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Heat offensive struggles continue against Magic, lose 105-87

Heat Magic
The Orlando Magic blasted the Miami Heat 105-87 on Sunday evening. (Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sport)

A second-half surge from the Orlando Magic, plus continued offensive struggles from the Miami Heat led to a 105-87 Magic victory Sunday evening inside Kia Center in Orlando, Fla.

The Heat opened Sunday shooting 23.5 percent in the first, scoring 19 points–the third time its scored 20 or fewer points on 35.0 percent shooting or less in the first quarter over the last four games. Fortunately enough for Miami, it trailed by three and went into halftime with a deficit of just two points. Though Orlando blew it open over the final two periods, outscoring Miami 57-40.

Collectively, Miami shot just 37.5 percent from the floor and 12-of-37 (32.4 percent) from 3-point range; according to Cleaning The Glass, the Heat’s 45.0 effective field goal percentage graded in the 8th percentile while its 95.6 points per 100 possessions placed in the 6th percentile.

Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 22 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals, shooting 8-of-17 from the floor. Jimmy Butler finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists on 5-of-10 shooting and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc; Tyler Herro had 12 points on 4-of-11 from distance while Caleb Martin finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists on 5-of-7 shooting.

All five Magic starters tallied double figures, led by Paolo Banchero, who had 20 points–17 in the opening half–with 10 rebounds, converting on seven of his 14 field goal attempts and three of his five triple tries. Franz Wagner had two rebounds and five assists, connecting on 6-of-13 shots.

Wendell Carter Jr. started for the first time since returning from his knee injury on Jan. 15. He finished with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting with nine boards, while Markelle Fultz and Jalen Suggs tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Sunday’s loss moves the two teams within one game of each other in the standings; Miami drops to 24-19, while Orlando improves to 23-20. The Heat also drop to 5-7 this season in games where Herro, Butler and Adebayo all play; that number is 31-32 in the regular season over the last two years and 67-49 over the last three years.

The Heat’s offensive rating over their last 10 games is 107.5, the third-worst mark in the league, though it remains No. 20 for the season. Nevertheless, its inability to create any sort of advantages in the halfcourt–especially since it can’t get to the rim–is an issue that needs to be addressed because it lacks an offensive identity. Its defense, a top-10 unit for the season, can only hold the fort down so much.

This marks Miami’s third three-game losing streak, which it will hope to snap Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, who have lost four of their last five games and are 12 games below .500.

***

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heat for life

cleve up 30 on orlando after 3.

heat for life

if spo would play more two way players more hh caleb less dunc jovic kyle results might be diff.notice defenders are crowding dunc not letting him do anything lately.even the bam screens are being defended tight for dunc.teams have adjusted to the new dunc

Reality Czech

Possible happy news for hfl and the rest of us:
“A Miami Heat insider in Ira Winderman said that a resolution with guard Kyle Lowry could come as early as this week.

“Resolution with the veteran point guard is not only expected by the Feb. 8 NBA trading deadline but potentially could come as early as this week,” Winderman wrote.”

heat for life

not before wednesdays game ?

Bout30man

Resolution sounds like a trade.

ManilaHeat

“Resolution” might be bye Lowry (yey), Jovic (ouch) and possibly two first (ouch)…guess for who? Just read this somewhere. Let’s wait and see

SunManFromDogBone

4th place Cleveland (25-15) has won 7 straight games without 2 of their 3 best players (Garland and Mobley). 6th place Miami (24-19) has lost 3 straight and has sucked big time with all 3 of their top 3 players. So there’s that.

