The Miami Heat lost a close game against the NBA’s top team this season in the Minnesota Timberwolves, 112-108. The Heat dropped to 15-12 on the season as the Timberwolves improved to a dominant 20-5.
Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo both didn’t show a single sign of rust and provided some great performances fresh off injury, but it wasn’t enough.
Herro finished with 25 PTS and 3 RBS on 10/18 shooting along with a pair of steals.
Adebayo finished with 22 PTS, 6 RBS and 6 ASTS.
Those two lead the charge tonight, and both came out hot to start the game. Herro had 17 first-half points and led both teams in scoring at halftime. He was making great decisions offensively and provided some of that elite playmaking that Heat fans are so accustomed to seeing from the young guard.
It was a great sign to see him still well-conditioned and pick up right where he left off prior to that ankle injury that kept him out a month and a half.
Adebayo played well too, and provided some highlight-worthy dunks throughout the game. However, 7 footer and multi-time defensive player of the year winner Rudy Gobert was giving him problems.
Gobert was quiet offensively with just 9 PTS on 3/8 shooting, but still made a serious impact for the Timberwolves with the defense on Adebayo and rebounding. He finished with a monstrous 16 rebounds.
Along with Minnesota having the best overall team record in the NBA this season, they also have the best overall defense in the NBA. Gobert is the anchor to that defense.
His length and shot-blocking ability made it difficult for Adebayo to get to his spots in the paint, especially in that 4th quarter.
Jimmy Butler started aggressive offensively but cooled down significantly, finishing with a quiet statline of just 15/5/5.
Duncan Robinson and Josh Richardson were both sharp off the bench, finishing with 14 and 13 PTS respectively. They were a combined 6/12 from 3 point range and both hit some huge triples in the 4th.
The Heat were up big during that first half and at one point led by 17 points, just for them to have yet another second half collapse.
Miami allowed Minnesota to get back into the game relatively fast following half, and the 4th quarter woes specifically were yet another rough spot for the Heat.
Anthony Edwards proved once again that he is a superstar in this league, leading all scorers for the game with a 32 point explosion. He did struggle from 3 shooting just 2/9 from the distance but he shot 13/25 overall.
More importantly, he was able to finish off Miami and close them out, hitting tough shot after tough shot with strong defense draped all over him.
This league is in great hands with young stars like Edwards.
Both teams were almost identical in FG%, 3P% and FT%, but the Timberwolves won the rebound battle 46-38. They also had 9 blocks as a team compared to Miami’s 4.
The Heat will now get ready to face another good young team in the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
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it.
No Jimmy, no KLove vs Magic
Most fans says it’s okay because Bam and Tyler just came back from injuries. But I think the Heat needs a trade or two.
Hindi na init? Baha na? 😁 Take care bro
This is alien talk.
Most here agree with that
not me. I like this squad. Very few guys I would want to see traded, unless its for someone like Dame or Donovan Mitchell. Maybe add Ricky Rubio via buyout
We disagree on what position though. Heat needs some size to protect the paint and shoot. I understand it’s a tough call.
If I was a free agent PG approached by the Heat, My question for Heat will be: “I will bring 25 to 30 points at each game, what are you going to do to protect a double digit lead by the Heat, because asking me to score 30+ points at each game is not a sustainable and attractive proposition?
i will promise at the end of games i will stop playing ty and uncan. i have been told by hfl of hhh that defense wins championships.if the other team cant score hfl has told me our odds of winning go up quite a bit.also hfl of hhh has told me to get a taller body with bam so we can get more rebounds and block more shots which hfl says will help us win fairy god pt guard.so fairy god pt guard if u hold your end of the bargain i promise to listen to hfl of hhh and his advisor realitzy czech and we shall win alot more games.so we will start implementing this as soon as u arrive ja ok. ok coach spo.
If I was the Heat I would say “we’ve made the Conference Finals three times in the past four years, the NBA Finals twice in the past four years, and have made the Finals 7 times and won 3 titles in the past twenty years. How much success have you had?”
Oregoner,
You are missing the point. You are not getting me to repeat your accomplishments for the past 4 years. You did that without me. You are getting me to surpass your accomplishments in the past 4 years, i.e win it all. And I am telling you that the reason you are where you are , i.e, getting to the finals but not winning it all, is because you can not hold tight to your leads. So what are you doing about that?
I get your point.
But unless the free agent you’re talking about is named Steph or LeBron, they don’t have the resumé to tell the Heat that they’re not doing enough. Donovan Mitchell or Zach LaVine aren’t about to tell the Heat they’re not good enough, those guys have never even been to the Conference Finals.
Do I agree with you that the Heat need to figure out why the keep blowing leads? Absolutely. But do I think some mythical free agent can come in here and tell the Heat what to do? Hell no. LeBron tried that and the Heat told him to shut up and play basketball. That resulted in the best 4-year stretch of his career.
