Spoelstra takes heat for late struggles

Dragic says he’s embracing opportunity with Nets

MIAMI — At 3-5 over their previous eight games, the notion entering Saturday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets at FTX Arena might have been that the Miami Heat had a score to settle.

Actually, the concern was about settling the scoring issues.

Entering Saturday, the Heat stood 24th in the NBA in offensive rating over their previous eight games, second to last in the league in fourth-quarter offensive rating only to the reeling Portland Trail Blazers.

“Offensively, we just have to be better,” coach Erik Spoelstra said in the wake of Friday night’s 111-103 loss to the visiting New York Knicks, when the Heat shot 5 of 18 in scoring 15 fourth-quarter points. “I’ve got to figure out how I can help and get us in more of a flow, more of a rhythm, play with a little bit more pace to be able to put some more points on the board.

“This is five out of seven games where we just haven’t scored the way we’re capable of. We will figure that out and get better at that.”

Although the knee injury that has limited Tyler Herro has been a factor, the Heat’s field-goal percentage in fourth quarters stood third worst in the league over their eight games entering Saturday, and their true shooting percentage second worst in those fourth quarters.

“I don’t know,” forward Jimmy Butler said when asked to address the shortcomings. “That’s for everybody to watch film and figure it out. But we do have to get better.

“I don’t think offense is that much of a problem. I think we’ve got to figure out a way to get stops going down the stretch. And whenever we get stops, we get to play in the open floor. Kyle [Lowry], Bam [Adebayo] and everybody else will find a way to put the ball into the basket.”

So perhaps as basic as making shots. “It’s easily fixable, and we have to go out and do that,” Butler said. “There ain’t nothing that Spo can draw up to help anybody with that. That’s on us as players.”

The Heat not only were outscored 38-15 in Friday night’s fourth quarter, but the 23-point deficit tied the fourth-largest negative such four-quarter margin in the franchise’s 34 seasons and was the largest since being outscored 39-12 in the fourth quarter on April 9, 2018 by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Friday’s loss was the first time this season the Heat lost after leading through three periods at home, with a 23-0 such record entering the night.

Dragic perspective

Former Heat guard Goran Dragic, now with the Nets, was among the least surprised about the dustup on the Heat bench on Wednesday night between Butler, Spoelstra and Heat captain Udonis Haslem.

“At the end of the day, everybody’s doing their job, nothing is personal,” Dragic said, with the Nets spending three nights in South Florida. “And I know Jimmy well. He’s such a competitive guy. He wants to be in every game. And Spo is the same way.

“So, in the end, when you have two — I would not call it egos, you know what I mean? — but they’re trying to do their job. And at the end of the day, it’s not the first time that happened. It happened in practice.”

As for his role with the Nets, Dragic said he is comfortable supporting Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and, perhaps, Ben Simmons, should Simmons return from the back issue that again had him out Saturday night.

“Talent-wise, you have Kyrie and KD, two of the best offensive players in this league. And then when Ben comes back, we get another multi-dimensional player who can defend, who can push the pace, and make plays for others,” Dragic said. “And we are just here to help.

“I think as long as we connect as a group and we have those two main guys, we will be OK.”

The time in Miami, Dragic said, was meaningful.

“This was my home for seven years,” he said. “I owe them a lot.”

Early trend

Butler went into Saturday having scored in double digits in the first quarter in five of the previous seven games, giving him 20 such games this season.

That made him the seventh player in the league with at least 20 double-digit opening periods this season, joining Devin Booker

(25), Karl-Anthony Towns (24), Luka Doncic

(23), Joel Embiid (23), Durant (22) and Trae Young (21).