Tyler Herro #14 of the Miami Heat shoots the ball against Tari Eason #17, Reed Sheppard #15, and Jabari Smith Jr. #10 of the Houston Rockets during the second quarter of the game between the Miami Heat and the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on March 21, 2026 in Houston.
Kenneth Richmond
Getty Images
Five takeaways from the Heat’s heartbreaking 123-122 loss in Houston on Saturday night:
▪ Bam Adebayo was stupendous, but the Heat blew an 11-point fourth quarter lead and lost on an Amen Thompson tip in as time expired.
Adebayo produced the first 20 point/20 rebound game of his career, and he did it in only three quarters.
He went to the fourth with 23 points and 21 boards and finished with 32 points and 21 rebounds, marking another milestone after his 83-point game against Washington earlier this month.
This was only the fourth 20-rebound game of his career; the 21 boards tied a career high. But it wasn’t enough.
Trailing 102-91, Houston unleashed a 23-7 stampede, burying the Heat under a barrage of three-pointers.
But there was plenty more drama.
After the Heat closed to within 119-118, Reed Sheppard hit a running jumper with 12 seconds left, just before the shot clock expired. Instead of allowing the Heat to launch a potential game-tying three, the Rockets fouled Adebayo, and he hit two free throws with eight seconds to go.
Tari Eason’s inbounds pass was deflected; Davion Mitchell was credited with the steal. The ball ended up in the hands of Herro, who dished to Simone Fontecchio, who scored on a goaltending call to put Miami ahead 122-121 with 5.4 seconds left.
“It felt like that was the game deciding layup,” Erik Spoelstra said.
Alas, it was not.
After a Houston timeout, and after Kevin Durant missed a well-defended 17-foot pull up jumper against Adebayo with 2.5 seconds left, Thompson snuck past Kel’el Ware and tipped the ball in the basket to hand the Heat its fourth loss in a row. Replays showed the ball left Thompson’s hand with 0.3 seconds left; the NBA said the basket was scored with 0.2 seconds left and the call was upheld on replay.
“We missed a block out there at the end and Thompson made a heck of a play,” Spoelstra said.
This was a game of lopsided runs. The Heat trailed 32-29 after a quarter, a rare example of a team not leading despite going on a 23-3 first quarter run. The reason: Houston began the quarter with an 8-0 run and ended it with a 19-6 run.
Miami closed the third quarter on a 13-2 spurt to go to the fourth ahead 96-87. The lead grew to 11 before Houston erased all of that by scoring 15 in a row in an 18-3 avalanche that included two threes by Jabari Smith, two by Aaron Holiday and one by Sheppard.
After the Heat settled itself, Durant nailed two threes, the second of which moved him past Michael Jordan into fifth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Durant scored 27, Alperin Sengun had 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Amen Thompson had 24 points and 18 rebounds. Sheppard added 23 points and 14 assists.
Tyler Herro fueled a Heat third quarter rally with 14 points but he went scoreless in the fourth, missing four shots and finishing with 25 points. He shot 10 for 22 from the field and 2 for 9 on threes.
Miami got 17 points from Pelle Larsson and 21 from Fontecchio, who made five of nine threes. But the Heat’s bench mustered just 10 points — 8 from Myron Gardner and 2 from Du Smith.
The Heat (38-33) entered the night eighth in the East and ended the game ninth. At one point Saturday evening, the sixth through ninth seeds (Orlando, Atlanta, Miami and Philadelphia) all stood at 38-32.
“We’re going through a little bit of pain,” Spoelstra said of a four-game losing streak after a seven-game winning streak. “It’s going to make us better.”
▪ Adebayo was stupendous, but Ware wasn’t, and that led to Nikola Jovic being removed from mothballs.
Adebayo had a monster first half with 20 points (9 for 14 shooting) and 13 boards against a team that leads the league in rebounding. It marked only the second time this season and ninth time of his career that he produced a first-half double-double.
“It’s what I expect from me,” Adebayo said.
He closed 12 of 21 from the field, 6 of 8 on free throws and 2 for 4 on threes, while chipping in four assists and two steals. Spoelstra played him 45 minutes, the most he has ever played in a regular season game that didn’t go to overtime.
