130-116 loss to the shorthanded Cavaliers<\/a>, when it got worse.<\/p>\nThis time two points on 1-of-6 shooting, four turnovers, and something bordering between languid and listless.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost as if coach Erik Spoelstra saw it coming.<\/p>\n
Actually, he did.<\/p>\n
Asked pregame about Jovic\u2019s uneven season, when there has been little outside of the 29-point performance against the Trail Blazers and a 20-point outing earlier against the Memphis Grizzlies, Spoelstra did not hold back.<\/p>\n
It was as if a message was being sent.<\/p>\n
Asked if the Heat\u2019s high-octane, read-and-react offense perhaps had Jovic off his game, Spoelstra used the question as a takeoff point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not why. Let\u2019s not do that,\u201d he said, with Jovic now eight times this season scoring in single digits in a system seemingly designed to bring out the strengths in the 2022 first-round pick out of Serbia. \u201cNo. It\u2019s about an intention, a maturity, a professionalism all the time. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve always been on him about.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about his confidence. We bump him with confidence. But that\u2019s what it is for young players. It\u2019s not the new offense. That\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Spoelstra turned to the Heat\u2019s culture, without specifically mentioning the culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he plays with a force of will and an intention, it\u2019s always starting with him, and an approach every day, to approach a practice day and a shootaround and a film session like it\u2019s really important,\u201d Spoelstra continued. \u201cHe\u2019s made improvements with that. It\u2019s still not where it needs to be, because he\u2019s young and doesn\u2019t see that it\u2019s always important. But he\u2019s getting there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then it\u2019s a matter of consistency. But you can see the possibilities when he has that intention and things are important to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The consistency clearly has been lacking, the shooting wildly erratic from game to game, as have been the turnovers, with it all coming in the wake of the Heat last month signing Jovic to four-year, $62.4 million extension that kicks in next season.<\/p>\n
So when asked about Jovic\u2019s pinpoint sideline inbounds pass to Andrew Wiggins for Monday night\u2019s dramatic game-winning dunk, Spoelstra pointed to the possibilities. And then, a game later, four turnovers against the same opponent, Jovic, 22, essentially playing himself off the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has the size, he has the vision. He can deliver passes,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cHe has this laissez faire, \u2018Oh whatever.\u2019 Well, that\u2019s where sometimes it\u2019s frustrated his head coach at a shootaround as if he\u2019s like going through the motions. But it\u2019s that mentality that also gives him that fearlessness to make plays in the clutch, because he\u2019s not afraid of making the play.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he\u2019s got all of those gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then there are nights such as Wednesday, when there also are all those gaffes.<\/p>\n
Not that he stood alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have our normal energy,\u201d Spoelstra said of the Heat\u2019s first home loss of the season. \u201cThere were pockets of the game where you saw the energy. But it was really more of a grind to get the running out in transition, the cuts, the swings, the catch-and-go drives, everything was just a little bit late.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be a lesson not for this weekend, having that maturity to be on edge, to really treat it with the same urgency as the other night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up next are the New York Knicks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in an NBA Cup game, the first of consecutive games against the Knicks. The teams then also meet Monday night at Kaseya Center.<\/p>\n
On a night that began with Spoelstra focusing on Jovic, it ended with Spoelstra focusing on a team that fouled too often and committed too many turnovers, a message sent to more than a single player.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you don\u2019t take care of the game when you can in those areas,\u201d Spoelstra said, \u201cthen it\u2019s tough to get it back sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 As he sat at the postgame media session on Saturday night, Heat forward Nikola Jovic was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-46002","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-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46002","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=46002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}