points, at 2 of 3 on
3-pointers.
Nunn landed awkwardly while defending a successful 3-pointer by Monk, briefly remaining in the game before heading to the locker room.
“Just left my feet too fast and came down on my ankle, twisted it,” Nunn said. “I got up and tried to push through it and tried to run, but it was pretty painful. So I couldn’t.
“I took X-rays it was negative, just a Grade 1, typical ankle sprain. It’s not too bad. It’s just day to day right now.”
Gabe Vincent started the second half in place of Nunn.
“For him to have to come out of the game,” Spoelstra said of Nunn, “and go to the locker room, you knew it more than just jammed.”
3. Another one: Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, it was Portland’s CJ McCollum scoring
29 points in the first half. This time, it was Monk who was up to 24 points by halftime, in just 13:19 of action. Monk closed the first half 5 of 7 on 3-pointers.
Monk’s 24 points were the second most by a Hornets reserve in a half, to Adam Morrison’s 26 in the second half against Minnesota in February 2007.
For Heat and Monk, it was nothing new, with Monk scoring a career-high 36 in the teams’ first meeting, a Hornets overtime road victory on Feb. 1.
“I think Bam said a little something to me and, yeah, I was locked in from the get-go,” Monk said of his former Kentucky teammate. “I think he said something in the game in Miami, too. So I just locked into another zone.”