Saturday night’s matchup against the struggling Utah Jazz could go down as one of the most depressing games in Miami Heat history. They began the post-Jimmy Butler era by suffering an embarassing 36-point blowout loss at the hands of the Utah Jazz at home, 136-100.
Utah entered the game with a 7-25 record, good for the 14th seed in the Western Conference and a bottom-three team in the entire association. The Heat, fell to 17-16 on the season after the loss, although remained in the East’s sixth seed with a Milwaukee Bucks loss.
It was an apocalyptic outing by Miami, as the team looked like a legitimate g-league roster against a tanking team. They wound up shooting an abysmal 26% from 3-point range and 44% from the field. But the problems were on both ends of the floor. They made Utah look like a premier shooting group with 52% efficiency overall and 41% from deep.
The biggest disparity though came in the rebounding department. The Jazz had a 57-32 advantage, and coach Erik Spoelstra’s stubbornness refused to capitalize on a perfect opportunity to at least experiment a few minutes of a Bam Adebayo/Kel’el Ware pairing in the frontcourt— even in garbage time.
The Utah Jazz top guns severely outplayed the newly focused Tyler Herro + Bam Adebayo duo
Utah received strong efforts by a plethora of their core guys, including John Collins, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton. They were led offensively by Brice Sensabaugh’s 34 points off the bench on 12 of 18 shooting.
As for the Heat, Nikola Jovic and Duncan Robinson added 17 and 16 points, respectively. But received disappointing showings from the Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo duo, who were well positioned to make a statement as a rising pairing to be excited to build around in the foreseeable future. Herro added a quiet 15 points on shaky 4 of 12 shooting.
Heat captain Adebayo was even more concerning— putting together a disappearance act of 4 points and 8 rebounds. His only points came from the free throw line, and it was the first game of his entire career that he was unable to record a single made field goal in over 25 minutes of playing time.
Ultimately, it may be unfair to truly criticize any player on the team tonight, including the rough play from Adebayo and Herro. The entire franchise just has zero direction now and it isn’t fair to anybody involved. Miami was already struggling to find a consistent identity all season, and Butler’s fiasco didn’t help that notion.
It gets even more difficult moving forward, with the Heat having to regroup on the fly amid all the outside noise. They play again on Monday to begin an extended west coast trip.
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The team is completely down, obviously. I don’t really understand Spo, he tried again things which failed before, like Rosier and Herro playing together, Jovic starting etc.
It doesn’t work, who knows why, but it doesn’t.
There is also a problem with Highsmith. He is playing terrible for some time now. As is JJJ.
I wonder if Pelle would be a better option right now. playing their position.
What options do we have?
I believe the best options right now is to start Herro and Dunc, Pelle at 3, Love at 4 and Bam at 5. A lot of shooting to star with, not much defence, but I think, this lineup can hold its own for 5-6 minutes.
Backup lineup with Ware, Jovic, Rosier, JJJ, Highsmith could be then the lineup making some difference.
I took a strong stand against Riley’s role in this debacle and was met with a chorus of fair and reasonable commentary. It was a good discussion after an emotionally trying last few days. This morning I was fascinated that there is an article describing a growing call for Riley’s dismissal, something that would have been unthinkable last year. This year he was honored by the Heat for his illustrious accomplishments, and deservedly so. But, I also stand by my comments that he is doing a lousy job over the last few years. Nice to know others see it too.
Okay, you’re entitled to feel that way. But I am asking you to be specific. I agree about the Lowry and Duncan contracts. But what else? It’s easy to want a certain player, but what factors came into play? Was the other team not interested in the players we offered? That wouldn’t be his fault. Was he not offering enough? That might be his fault. Remember, he was offering something like Herro, Jovic, and another player (Jaquez? Duncan? Or?) and a pick for Lillard. Did the CBA preclude him from a particular deal? Again, not his fault. They did not seem keen on DeRozan, didn’t want Beal or PG13. Suns gave Brooklyn 3 players plus 4 first round picks for KD. We didn’t have 4 first rounders, so not his fault – although you could blame him for constantly dealing picks, 2 for Dragic, 1 for Rozier. I just want you to be specific as to where he failed.
