The Miami Heat went away from the identity that won them a game against the Indiana Pacers just a few nights ago. Their Sunday night rematch ended sour, dropping the game 119-110 in Indiana. Tyler Herro’s valiant fourth quarter heroics once again went to waste, as the Heat couldn’t get the stops needed down the stretch to steal the road win.
The six-game road trip concludes with a rough 2-4 record, and drop to 5-7 on the season. Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton handed Miami a pair of dagger triples late in the fourth, after Herro dropped 19 points during the period to keep his team in the game. He finished the night with 28/4/4 on 7/11 from 3-point range, and has averaged 5.3 3-point makes per game on 50% shooting beyond the arc on this trip.
Indiana killed the Heat inside the paint, with a 62-28 advantage led by Myles Turner’s 34 points. The Pacers frontcourt duo with Turner and Pascal Siakam had huge bounce back performances after struggling in the previous matchup. Siakam finished with 23 points on an efficient 9/11 shooting. Kel’el Ware received a DNP, coach’s decision, in an outing where interior size was needed.
Outside of Herro filling up the box score once again, Bam Adebayo continued his impressive stretch of games. The big man finished with 24 points and 8 rebounds on 9/18 shooting, including 2/4 from deep. Duncan Robinson’s 20 points on 60% shooting also provided a nice impact off the bench.
However, the rest of the Heat rotation struggled to provide any sort of spark. Terry Rozier is in the midst of arguably the worst stretch of his career, as he was inefficient in his 27 minutes once again. Perhaps a role change to sixth man off the bench could salvage Rozier’s season and provide some nice balance to Miami’s lineups, but something needs to be done with his poor production.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. also left the game in the second half due to an ankle sprain that featured him limp to the locker room. The expectation is that Jaquez will be missing some time, opening room for another rotation piece to step up and earn minutes.
Creating turnovers has been an asset to the team’s game that has led to wins this season, including Friday night against this same Pacers squad. But they made the necessary adjustments and had more control of the basketball, limiting themselves to just 10 turnovers compared to the 20 they committed the previous game. Indiana also had the shooting efficiency advantage as a team, going 52% from the field to Miami’s 40%.
Jimmy Butler’s return to the lineup seems imminent, and could come as soon as tomorrow in the second night of a back-to-back at home against the Philadelphia 76ers. It will be interesting to see if any rotation changes could take place to shake things up in what has been a disappointing start to the 2024-25 season.
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This is just an average team. We will get the occasional surprising win to bout our spirits. But, then they will be dashed to earth, often in the very next game. There are plenty of good players on this team and yet there is just not quite enough talent here. And Jimmy’s injury, this early into the season, and the time it takes him to recover, is already a concern. Our chances for this season are not great and it feels like we are rudderless, just treading water right now. I prefer a more definitive path but it’s likely to be more of the same, win at a .500 clip with Jimmy, and more like at a .400 clip without him and the other players that will get hurt too. . Going to be a lot of up and down moments this year. But, change is eventually going to come. It’s inevitable, isn’t it?
A lineup I like the most is JJJ, Jovic, Dunc, JRich and Bam. If Bam can be replaced by Ware playing at the decent level , this can be one of the f the best benches in the league.
But what to do with starting lineup?
Bam and Herro must be in, and Jimmy will be a part of that, no matter what. Love playing like that also makes sense. But what about Rosier? He doesn’t fit in.
something has to be done with Rosier. His playing style doesnt fit into offense Heat are running right now. And he is killed in defense.
If we are looking at this situation objectively, this is not a legit playoff team, much less a contender for a championship. Butler, Rozier, Robinson, Highsmith and Bryant, at minimum, should be traded to the highest bidders, the sooner the better.
The keepers are Bam, Herro, Jaquez, Jovic, Ware, Larsson, Johnson, Stevens and Christopher. Everyone else is expendable, although Love is a good presence on the court and in the locker room, and Richardson and Burks are on cheap, one year contracts.
Let the rebuild begin!
P.S. See 2024-2025 Rookie stats (below). Note playing time and other stats for Larsson and Ware (last 5 columns). Ware 6.7 minutes per game. WTF! Lower first round picks and second rounders like Larsson are getting more playing time than Ware!
https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2025_rookies.html
Funny, how that list changed during the time (from most of people here, not only you, speaking of Herro, from me also). Jovic and Herro are now keepers, there were on the block 10 games ago.