Big_guy305

Maybe we gotta replace one of the top 3 for someone better, or instead get another really good player, Nd make it a Big 4.

heat for life

jjj is clearly a better all around player than ty.jjj has an nba body ty doesnt.jjj plays d ty dont.jjj bball iq high tys not.jjj doesnt turn ball over ty does.ty shoots alot jjj doesnt.

heat for life

the jovic experiment is a failure.put hhh in starting unit.ty needs to run with second unit when jjj comes back.and make a trade for rozier,thats my fix.boston has improved yes but what are the chances of porz being healthy.jalen brown in playoffs not worried.no bench now.milw of ocurse has greek and dame but we handled them last year with playoff jimmy,little worried about them.phily joel and maxey little worried but after them not much.in conclusion make a trade for rozier work out a lineup that clicks this jovic sht aint cutting it.better lineups that click needed spo.ever since u got that big ck youve been little shakey

Bout30man

Spo got shown the money. It’s funny but has nothing to do with it. Spo hates to lose no matter how rich he is.

heat for life

never knew a coach or player that likes to lose.glad to know spo doesnt either

vagibugi

I watched this game in details, and notices several problems. But most notably, the main problem is lack of playmaking.

This results in poor spacing, which results in low % of shooting, the result of which is less then 100 point per game.

Jovic as a playmaker is not a solution, neither is Martin in the place of Lowry.

And, man, Heat are terrible, but really terrible in finishing. That 3:1 was…. well… have no words to describe it.

swampshark

IMO these are the biggest reasons for the Heat’s offensive struggles the past few games.

1. They don’t have any players that can consistently take their man off the dribble and create for teammates in halfcourt situations.

2. Their pick & roll ball handlers aren’t able to take advantage of traps.

3. The players are not getting any easy transition baskets. Every basket is a halfcourt struggle.

4. When they do get out in transition it usually ends with a missed basket or a turnover.

5. Poor spacing. The Heat have seven players shooting below average from three the past four games, including four players shooting under 30%.
Lowry has missed every single one of his threes during this span.
Opponents can basically help off certain Heat players without any repercussions.

6. They aren’t taking advantage of Bam double teams in the post.

7. They have gotten worse on the defensive glass. Opponents are getting multiple second chance opportunities.

8. They haven’t been forcing turnovers like they did earlier in the season. Earlier in the season protecting the ball and forcing turnovers were the Heat’s bread and butter. In the last few games it has been the opposite. Heat opponents are protecting the ball and forcing the Heat into turnovers.

IMO these are the biggest reasons for the Heat’s offensive struggles the past few games.

At this point I would consider offering Lowry, Richardson, Bryant, Jovic, Dru Smith and a 1st for a package of Tyus Jones and Kyle Kuzma or for Terry Rozier and PJ Washington.
With Jovic and a 1st being the main attractions for the Hornets or Wizards.

Reality Czech

Lots of good stuff here

Reality Czech

Also, they are dead last at finishing at the rim.

Bout30man

Sorry to be negative but this is my honest assessment.
The only problem with all of our trade package discussions is we offer players that are flawed in some way. If we don’t want them, probably no one else does either. Yes, there is buying on potential in Jovic, maybe that is worth a little. But, really all we have is draft capital and throw ins. And if we give up a Martin or an HH, we hurt ourselves while helping. Three players no one wants except as a throw in balancer are Duncan, Tyler, and Lowry, as Lowry should not be in the NBA, and Ty and Dunc are weak defensively and everyone knows that. Despite what Pat says, there were no takers for Ty this last offseason. And the aforementioned Caleb and HH have very little value either. No one else from the D league has any value, nor does Bryant. And no one wants JRich either. So, all we really have to trade is draft capital, and throw ins, as Jaime, Bam, and Jimmy should be untouchable. We are stuck in a corner, with few solutions. There is only two, mortgage the future with draft picks to pull in a two way A level player, or break it down. We have to face reality here and part of the problem is our GM values some of his players more than the league or results do.

Bout30man

And yes, because I didn’t want to go into an even longer explanation above, I know Dunc and Ty are improved defensively, but they are still viewed as less valuable because of defense deficiencies. I like having one of them on our team, not both. One should go in trade, and they do have some value, but the value a low B+ player has, so you still have to give at least a pick and another player to get a true two way A player. And HH and Caleb have the value of a B- player and a B player respectively, which is even less than Ty or Dunc, but because our team is hurting so bad for defense, we need to keep them or we hurt ourselves in trade while helping ourselves.

