(Photo via NBA.com)
The Miami Heat snapped their five-game losing streak on Thursday in a win against the Brooklyn Nets, but staying in the win column didn’t last very long. On the second night of a back-to-back, they failed to get any momentum going again as they suffered another disappointing loss to the rival Boston Celtics inside TD Garden, 129-116.
By halftime, the game was tied despite Miami struggling to shoot the ball. They even remained in striking distance by the end of the third quarter, until the Celtics completely pulled away in the final period. Derrick White’s 33 points and Jaylen Brown’s 30 points, respectively, completely torched the Heat defense. White nailed nine of his 14 3-point attempts. Sharpshooting Sam Hauser added 15 points off the bench.
As for the Heat, only one man really showed up ready to play. And that was Kel’el Ware, who remained in the starting lineup for the second straight game.
Ware put up another dominant statline of a 24 points and 14 rebounds double-double on 8 of 12 shooting. He also showcased his offensive versatility by spreading the floor with hitting 6 of his 7 3-pointers.
Unfortunately, not many others showed up. The Heat were shorthanded going into the night with just 10 players available, after starters Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell were late scratches due to injury. Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson also remained out.
That led to rookie point guard Kasparas Jakucionis getting the opportunity for his first career start. He only went 5 of 13 from the field, but still added 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists while displaying a natural feel to the game in his encouraging 36 minutes.
Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell each struggled heavily with their shooting. Adebayo added a 16/10 double-double of his own, but he appeared passive in looking to generate offense. Powell shot just 7 of 21 overall (33%) to total 18 points, to go along with an abysmal 1 of 11 from deep. Although he has been banged up and playing through minor injuries recently, that type of inefficiency is never going to get the job done as the Heat’s leading scorer.
Miami limped to 39% shooting overall as a team as the Celtics scorched their defense with 54% on the night. The Heat also shot 39% from 3-point range to Boston’s 49%. The offense has clearly dipped over these past few weeks, and with Herro sidelined with another injury— they aren’t any answers in sight. This would have been a significant win to jump the Celtics in the standings and secure back-to-back victories. Instead, the Heat fall to 15-13 on the season and sit at the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed.
The next game will be another daunting task against an East contender versus the New York Knicks inside MSG on Sunday.
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According to longtime reporter Marc Stein, the Miami Heat reportedly made their case to the NBA that they should get back the 2027 first round draft pick they sent to Charlotte in the 2023 trade for Terry Rozier.
“The Heat, of course, have argued that the 2027 first-round pick they surrendered to Charlotte to acquire Rozier should stay in Miami because it was not disclosed by the Hornets or the league at the time of the teams’ swap in January 2023 that the 31-year-old was under scrutiny for alleged illegal gambling.”
If the NBA were to give the Heat their 2027 pick back, it would allow them to offer up to four first rounders in a trade for a superstar if need be, along with multiple pick swaps, young players and the necessary matching salaries.
Last night in his post game interview, Spoelstra said Kel’el Ware “shouldn’t be hunting for 3-pointers” after Ware finished with a season-high 24 points and 14 rebounds on 6-7 shooting from 3-point range. Ware is currently tied for 7th in the NBA with a 3-point average of 45.6%. Meanwhile, Spo is encouraging Bam to shoot more 3’s. His current 3 point average is 33.0%
WTF??? Did I miss something here?
I think Spo must have raided some hhh member’s stash. That seems like a sposcratcher (is that term copyrighted?).
HAPPY FOR THE MIAMI HURRICANES!! Great defensive game and biggest win since the glory years.
I’m glad we won, even though the kicker, and Mario almost gave it away. But I digress, let’s go Canes!
Me too. That was an excellent team they beat. This is the closest we’ve been to really being back in like twenty plus years.
I’m going to say it as clearly as possible. Someone has to spell it out. I’ll take all the slings and arrows….
#Heattiowhite!
