136-111 loss<\/a> to the San Antonio Spurs at Kaseya Center.<\/p>\nEven with Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. back from the injury list, there still was not enough against Victor Wembanyama and a legitimate championship contender that now has won 21 of its past 23.<\/p>\n
While the defense continued to lack when needed most, it\u2019s not as if there otherwise would have been an answer for 7-foot-5 Spurs freak of nature Victor Wembanyama, who closed with 26 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.<\/p>\n
That challenge took a toll on Heat center Bam Adebayo, whose run of 20-point outings came to a close with 18 points.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, for the Heat it was 21 points from Powell, 18 from Tyler Herro and simply not enough to draw from elsewhere on the roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to figure it out because it\u2019s not going to be easy,\u201d Adebayo said. \u201cWe have to dig deep because we only got 10 games left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wembanyama was supported by 19 points from Stephon Castle, as solid contributions from the Spurs\u2019 other recent lottery riches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean you have all these opportunities when you\u2019re tested in this league, collectively. And we\u2019re being tested right now,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cWe\u2019re not the only team being tested. It feels uncomfortable, there\u2019s no doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night\u2019s game:<\/p>\n
1. Game flow: The Spurs led 38-31 after the first quarter, outscoring the Heat 10-0 in the period on second-chance points.<\/p>\n
The Heat then went down 18 early in the second period, standing with that deficit at 76-58 at halftime.<\/p>\n
From there, the deficit reached 30 in a third quarter that ended with the Spurs up 108-81.<\/p>\n
That effectively left it as a fourth quarter of nothing by mop-up time, with both benches emptied.<\/p>\n
Spoelstra was most disheartened by the defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the most disappointing thing right now,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd these are the moments of truth right now, where it needs to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. All present: So make it a 3-3 record this season in games that all Heat players on standard contract (other than Terry Rozier, who is on NBA leave) were available.<\/p>\n
With Powell, Wiggins and Jaquez back, Spoelstra opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Herro, Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Davion Mitchell, now 3-3 with that lineup.<\/p>\n
That had Powell playing off the bench for the third time in his past four appearances, his lone appearances as a reserve as a member of the Heat.<\/p>\n
Powell exited more concerned about the losses than the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the going gets tough, we let go of the rope,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what happens when we have losses like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiggins closed with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting, with Jaquez finishing with eight points.<\/p>\n
Powell said the rhythm will have to be re-created on the fly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to take us being locked in the in-between days, (working on our stuff, finding that rhythm,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s been the biggest issue with guys in and out of the lineup, myself included, just trying to find a rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herro tried to put the best face on the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ve got a good problem, it\u2019s a good problem to have,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re healthy now, we just gotta get back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. Boiling point: Spoelstra was called for his first technical foul of the season with 11:35 left in the second period and Heat down 38-31.<\/p>\n
Spoelstra sprinted down the sideline after he and Powell believed Powell was fouled on the preceding possession, with referee Marc Davis then signaling the technical.<\/p>\n
Spoelstra continued to express his dissatisfaction with Davis during the ensuing timeout, with Powell joining in that tempered discussion.<\/p>\n
As a matter of perspective, Detroit\u2019s J.B. Bickerstaff entered the week leading all coaches with 10 technical fouls, with 18 coaches with at least four and 27 head coaches with at least one.<\/p>\n
The stress for the Heat is proving tangible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have any room for error,\u201d Powell said, \u201cwith these last 10 games.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. Streak ends: Pulled late in the third period, Adebayo saw his career-best streak of 20-point games end at 11.<\/p>\n
He closed 5 of 17 from the field, including 2 of 10 3-pointers, Still it was the sixth time in the past seven games he has coveted multiple 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
Despite playing major minutes over the past week, Adebayo at one point in the first half turned to Spoelstra seemingly displeased with being subbed out.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe and I were barking at each other,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I love him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reality is there wasn\u2019t much in reserve in the middle, with it another struggle for Kel\u2019el Ware.<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re just burying ourselves in the hole if we don\u2019t figure it out sooner than later,\u201d Adebayo said of the overall struggles.<\/p>\n
5. Wemby time: While the 3-point stroke wasn\u2019t there on a night he shot 1 of 7 from beyond the arc, Wembanyama was 10 of 15 on his 2-points shots, adding four assists, needed for only 26 minutes.<\/p>\n
For the Heat, though, it was about looking inward.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one knows who\u2019s gonna come out on top, but we want that to be us,\u201d Wiggins said, \u201cand we\u2019re gonna work towards it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Whole, and still not wholly good enough. With a fully healthy roster for only the sixth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3607,4852,3080,82,84,83,154],"class_list":["post-218139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-nba","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}