To be fair, Ware doesnt show enough to earn his minutes. Its a game of the chicken and egg, if he needs minutes, to start show something, or he need to show something, to earn his minutes. His advantages (blocking, 3p shooting) hasnt shown yet much, but he is really terrible rebounder for his size, and I think that cost him minutes.
The way Herro has played in the past, poor FG% and no defense, I have said he should have been traded. The light must have finally gone on for him over the offseason, because he is now making an effort on defense and his shooting has improved substantially. I haven’t been an advocate for trading him since “Playoff Tyler” arrived on the scene.
Jovic finally started showing potential off the bench after he lost his starting job as a power forward. As I mentioned several times before, he is too soft to play power forward in the NBA (maybe in Europe). I don’t think he handles pressure very well and definitely does not like inside contact. He is better suited as a second unit secondary ball handler (point forward).
The only way Ware will ever improve is if he gets playing time. As I have mentioned more than once, if he is not going to get playing time with the Heat, then he should be sent to Sioux Falls for playing time, experience and self-confidence. He can’t improve sitting on the end of the bench watching Miami get beaten on the boards night after night after night and Bam get manhandled by taller centers. If Ware is part of Miami’s long term solution playing next to Bam, what is Spo waiting for. Play him or send him down to Sioux Falls!
As I have also previously said, more than once, it’s time to trade Jimmy and a couple of others, and get on with a full retooling/rebuild. This death by a thousand cuts phase is slowly killing me and the fan base. Have you noticed the drop off in comments/followers?
As always, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway…
GO HEAT!!!
Death by a thousand cuts, good expression, but it can be interpreted several ways. I can see it meaning the slow slide from glory and towards irrelevance we are undergoing, with just that smidgeon of hopefulness still there, but fading with each new assessment of this teams progress.
So you’re telling me there’s a chance?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMRrNY0pxfM
What does Harry Dunne think?
All I m saying is, that Ware is not ready. Its just the way it is, and I m fine with it. I agree, that there is more sense to play a G-league right now. Or Spo wants him to be close to give him a chance when possible.
But I stand by my words. He is a terrible rebounder for his size. I noticed that in preseason games, and he didn’t improve a bit since then.
I want him to succeed, but he should start with basics. A block or a occasional 3p is fancy, but we need a beast under the rim collecting 10 rebounds in 15 minutes.
I m sure he would play a lot if he would be able to bring that on the table.
Well, you know, there are fans and there are “fans”, which shows up, when things are good. There are also “”fans””, which shows up, when things are really bad.
I m happy with last night performance, with players effort. I enjoyed the game despite loss. Till players will play like that, I ll be here, no matter result. I dont know for others.
You lost me at 10 rebounds in 15 minutes? Miami doesn’t have a single player grabbing 10 rebounds in 30+ minutes. Bam is down from 10.4 rebounds per game in 34.0 minutes last season to 9.2 rebounds per game in 35.6 minutes this year. No other starter is grabbing over 4.9 per game.
Other rebounders:
Jaquez is grabbing 6.0 rebounds in 23 minutes.
Love 5.3 in 11.8 minutes.
Butler 4.9 in 30.5 minutes,
Herro 4.9 in 33.9 minutes.
Rozier 4.2 in 31.8 minutes.
Jovic 4.0 rebounds in 20.1 minutes.
Highsmith 3.1 rebounds in 24.3 minutes.
Per All You Can Heat:
Rozier’s body language coming out of the scrimmage seems odd. I do not think he likes the play calls very much. I am really rooting for him to succeed. He has been a good and willing facilitator, but having the ball out of his hands, I think has affected his scoring efficiency. He has played well in other ways, like steals, rebounds etc.
Missed opportunity…
With game tied at 97-97 and 5:15 minutes left in the 4th qtr, I thought the Heat had a decent chance to w in. Siakam in foul trouble with 5 fouls and the Pacers in the penalty. Was hoping that the Heat will attack Siakam or get more into the paint to draw fouls. Stop the clock and hit free throws. This is where Butler excels, drawing fouls at critical times. It is called situational awareness.Rather, they played around the periphery looking for open 3 and milking away the clock. The momentum swung the other way. Pacers scored 2 quick 3 pts with Haliburton and then 2 free throws. It was not until the 2:37 mark did the Heat drive into the paint to get free throws of their own.
The positive part was for the spirited effort to even the score at 97-97 inspite of being down for the most part of the game. I wish it had ended differently.
Go Heat, Go!
On the plus side, we’re still ahead of the Bucks and the Sixers in the standings
Welcome.
Hola Emily. Welcome back! That’s not good considering neither of them would make the play-in tournament if it were held today.