I listed the Heat transactions over the last four seasons. We talked about all the players who tried to come and went elsewhere. We discussed the unmovable contracts Riley gave out. We see the amount of draft picks we have lost. My answer to you is look at the list of transactions again. Look at our position in the standings this year and last. Look at what a predicament we are in now. What more can I say?
I am simply saying, it is my opinion Pat was great and then he stopped being great four years ago. There was some carry over where the actions he took from before then carried over and you couldn’t tell for a while because Jimmy did one of the greatest team carrying acts this league has ever seen. And now that he is gone, look what is left.
Look at the list of transactions from 2020/2021 forward again….
Just to be clear, when we’re talking about “the past four years” we’re talking about finishing first in the regular season once, going to the finals twice, and making the conference finals three times?
Because those past four years are comparable the amount of success a that wunderkind GM’s like Presti and Morey have had over their entire careers.
The fact is that Pat Riley is a fantastic GM and the Heat are lucky to have him. For whatever reason, some people won’t appreciate him until he’s gone.
In the meantime, the Heat had a great four-year run with Jimmy Butler, and now they made a smart decision and decided not to overpay him, and it’s ending the way things always end with Jimmy Butler. It might take the Heat a year or two to rebuild. They’re currently sitting as a top-6 seed in the East at their lowest point.
If you think Riley is a bad GM, you should see what 3/4 of the league has to deal with
You have a right to your opinion. And you are right about not overpaying Jimmy. But, again, look at the transactions starting 2020-21 to present, they say everything. Jimmy carried us amazingly. Beating Boston in the playoffs with the team we had then was his greatest accomplishment. It was so great an accomplishment that it became incumbent on Pat to get him that one more piece he never got. Unfortunately, soon after that year, Jimmy couldn’t carry us anymore and all the weaknesses got exposed. Pat had three years to improve us. It wasn’t like anyone couldn’t see what was happening. Writers, the top in the basketball field like Steven A, are saying exactly what I am here.
Look at the transactions. It should be obvious.
well yes, if you just look at the transactions, then the Sixers have been way better than the Heat over the past four years. If you just look at the transactions, the Nets have been kicking the Heats ass.
How about instead of the transactions, we look at who is actually winning games in the playoffs? Seems much more important if you ask me.
I looked at the transactions in that time period. I know you can’t be referring to insignificant contracts like Zeller, Ariza, Harkness, Bradley, etc. The contracts of note ($9 million plus) in that period were Leonard (he was a pretty decent player at the time), Dragic, Oladipo, Duncan, and (there goes that man again) Lowry. I’ve pointed out that I believe the Duncan and Lowry contracts definitely hamstrung the Heat. The Dragic contract was fine imo. Do you think, at the time, that Leonard’s contract was a mistake? Who should they have signed for $10 million a season instead? I’m not saying he was the best choice, I just really don’t know who was available at the time for that money. Should Riley have been hesitant to give Dipo the contract given his injury history? Maybe, but he had huge potential, again imo. So, other than the Lowry and Duncan contracts, am I missing anything?
I think it’s silly if/when someone calls either of us naive or worse because our opinions differ from theirs. We are both reasonably intelligent people who love the Heat.
Yep. I don’t blame them. First game after the Jimmy fiasco. Last game before the road trip. Gotta be tough to show up for work the day after the Manager quits in a blaze of glory.
I’m gonna take this opportunity to shoutout Tyler Herro, who had his name in trade rumors for two straight offseasons, never bitched about it, and has started playing like an all-star (instead of pouting or demanding a trade).
I’m also going to say that this West Coast Road Trip is the best thing that could happen to this team right now. Two weeks on airplanes and in hotels together without Jimmy. I don’t care what their record is on this trip. I just want them to get better and discover their identity without Jimmy.
I’ll say this. The Heat season just got a lot less boring
Good comments about Tyler. He stayed classy in a difficult situation. I’m sure plenty of teams would like to have him now.
Voice of reason.
If nothing else, the only way is up.