Little things add up in Heat loss
HOUSTON — With small ball the order of the night, scoring in triplicate turned out to be the difference Tuesday night, as the Miami Heat’s four-game winning streak came to an end with a 115-102 loss to theHouston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
“You usually get what you deserve in this league,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We didn’t do enough.”
With Heat center Hassan Whiteside missing his sixth consecutive game with what the Heat are calling a strained left hip, and with Rockets center Dwight Howard serving a one-game suspension for contact with a referee in Houston’s previous game, the little things made a big difference.
Like the Rockets’ ability to score over the top. And the Heat’s inability to do the same.
With the Heat forced to match down to a Rockets lineup that opened with Josh Smith at center, perimeter play proved essential.
“We’re not going to win allowing 115 points,” Heat forward Chris Bosh said, as the Rockets reached the highest scoring total against the Heat this season. “That’s not our style.”
No player was more effective on the perimeter that Houston guard James Harden, who closed with 26 points and a careerhigh14 assists, as the Rockets snapped a threegame losing streak.
But it was the over-thetop efforts that allowed the Rockets to produce many of the game’s biggest moments, with Houston closing 16 of 35 on 3-pointers to 6 of 17 for theHeat.
“They had the game they wanted,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said, “get out in transition and shoot threes.”
Particularly potent from deep for the Rockets was guard Marcus Thornton, who shot 4 of 7 on 3-pointers, guard Patrick Beverley, whowas 3 of 4 on 3-pointers, as well as Smith, who closed with a season-high 19 points, including 3 of 5 on 3-poointers.
“When a team like that gets confidence, it’s tough to stop them,” Wade said.
With the Heat lacking from distance, it allowed the Rockets to pack the paint and limit the Heat’s driving lanes. Bosh, in particular, drew a series of double- and triple-teams, closing 3 of11fromthe field.
“They made me feel like a first date or something,” Bosh said of the embrace he received from the Rockets’ defense. “It was quite unique.”
The Heat again found balance with their offense, but lacked a dominant contribution to put up against Harden’s.
Luol Dengclosed with17 points for the Heat, Wade with 16, Amar’e Stoudemire and Goran Dragic with 14 apiece, and Bosh with13.
“I thought they sped us up with their small-ball lineups,” Wade said. “We just weren’t mentally sharp.”
Bosh said he is glad the Heat’s three-game trip continues immediately with a Wednesday game against the Dallas Mavericks.
“We knowwe’re a better team than we played tonight,” he said. “I’m not going to overreact.”
The Rockets pushed to a 14-point lead in the third period and then opened the fourth quarter with six straight points for a 93-80 advantage.
Houston took an 87-80 lead into the fourth quarter, shooting 13 of 29 in 3-pointers over the first three periods.
The Heat had 15 turnovers over the first 36 minutes, which led to 19 Rockets points, and closed with 17.
With Harden already with 17 points and eight assists, Houston pushed to a 60-55 halftime lead.
Awild first period ended in a 31-31 tie, after theRockets opened with a 7-0 lead and the Heat then scored thenext15points. Thatwas two points shy of theHeat’s longest streak of the season, which came in their push back from a 19-point deficit to a 20-point victory in the teams’ previous meeting, aHeat victory.
Johnson update
Spoelstra said that Tyler Johnson never gave in to his shoulder discomfort, he simply ran out of time to keep fighting it.
A day after the team announced that the secondyear reserve guard would undergo Wednesday rotator cuff surgery at Doctors Hospital by Heat team physician Harlan Se les nick, Spoelstra said it became the only logical option.
Johnson aggravated the issue with his left shoulder in December and then in January, an impingement he has been dealing with since playing as Fresno State.
“He took it as far as a human being could possibly take it,” Spoelstra said. “And he’s been dealing with his shoulder for a long time, even since college. But last year, this summer, we’ve tried every solution other than surgery. We pushed everything as far as you possibly could.”
Andersen travels
Chris Andersen is traveling for the Heat, not because he is closer to returning from the 10 games he has missed, including Tuesday’s, with a sore left knee, but because it delivered him to his native Texas . . .
Former Heat assistant coach Dan Craig, who now is coaching theHeat’sNBA Development League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, has been named DLeague Coach of the Month for January, after previously receiving the award for December. The Skyforce went 9-2 in January, winning the D-League Showcase.