The Miami Heat could not overcome more struggles on the defensive glass, losing 140-132 to the Jalen Brunson-less New York Knicks Friday evening inside Madison Square Garden.
Outside of nine missed free throws, Miami didn’t have any problem offensively. They shot 46.3 percent from the floor and drained 19 3-pointers, including multiple from Norman Powell — who had eight!! — Davion Mitchell, Simone Fontecchio and Pelle Larsson.
However, the Heat struggled closing possessions once again, surrendering 20 boards that led to 20 backbreaking points. Mitchell Robinson had eight offensive rebounds alone in just 14 minutes, with four from Jordan Clarkson and two apiece from Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby, who left with an injury after five minutes.
That was the story for the shorthanded Heat, who were without Bam Adebayo for the fifth-straight game.
Powell tallied a team-high 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting with five rebounds in 33 minutes. Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists off the bench; Kel’el Ware and Andrew Wiggins had 15 points each while Pelle Larsson added 14 on 3-of-6 from distance.
The battle on the boards was the story for the Heat … plus Towns and Landry Shamet combining to score 75 points.
Miami, who drops to 7-6, has surrendered 21, 15 and 20 offensive boards in each of its last three losses, respectively. The last two were without Adebayo (first was when he got hurt).
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The Heat sent Kasparas Jakucionis to Sioux Falls today. Jakucionis hasn’t played yet this season after missing the first seven games with a groin injury.
Hopefully, he will gain experience and confidence and be available to help the team later this season.
There is speculation Miami won’t do anything to address the front court problem until after December 15 when they can do so without exceeding the salary cap. Furthermore, players who sign new contracts over the summer are generally not eligible for trade until December 15.
It appears the strategy is to hold on until Bam and Herro return then waiting another month until Dec 15th to make any moves. This may possibly include bringing in a rotation PF or C and pursuing a ss.
Meanwhile, Miami fans will need to endure watching the Heat struggle against teams with better front court depth.
H previously asked how the league makes money with the Cup tournament….
It’s also about the money. The NBA agreed to a new package of media rights deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon prior to the 2024-25 season, and a popular inaugural run of the NBA Cup gave the league another selling point in negotiations with those partners. The NBA also earns revenue from Emirates’ naming rights sponsorship, and there are more untapped sponsorship opportunities associated with the tournament.
This always happens. Opponent’s star is out and they win 😳🤔
opponents star plays we always win
As frustrating as it has been to lose the last two games to teams whose line ups are more decimated than ours, there’s nothing a fan can do but wait and try to have patience that we will play better when we get our guys back and that maybe a move is coming.
I do think the run and gun style, which won us a few games we might not have taken, can only take you so far. It’s not wearing down teams as much as I hoped. Last night, it could even be said, the Knicks beat us at our own game. As time goes by, we may find some teams are adjusting to us and can either run just as well, or can defend against us so well that they slow us down to last years version of the Heat. There is no substitute for talent, and talent in all aspects of the game, all positions.
We are fortunate so many players have stepped up and exceeded expectations. But, even so, we are still short a big man, and even the announcers last night on the Prime Network telecast said so, and they said that even with Bam back that it still is a problem. It needs to be addressed and as soon as possible.
Well, yeah, its clear, that the team is heavily shorthanded in front court. That was a winnable game, which was lost because of that. Not the first one.
Besides loosing games, there are other bad consequences. Ware is playing too many minutes, which shows in concentration lapses. Nico as a center probably makes him ineffective on the other side of the court. Its just not his game.
Still, the rest of the team is nothing short to be brilliant.
norm jjj wiggy fonzi pelle cant ask for more 5 pleasant surprises.ware little disappointing thought hed be better on the defensive side.dav and dru have been acceptable not great.bam out but hes not a diff maker..if we cant get a ss which to late now get some size trade herro for some size
We won’t know how good this team is until Herro and Bam are back. Hopefully, Nov 17th vs Knicks or 19th vs Warriors. Still need another rotation big Pat. Jovic and Johnson aren’t cutting it?
herro will not help we have enough scoring one of the best in the association.we need a rebounder or 2 .believe goldiin could help but the stubborn wont put him out there.with one big on the roster with bam out theres no reason not to play him sun.if hes a jovic bust than send his ars back to g league.we need some d and rebounding norm jjj wiggy are point getters than can guard.,pelle fonzi to lesser degree can guard.points not at a premiun defense and especially rebounding are.
I believe Herro will fit very well and will make us better. Regarding Goldin, I trust Spo. There must be a good reason why he doesn’t play him even in this situation. I am afraid we need to be patient until the front office gets us a big that we need so much. It might take some time. I am not happy about this situation, but at the same time I prefer to wait until they get a good player that will make us better than settling for whoever is available and won’t be a good addition.
I m sure there is a plan about that. First important date is, I believe, December 12th, when Heat can sign a free agent without getting into tax. From there on, just waiting for the right opportunity and right player. There is Rosiers expiring contract, and a lot of good assets available.
If Heat can be around 50% in mid. December, I would call that a successful strategy. I m sure most of us here expected less with that schedule.
watching wemby vs curry fun game dont get to watch ss on our team
watching wemby play its fd up he wound on the spurs.a ss like that should be on charl wash.nba rigged that
Ridiculous conspiracy theory. Try to get over it.
no its not fn rigged . robinson (not unc) duncan (not Unc) and maybe the best of the 3 wemby ,when those douches just flip that card little fishy.thats ok i got me a wade out of it.u finish last you get first pick where i come from thats the way u do it tanking or no tanking
Nah. Disagree. I would answer more in depth but I have been abducted by aliens (the outer space kind, not illegal).
spobot spobot spobot vlad vlad vlad