The Miami Heat have hit their roughest stretch of the season, dropping below .500 at a 21-22 record overall. (Photo via Miami Heat)
The struggles both on and off the court have hit a season-worst stretch of basketball for the Miami Heat. Not only is the team dealing with a cloud of uncertainty around Jimmy Butler, but it is showing in the stands with losses that have separated them from the pack in the Eastern Conference.
Miami has lost two straight and their fifth in six games following their Thursday night matchup versus the Milwaukee Bucks. They now sit at 21-22 and remain in the ninth seed play-in spot of the Eastern Conference.
In the month of January, the Miami Heat are just 5-8 overall and are 4-6 over their last ten games.
The Bucks meanwhile have surged in the East, now winners of eight of their last 10 and sit at the fourth seed. Their sluggish 2-8 record to start the season is a thing of the past, especially after securing the midseason tournament title just over a month ago.
In Thursday’s game, Milwaukee was led by their superstar duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard — who dropped 29 and 21 points respectively. Antetokounmpo had a 25 and 12 double-double while shooting 10 of 18 from the field.
Lillard’s presence was felt even more, as he put together his second straight dominant performance against the Heat this season. He finished with a near triple-double of 29/11/9 to go along with a pair of steals.
Unlike Miami, the Bucks got plenty of support from their bench in Gary Trent Jr. and Bobby Portis.
The Heat’s abysmal shooting efficiency as a team was too much to overcome. They shot 37% from the field and 24% from 3-point range (12 of 51). As for Milwaukee, they remained sizzling with 47% and 45% splits as a team. The game was blown open by their 44-25 second quarter advantage and never looked back.
Outside of rookie Kel’el Ware’s third consecutive 20+ outing in his second straight start alongside Bam Adebayo, this was a lousy effort from the Heat. Ware finished with a 22 and 10 double-double on nine of 15 shooting and 2 blocks.
Him and Tyler wind up being the only bright spots of what has been yet another season to forget for the Heat.
Butler’s fiasco has ultimately weighed down the team too much at this point. https://t.co/gvlIeKI1wU
— Hot Hot Hoops (@hothothoops) January 24, 2025
Tyler Herro’s playmaking looked elite early in his return from a one-game absence with a minor groin injury. But he finished the night on a rough six of 19 shooting. The bench was essentially a nonfactor, as the team got little to no contributions from the rest of their rotation.
It is clear that the Butler distractions has impacted Miami’s play as of late, and Thursday’s spanking in the hands of the rival Bucks was just their latest dud in what has appeared to be a lost season.
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its going down!
i mean our team is going down 😅
and i hope a deal to say goodbye to mr. jimmy
Trade Scenario #6,837
Phoenix Suns receive: Jimmy Butler, Delon Wright
Miami Heat receive: Ryan Dunn, Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis, 2029 first-round
Phoenix pick, 2031 first-round pick swap with Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee Bucks receive: Zach LaVine
Washington Wizards receive: MarJon Beauchamp, 2031 second-round pick (via MIL)
Chicago Bulls receive: Bradley Beal, 2027 first-round pick (via Phoenix)
——————————————————————————————————————————
*Miami could then possibly turn the Phoenix pick and Rozier into a SF (Kuzma?) and Highsmith and Richardson into a PG (Josh Giddey?).
Yes, like 2q says, things are Heating up. Much as we don’t like waiting, the difference in return could be sizable. Every day a team somewhere feels more desperate for what Jimmy can give them. Hopefully, the Heat has some offers already and is only seeing if they get better. Even if we have to wait until the beginning of February, it could be worth it. I would be very careful of playing Jimmy anymore. Everyone knows he is healthy now, ready to go, and motivated to get his best contract. I wouldn’t wait to trade him too close to the deadline though, last thing anyone wants is a deal to fall apart.
I add my thanks to HHH staff and tech for resolving the problem.
Amen! My life was topsy-turvy with all the technical problems. (lol)
Please let us know if that happens again! Thank you for reading 🙂
Thanks HHH crew
I think yesterday and today a funny thing is starting to happen. With the Heat being comfortable in this uncomfortable situation, they may have created an environment where a few more options have opened up. Now we’re hearing Memphis might just risk it and trade for him. Bucks looking to upgrade. Phoenix wants him bad. It’s costing us some L’s, but there could be a slightly better payoff than any sort of initial dump for overrated coffee some thought when this started. It could still blow up, so let’s see how this unfolds.
I don’t think the Heat want to trade him to Milwaukie. I am hearing more and more about Memphis. But damn I hope this trade happens soon. It’s fun to talk about, but the games are starting to look bleak
I would love to get Marcus Smart and another player, I’ve heard Brandon Clarke mentioned, with a pick too.
I think they have to add Kennard in as well to match salaries, but I would take that. I like Clarke, the pick, and maybe get a decent game out of Smart every once in a while. Kennard might not play as Duncyard Dog is on the prowl, but a backup in case Duncan is off our out that night.
Burks should be that player but Spo only uses him sporadically.
Spo does give him chances and he goes 0-3 and gets pulled early. In games he hits early he plays 17-20 minutes and has scored 11 and 17, for example. He’s just so dang streaky
Like Duncan…for $15M less.
Miami is probably a play-in team any way you cut it, unless the team can get a good return for Butler. Otherwise, maybe we get an expiring contract or two, a young player with potential and a draft pick.
It will then be up to Riley to turn the pick and Rozier into a decent two-way player and /or Robinson for an expiring contract, a young player and a pick. Both trades work for me.
I’m sure Riley is figuring out moves he can make after the Butler trade. The good thing is he’s talking to several other GMs throughout the NBA and learning what other trades they are interested in making.
These next two weeks should be very interesting. February 6th is just 13 days away.
hey, shoutout to HHH. When there is a problem, they fix it! Pat Riley could learn something from these guys!
Very honest write up. I like that about this site that when we aren’t playing well, we say it. There will be better times somewhere down the road. We still have some good pieces and the great thing about the nba is you only need eight good players, not twenty or more like in the other sports. If we get something good back for Jimmy, we won’t be far off. Go Heat!
I am also happy to find the site working well. Thanks so much for giving us a place to sometimes exult, and sometimes to vent.
There is a lot of thing going on right now.
The second or even third time in the roll Heat played some great basketball in short stretches, most notably with Bam and Ware playing together. Those minutes shows the capability of this pairing and the team as a whole.
Unfortunately, this fell apart when one of those two went on the bench, and funny, the second stretch of the same team on the floor is always terrible.
Its obvious, that we need another good guard. Rosier is lost and shows no signs to ever be any better. Benching him and playing one of the young guards from the bench is the only solution I see. I m not sure what to do with Rosier but he obviously doesn’t fit. He need to go or to be benched.
The rest, JJJ was terrible again. True, big teams can limited his game, but he need to be better. Jovic also lost his aggressiveness.
I believe playmaking is the biggest issue right now. And focus. There is still time to turn things around.
Ware is the best rookie of the year.
On the bright side, the site is fixed.