I saw 3 trade proposals for Donovan Mitchell. All 3 included Jaquez (plus other players and 2-3 draft picks). If that’s anyone’s idea of mortgaging the future to win now – no thanks.
No thanks. I dont like Mitchell. To many times he failed when things gets tricky.
I can’t predict the future. But I can tell you the Heat are not trading Jamie anytime soon
Bingo! Glad you finally see it.To your point about LeBron, in one of my earlier posts I said the Heat needs a coach/player on the floor and only 3 players in today’s nba meet those criteria, IMHO. LeBron,Kawhi and Warriors Green , not even Stephen or Durant meets the criteria though they are excellent players. But that is a discussion for another day. Unfortunately, none of these guys are available and if they are, I doubt they will come to the Heat.
Point #2, If you think a star player going to any team does not care about the direction of an organization, that is a myth.The only player who does not care about what is happening to a team is a player so desperate to be on any team whatever at any cost, so he can earn money and pay his bills. I know that for a fact because I interact with quite a few of them.Food for thought, ever wandered why the Heat missed on those big names splashed around during free agency?
Daryl Morey can sell you the brightest future in the NBA. He’s been a GM since 2007. Since then, the Heat have made the Finals Six times and won Two Titles. Daryl Morey has never once been to the NBA Finals.
So with all due respect to these supposed wonderful free agents out there, who gives a shit. Since adding Jimmy Butler, the Heat struck out on Durant and Kyrie and Harden and Mitchell and Dame Lillard. Guess how many times those guys have made the CONFERENCE FINALS since then? LITERALLY ZERO. The Heat have made the Finals twice and the Conference Finals three times.
Trust me, there’s not a single free agent in the NBA that will question whether the Heat can win. They Heat just gotta find the right guy at the right time. Until then, they’re still beating all those guys.
.Food for thought, ever wandered why the Heat missed on some of hose big names splashed around during free agency? Some organizations welcome it and others don’t and I perfectly understand why the Heat don’t tolerate it. Not just with LeBron,but Shaq fell off with Pat Riley for the same reason?.
It is very assuming to say LeBon had his best years of his career here in the Heat 2/4, arguably and more convincing the Heat had their most accomplishments with LeBron’s heat tenure, 4 straight NBA Finalist in 35 years of the Heat’s history and winning two of those finals for the Heat. That is what legendary stars do, not any star.Shout out to LeBron no matter what the controversy around him is. No one can take it away from him. It is cemented in Heat’s history for ever.
We played the best we could of against the best D in the league, but Antman was just too clutch. Also it’s encouraging that we almost beat them with Jimmy playing bad. He was missing ft’s, wasn’t efficient, and took a bad shot at the end of the game. This is likely Mr. Butler’s last year as a top scoring option. Also I’ve noticed lately that he doesn’t play good against the wolves like his last 2 or 3 seasons. Finally we gotta stop with 4th quarter blown leads. 4th quarter shouldn’t be our worst quarter, especially since last year we was better in a 4th quarter scoring. Spo gotta figure this out.
We had a great first half. A very strong Minnesota team adjusted but Heat was there til the end. Spo and co will learn from this heaving a deep lineup and everyone available except Kyle, the challenge of mixing it up who’s hot, matchups, who’s working well together..its early and hope Heat find its stride. Or find its additional player. Next up, our next door neighbor. An up and coming young Magic team.
Gotta be honest, I’m getting tired of watching the Heat play three quarters of good basketball only to blow a double digit lead in the fourth quarter. If we count the games they lost and the games they almost lost but held on, I’m willing to bet the Heat have blown at least ten double-digit second half leads. Last night they showed a stat that the Heat are one of the bottom-5 teams in the NBA in almost every 4th quarter stat. Spo needs to figure out what he’s doing wrong with the rotation and switch thing up.
Personally, I think it’s that he’s constantly running 3-guard lineups in the 4th quarter. Last night he closed the game with Tyler, Duncan, J-Rich, Jimmy, and Bam. No Jamie, no Caleb. I like J-Rich, and he’s playing a lot better after a rocky start, but there’s no reason he should be in the closing lineup trying to guard the Ant Man in the 4th quarter. And there’s no reason Bam and Jimmy should be the two biggest players trying to get rebounds against Gobert and Townes.
But even if it’s not the three guard lineup that’s the problem, clearly this team needs to do SOMETHING different. They’re playing too well to keep losing these games.
bams the tallest guy with any skills.fault of the make up of team.jjj is our 3rd best player he needs to close fault of coach use of personnel.caleb should close or hh just to get some stops.dunc and ty closing is stupid they get attacked on d cant guard.improved yes very bad defenders still
I don’t mind playing Tyler and Duncan together, but doing it at the end of the game seems risky, and doing it with J-Rich as the 3rd guard and Jimmy at Power Forward seems like a suicide mission
how can a top 15 coach send that lineup out versus 2 7 footers at closing time not the first time use of personnel has been questioned .after watching jokic just tower over bam u think the org would have done something about that,u can not win an nba champ with bam at c.