Reality Czech

Yes, on this follow up, I think you are right with your ratings.

Big_guy305

I agree with some of what you said, we can’t hold on to both herro and Robinson. But We honestly need more offense then Defense, we’re not going to able to stop every team with Defense, when all the good teams are scoring 115 points a game above. The reason we’ve been losing lately is because the offense, we’re simply not scoring enough. So we gotta sacrifice some D, and spo is a coach, so maybe we can still be a top 12 D , with new pieces potentially on way. The nba ain’t the same, it’s offensive driven, that’s why the scoring keeps on getting higher, and higher every year. It ain’t much Defense you can do if you don’t have the right amount length at every position, with offensive players benefitting more.

SunManFromDogBone

This team is getting awfully close to the point of “shit or get off the pot” time. Bam is the future of this franchise and he deserves a better supporting cast than what he has.

If Pat can’t bring in at least two quality players to help down the stretch/during the playoffs (a two-way PF and a two-way PG) let’s quit pretending this team is competitive and get on with the job of re-tooling for the future.

I have absolutely no problem with Miami having a mini-Fire Sale by trading Butler, Lowry, Bryant, Martin and others for younger players and draft picks. I’m sure there are several teams that would be willing to do deals.

GO HEAT!

ZechMerquise

Jimmy to chicago for vucevic, coby white, picks
lowry to toronto for bruce brown, salary filler
Bryant+Martin to utah for Clarkson

pg : White
sg : Herro
sf : jaime
pf : bam
c : vucevic
bench : clarkson, duncan, bruce, jrich, love, jovic

Last edited 8 months ago by ZechMerquise
heat for life

u think spo ever gonna play vuc and bam together lol.i love the idea

Bout30man

Me either. I see it the same and said so above. It took a while to see what we are due to injuries, but now our relative strength versus the rest of the league is pretty clear. And, if anything, the schedule gets tougher in the second half season.

ManilaHeat

3 game losing streak. Pls no play-in im doubtful Jimmy can “turn it on” again with several ailments he’s been through not to mention his age. Jimmy with 15 Tyler with 12. 2 days rest before Grizz game. I still believe we are better than our recent showing. Or i maybe wrong, we’ll see

ZechMerquise

we need a scorer badly. In this modern, high-scoring league, it should be a crime to score 87 pts in a game

Reality Czech

We just lost to 3 teams that are a combined 57-71. We should be able to beat teams like this with or without Jaquez. While we are obviously better with him, if you don’t see that this team needs additional help, good luck. Our competition in the East has continued to improve. The odds of the Heat going from the play-in to the finals for the second straight year are, at best, slim. Regardless of opinions to the contrary, all of these games matter, in January or any other month, unless you have gained separation from the teams below you. We haven’t. Plenty of time remains to right the ship, but an upgrade is needed.

ManilaHeat

Maybe Spo still cnt believe the $$$ that’s why he’s faltering these past games. Movement or no movement they should right the ship. Yes plenty of time still

Big_guy305

I agree with everything you said 💯. Also we gotta change the starting lineup. As much I want jovic to get pt, I think he should take a backseat for a little more seasoning , and let either love, locksmith, or Orlando get a shot at pf/c. We definitely need a trade because we’re struggling on offense lately. We need another scorer, and willing to sacrifice some D because this an offense driven league. We need a Murray or a rozier. Here are a few examples of lineups with one of them in ,If we can manage to hold on to herro.

Rozier, herro, butler, love/orlando, bam

Murray, herro, butler, HH/love ,bam

heat for life

whos murray?

Reality Czech

You don’t know who Dejounte Murray is? Maybe you should look him up. He’s the guy that ruined a recent important celebration, in case you haven’t noticed.

heat for life

dam sorry was thinking of jamal.atl aint trading him no way.maybe try guarding him with hh ud would have been happy that night

Reality Czech

How about the confusing OKC roster that has Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams? Pronounced the same way. Crazy.

Bout30man

Agree completely.

heat for life

what happened to panthers when barkov got hurt.only one player

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