Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night\u2019s 123-122 loss to the Houston Rockets:<\/p>\n
\u2013 At one point, as the Heat played on during the third period, the Heat, Magic, Hawks and 76ers all stood at 38-22.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Showing how important every game will be the rest of the way in this playoff\/play-in race.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Which is why this one mattered so much for Erik Spoelstra\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
\u2013 And why there can be no time for self-pity when it comes to injury absences.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With the Heat playing this one in the void of Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Jaime Jaquez Jr.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Because no one in May wants to again hear Pat Riley again say, \u201cIf only we were healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 And then, crushed at the buzzer.<\/p>\n
\u2013 So, now, ninth place in the East.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With a real chance of No. 10 within days.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Considering the Spurs are up next, on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Of Saturday night\u2019s final play, a rebound from Kel\u2019el Ware, and it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Yes, boxing out matters.<\/p>\n
\u2013 But even a hand on the ball and a different outcome.<\/p>\n
\u2013 So, gut punch.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Seven consecutive wins.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Now followed by four consecutive losses.<\/p>\n
\u2013 To his credit, Bam Adebayo has stepped up as a captain should in these moments.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Dominant on the glass in this one.<\/p>\n
\u2013 And carrying the scoring load even while playing in foul trouble.<\/p>\n
\u2013 As Tyler Herro again showed that he\u2019s perhaps better in Powell\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Which is becoming an increasing reality.<\/p>\n
\u2013 As shown during the recent seven-game winning streak, when Powell also was out.<\/p>\n
\u2013 And so, with all the changes since they first paired in 2019-20, still Adebayo and Herro after all these years.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Based on the two matchups, Heat-Rockets would make a heck of a playoff series.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Alas, still looking like desperation for the Heat when it comes to the play-in.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With Powell, Wiggins and Jaquez out due to injuries, the Heat opened with: Adebayo, Herro, Pelle Larsson, Davion Mitchell and .Simone Fontecchio.<\/p>\n
\u2013 That lineup is now 0-2.<\/p>\n
\u2013 The Rockets opened with Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr and Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u015eeng\u00fcn had been questionable earlier in the day due to back tightness.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Ware and Myron Gardner entered together first off the Heat bench.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Dru Smith followed.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With Kasparas Jakucionis making it nine deep for the Heat.<\/p>\n
\u2013 And then a token appearance by Nikola Jovic.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With Ware so off his game that it became Adebayo or bust in the middle.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Anything from Ware and likely a W.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Instead, double zeroes from the second-year big man.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Herro\u2019s first free throw was the 1,000th of his career.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With his 11th point., Fontecchio reached 2,000 for his NBA\u00a0 career.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Ahead of the game, Herro questioned those who have questioned the Heat\u2019s late-game offense.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u201cWe know where the ball\u2019s going,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a new offensive, new year for us, everything\u2019s new. But as we continue to get fully healthy, we\u2019ll work through some things. But we know where the ball\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 As this one showed with Adebayo and Herro.<\/p>\n
\u2013 After watching what Luka Doncic did against them Thursday, Mitchell said deciding on leading men matters.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u201cI feel like a lot of teams when they know their main guys are going, it gives them confidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2013 They did.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Until Amen Thompson offered an alternate reality with his game-winning putback just before the buzzer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night\u2019s 123-122 loss to the Houston Rockets: \u2013 At one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,16151,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-201038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-heat-blog","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}