I don’t know why Spo does it. They only play the 3-guard lineup in the Fourth Quarter, and they are one of the worst fourth quarter teams in the league
There was a point where gobert snatched a rebound over the back from bam at a pivotal moment, also love was our top rebounder that game. so I agree we needed more size. Also I agree with not playing 3 guard closing lineups , but jrich played good enough to close, he made a couple clutch shots, but I agree he should of played someone bigger either caleb or HH , to guard Edwards. The Antman was going off and that killed us.
I have always said size is the Heat’s problem and not a pg. The Jokics, the Portzingis, the Lopezes, the Davies, and now add Gobert will also be mismatches for the Heat.
Yes I’ve always felt the same way, but spo loves small, unless it’s a big that can shoot the 3 like Kelly o, or Meyers. I’d rather a shot blocker/paint protecting big that can shoot 3s, so bam can roam more.
Spo has three forwards that can shoot the 3 (Love, Caleb, and JJJ) and didn’t play any of them in the 4th quarter
That was one mistake. The other was inexplicably waiting until there was 4:51 to go before reinserting Butler.
good call. It seems like Jimmy hasn’t been the ‘closer’ that the Heat need this season (the game-winner against the Bulls being the exception). Maybe Spo needs to tweak his rotation so we get more Jimmy time in the 4th quarter
Yes that too, he sometimes rides with certain players too long, he should of put Jimmy In around the 7 minute mark like he normally does.
I just hope that Spo and Antman have built up a solid relationship where Antman has started thinking about life as a Heat player.
That kid has game
his handle off the chart,his athleticism off the chart,his shot can be erratic but hes the closest thing to d wade ive seen
A core of antman, bam , and jjj would be lethal
gobert towns antman lethal with conley and reid might be good enough to take down the joker
Yes it is and they beaten them already I think. That’s what happens when you suck for years, you get great top lottery picks like ant, and Kat. Also they had they made that risky trade to get gobert, and it looks like the trade payed off. Also they got a vet pg who is as old as lowry in conley.
Do we need a point guard?
Yes, we do.
With Lowry playing we would win this one.
We definitely do need a point guard but Lowry isn’t that great either and this loss cannot be attributed to just his absence. This one hurts because everyone played as well as they could. But, lessons can be learned if we are honest enough to address them. The conclusion is clearly we do not have enough to beat the better teams. We need to mortgage the future a little on Jimmy’s last good year. One of the two we should trade is Duncan or Ty. Add draft choices and any other sweetener needed to get an A- player. But, do not hurt us while helping us, no trading of JRich, Caleb, JJJ, Jimmy, or Bam.
teams dont like one way players to much 30
The key to play against teams like Wolves is ball distribution. Wolves are big, and you can beat them with good ball distribution. It was obvious list night, that that was the problem. Too much ISO cost us a game.
Lowry would help with that. 2-3 possessions would turned the game.
fair point dunc jaime jim bam caleb are all good passers they move the ball.problem for me was lack of height and lack of d on ant and .lack of a take over guy at the end.jimmy is not that guy anymore.father time gets us all.if theres 5 secs left down by 1 i want the ball in herros hand
I thought love should of been subbed I’m sooner because I agree we needed the height cuz gobert and towns was getting pivotal rebs for 2nd chance scoring.
Yep. I agree with that. Wolves rely heavily on interior D with Gobert and Heat missed some open threes w/c Minny dared them to take. I think that’s the reason Dunc and Ty was left in the end game. But what really sucks is losing that big lead in the first half that irritates most of us here.
I remember when Gobert was in Utah. They played Dallas several games. Luka played a lot of ISO on Gobert and absolutely tortured him on perimeter. But you need an elite player to do so, with good outside shot , able to assist in case of double team and fast enough to go by him in case of going to the rim. Tyler did it once or twice.
ru his agent?
Nah, I m with Goran. Just watching Jerry Mcguirre to learn a trick or two.
Its all in heart, you know 🙂
Missed opportunity. But still several chances in this stretch of upcoming games to prove something. Wolves playing great this time of the season with Edwards leading. Great to see Bam and Ty back in action. A few more games, hopefully wins, and this Heat team will come together nicely and do their thing. Or Pat will make that move 😉
Good effort. Very encouraging. TWolves are a very good defensive team and very hard to score on inside. A lot of forced shots against tough interior defenders. Needed playmaker and more ball movement in second half. Several mid-range shots were passed up resulting in no points. Caleb had an off night (2 points). I think Heat players learned something about themselves and Heat coach and management learned something about the strengths and weaknesses of the team. You live and you learn. Shake it off. No time to dwell. Next up Magic in Orlando on Wednesday.
GO HEAT!!!