It has been a difficult and potentially completed wasted 2024-25 season for the Miami Heat. The first half of the year consisted of Jimmy Butler drama, as the second half of the year is consisting of losses piling up for the new-look squad.
In what could be a bit of irony, the Heat are just 1-5 after trading Jimmy Butler. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors are surging— going the complete opposite of 5-1 since his arrival.
On Monday night, Miami was handed yet another loss by the Atlanta Hawks on the road. Atlanta was entering the game going just 4-11 over their last 15 games, but of course looked like a strong playoff team again once the Heat came into town.
Atlanta got a total team effort from most of their rotation— led by an 11 points and game-high 14 assists double-double from Trae Young.
They had six players score in the double digits, and shot an efficient 45% from the field as a team. The Hawks had a huge advantage in the total assists comparison, courtesy to the play of Young, totaling a 29-15 advantage over the Heat.
Fresh off yet another 40-point masterpiece that was wasted in Sunday’s loss against the Milwaukee Bucks, Tyler Herro struggled in Atlanta. The All-Star finished with just 11 points and 6 rebounds on 4 of 19 shooting.
Miami was led offensively by Andrew Wiggins’ 23 points on 6 of 14 from the field, along with securing three blocks. Bam Adebayo was quiet, contributing just 14 points and 5 boards. However, the silver lining of this recent stretch of difficult games has been the smart IQ and impact from Kyle Anderson.
Anderson had 14 points and 5 rebounds, including going 9 of 10 from the free throw line in his 28 bench minutes. He has been able to bring an impact with the second unit and help slow some possessions down in spurts.
Miami will get a chance to bounce back in a rematch on Wednesday. It will be the Hawks turn to travel to South Florida to play the Heat inside Kaseya Center. The team’s five-game road trip ends with a disheartening 1-4 record.
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Shooting drills, shooting drills, shooting drills.
Granted it was a b2b, worse still an away game.
Excellent shooting would have conserved a lot of energy.
That was really hard to watch. I cant remember when I wanted a game to be finished one way or another, just to be finished. Ugly is a nice word for that.
JJJ is a shell of himselves, Rosier is a bust, Jovic is injuried, and Dunc and Burks cold.
I wonder why HH and Pelle didnt get their chances.
Good thing it’s only sports because things are decidedly sucky right now.
Not that there aren’t some silver linings. Our problems stem more from previous issues before the Jimmy trade than the team weakening after the trade. In fact, all three players received have performed reasonably well and have definitely shown their usefulness.
As many have stated, we were only a playin team before and that was only due to the weakness of the conference. We are barely a playin team now and may not see the first round.
But, we are still two good draft picks away.