“He brought that competitive will tonight,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s why it was nearly impossible for me to take him out of the game. Competitive drive that screamed ‘follow me’.. He’s in tremendous shape right now.”
But there wasn’t much support from the Heat’s young bigs.
Making his first appearance since Feb. 20, Jovic entered to start the second quarter and was rusty, missing a layup, a three-pointer and another layup. And that was it for the night – four scoreless minutes after missing 13 games in a row, 11 because of a back injury and two as a healthy scratch.
Ware had 13 points and 15 boards in 29 minutes of the Heat’s win against Houston on Feb. 28 and played effectively with Adebayo for the final seven minutes of that game at Kaseya Center.
But the Heat was outscored 9-0 when Ware and Adebayo played alongside each other in the first half on Saturday. Ware played five scoreless first half minutes – with one rebound and two turnovers – and never played again until the final five seconds, when he permitted Thompson to get around him and tip in the game winner.
Overall, Miami was outscored by 15 in Ware’s five minutes of action.
▪ As usual, the Heat was short-handed.
Andrew Wiggins missed his eighth game in a row with a left big toe ailment, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. skipped his second straight because of hip tightness. Those absences were expected.
Not expected was Norman Powell’s calf injury that sidelined him.
The calf “tightened up on him this morning,” Spoelstra said. “He wasn’t able to loosen it up.”
This marked the 19th game that Powell missed this season, three due to the birth of his daughter and 16 due to injury, including seven recent games when he was sidelined with a groin strain.
The Heat had 11 available Saturday, factoring in the season-long absence of Terry Rozier (who’s facing federal charges) and the absence of the team’s three two-way contract players, who are on G-League assignment.
Spoelstra used a starting lineup of Adebayo, Larsson, Fontecchio, Herro and Mitchell for the second time; that group also opened Thursday’s loss to the Lakers. The Heat has used 25 different starting quintets in 71 games.
▪ On a night the Heat did a lot well, Miami’s defense was sharp at times but not sharp enough.
Miami entered having allowed 130 points per game in its three consecutive losses against Orlando, Charlotte and the Lakers.
“Our defense for the season is top four, top five, but against these playoff teams, it drops out of the top 15,” Spoelstra said Saturday morning. “We have to bank on our defense. Most importantly, as competitors, we need to do it against the better teams….We have to produce in these kinds of games.”
The Heat’s zone disrupted Houston at times but Miami couldn’t replicate the success from its Feb. 28 game, when the Rockets missed 17 three-pointers in a row against the Heat zone.
Houston drained seven threes in that decisive fourth-quarter run; a couple of them were tightly defended but Rockets shooters had too much airspace on others.
The schedule gets no easier, with a home game Monday against the Spurs and road games Wednesday and Friday in Cleveland.
“Obviously, this hurts,” Fontecchio said of Saturday’s outcome.
▪ Durant passed Jordan for fifth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list on a night that Miami got little from the two players it declined to trade for Durant last summer.
Durant, who entered 25 points short of Jordan’s point total, surpassed that with a three-pointer with 3:35 left.
As we noted in this piece earlier today, the Suns wanted Ware in Durant trade talks last summer, but the Heat declined.
Miami also declined to offer Jovic, though there’s no indication that his inclusion would have satisfied Phoenix. Nevertheless, because of Durant’s age (36), that was a decision that Miami will not regret if it can parlay Ware into a younger star.
Spoelstra’s pre-game media session at Toyota Center was dominated by questions about Durant.
“I root for him always, Spoelstra said. “He’s timeless. Credit to his work and skill level. He’s maybe not as athletic and explosive as he was younger, but he doesn’t need to be. He could be 60 years old and get 25 in an NBA game. He shoots 50 percent on jump shots every year. I don’t know if anyone realizes how difficult that is to do.
“He’s very underrated off the dribble, his handle, his spots. He’s a highly underrated passer. You can’t copy what he does. The skill level he has is insanely unique for somebody his size.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2026 at 10:32 PM.
Miami Herald
Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.