Loss, inconsistency irk Spoelstra
Blowout at home comes just days after win over Wizards.
MIAMI — The Heat’s margin of error is small.
Without a superstar on the roster, they can’t afford to take a few minutes off in a game, and they definitely can’t afford to take a whole quarter off. Miami (7-9) learned that lesson again Sunday the hard way, as a poor third quarter led to an ugly 120-95 loss to the Pacers (9-8) at AmericanAirlines Arena.
This discouraging loss comes just two days after the Heat’s win over the Wizards — Miami’s first victory over a winning team. Inconsistency within games and inconsistency from game to game continues to plague the Heat.
“Look, I don’t have an answer to our unreliability right now,” an angry coach Erik Spoelstra said to start his postgame news conference. “We had our most inspiring effort — not perfect game — but inspiring effort in Washington, and then this is the other side of us. I don’t have an answer for it.
“One way or another, we’re going to get down to the bottom of it. Because that’s pretty much my comment right now; everything else I need to look at the film, assess, and find some solutions. I don’t have answers right now for why we give up 120 points and have uninspiring play. I don’t.”
The Heat led by as many as six points in the first half, but Indiana outscored Miami 32-13 in the third quarter to break the game open. The Pacers outscored the Heat 73-43 over the final 26:06 of the game.
Led by 26 points from Bojan Bogdanovic and 25 from Myles Turner, the Pacers shot 60 percent from the field.
When Spoelstra was asked if there was enough sustained effort from the Heat in the loss, he pointed to Indiana’s offensive numbers.
“They scored 120 points and shot 60 percent,” he answered. “That’s a rhetorical question with a rhetorical answer.”
Here are our five takeaways:
Third-quarter struggles: The Heat entered as the league’s sixth-worst third-quarter team, as they had been outscored by a combined total of 40 points in the period. That number got a lot worse Sunday, as the Pacers outscored the Heat 32-13 in the third quarter to take a 22-point lead into the fourth. Miami shot 6 of 19 (31.6 percent) from the field and committed six turnovers in the third quarter. The Pacers shot 14 of 22 (63.6 percent) from the field in the period.
Too many threes: The Heat are on pace to set a new franchise record for 3-pointers attempted in a season. Sunday was a perfect example why. Miami tied a season-high with 37 3-pointers attempted and made 13. Wayne Ellington led the charge, shooting 7 of 12 from long range off the bench. The 3-pointer is obviously a big part of the Heat’s offensive attack, but how much is too much? They also only shot 14 free throws. Aggressiveness is a big part of Miami’s drive-and-kick attack, and those numbers seem to represent a lack of aggressiveness in terms of getting shots closer to the rim.
“Coach talked to us. He said we needed to get in the paint more,” center Hassan Whiteside said. “You know, the last eight games, I don’t know, we just fell in love with threes or whatever it is. We need to get in the paint more. It helps with rebounding, too, so we can really punish people in the glass and get them guys in the paint. Because we’re an attacking team. We’re not a 3-point shooting team, barrage team, like Houston and the Warriors.”
Inefficient Dion: The Heat’s hope is that Dion Waiters becomes a more efficient player during the course of his four-year contract. But it’s been a struggle for Waiters recently. The Heat’s starting shooting guard finished scoreless on 0-of-10 shooting Sunday. He’s now averaging 14.1 points on 36.2 percent shooting over his past eight games. Miami needs the Waiters who averaged 18.4 points on 46.7 percent shooting during the 30-11 finish to last season.
Whiteside vs. Turner: We didn’t get to see the Whiteside vs. Myles Turner matchup at center when the Heat faced the Pacers in the second game of the season. Whiteside was out with a bone bruise in his left knee, and Turner was out with a concussion and sore neck. But Whiteside and Turner were available Sunday. Turner won the individual matchup with 25 points, seven rebounds, four assists and, most importantly, the win. Whiteside finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
What’s next? The Heat need some wins to stay around .500, but it’s not going to be easy. Next up for Miami is a matchup against the hot Boston Celtics (152) on Wednesday. The Heat will then hit the road for a four-game trip that begins with a contest against the talented Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. Three of the four games on the road trip come against winning teams: the Timberwolves, Cavaliers and Knicks.
“There is no answer,” Ellington said of the Heat’s inconsistency. “But we understand that it’s a problem that we have. The consistency, our effort and energy, that’s something we can control. We can’t control if shots are going to fall every night. But we can control if we come in here with the same effort every night and energy. I think sometimes we forget about that bad taste that we had in our mouth after last season. That’s something that we got to come here every night and remember.”