We have too many white players. We need to have two less, at the least. A good place to start is trade Ty and his expensive contract, which is sure to go higher. Even if he doesn’t bring back as much as we like, it is the logical place to start. We don’t need him. Powell is better than him and Kaspar needs to play also. Kaspar already looks to be just as athletic, and he makes more effort on defense and will likely be better on that side of the ball. That alone makes up for any possible loss on the offensive side. Kaspar’s physical strength is or eventually will be more congruent with the role he is given than Ty, who you can bulk up and he’s still too gaunt and injury prone. Most of all, his contract doesn’t eat up all the other things we are trying to do to make this team competitive.
Next, Jovic is the logical choice. Where he goes, I don’t know. The stupidity of his contract is on the GM. Time for Pat to continue to try to get himself out of the mistakes he boxes himself in with. But, Jovic, at this point, isn’t an NBA player.
Furthermore, I I’ll say it. There’s a collective inefficiency when too many whites are on a team and also when three or more are on the floor at the same time. It’s the truth. Go thru the box scores on any given night and the team with the most whites usually loses much more often. That held true last night, even with OKC, with one exception. The Bulls have some terrific white players. Yes, they still aren’t a good team, but Vuc, Buzelis, Giddey, Collins and Huerter are all very good, all better at their positions than most of our white guys. The same is true of the Lakers who didn’t play last night. So, it’s not just about the skin color, and you can have four white guys, but they all have to be good to very good. And, still, even the Bulls have one too many, even though all of them can play.
But, of our white guys, two can clearly play, Ty and Jaime. And one looks to be the real thing in Kaspar. But, Pelle and Simone are marginal, and Jovic isn’t even that. So, it’s the quality of the players too.
I will take the umbrage. I am now willing to talk about the things everyone criticizes you for even saying. In this group, for whatever reason, only hfl and I have the courage to say what everyone knows from the history of the game and how it’s played out in the box scores every night.
I don’t know why Riley picks the players he does. Some say it’s just coincidence while he goes after the best player available. I question that, as it is a statistical outlier to end up with a half white team over the last four years when you take into account all the players available. I do know we are mediocre again for the third year counting and I do know that some people are Riley apologists who are clearly living in the past. We could do better with a new GM. I say that without equivocation.
Go Heat! Make this team great again.
Her we go again!
I m done with discussion this, but I m curious about one thing.
What makes you write something like that after the game where three of our regularly playing pure brothers and the brown one takes the night off, and only one of such type plays as he should?
It’s not a one night thing. It’s at least a four year issue, only obfuscated by Jimmy’s greatness.
I always say I wish we were a different team in a different city. You would never hear anything about this subject from me. This is almost only pertinent to the Heat. I am sorry to bring it out but someone has to.
And, finally. there will be a time when you admit, even if only in your private thoughts, that I am right.
Now the “brown one” is being thrown into the mix?
It’s a rainbow
Chameleon type, actually. Worse he plays, whiter he is.
Not the other way around?
Nope.
The way he plays, Mexico is practically in Europe, while a month ago, when he was good, was basically a part of US.
You don’t know the half of it. One thing I do know is that most NBA fans are not racists. We just have different ways of communicating our opinions. We should all try to be a little more culturally sensitive and positive in the future.
Being a sports fan is being able to escape from reality when you need the break. In sports and in life, I prefer to look positively toward tomorrow rather than wasting my time dwelling on yesterday.
That colour debate surfaced lately around here reminds me a bit on the flat earth one.
The are only to options for me to response on that… with sarcasm or leave this place.
So I go with sarcasm… for now.
I have a good life, so I don’t need break from that, as long I m able to avoid things which angers me (like politics, obviously).
Basketball is just fun for me.
But glass half full thing we have in common.
Haha
Okay, just for fun, I will cherry pick some names from different drafts.
In 2008, he took Beasley. It probably would have been better to take Love, Gallo, Brook Lopez (maybe even Robin), or Dragic.
In 2014, we got Napier. Bogdanovic or that Jokic guy would’ve been better.
In 2019, we got Herro. Would we have been better with Langford, Doumbouya, Okoke, Thybulle, Grant Williams? N Alexander Walker is having a solid year, but it’s the first solid year he’s had .
Perception and facts are sometimes mutually exclusive. My problem with Riley is his previous habit of constantly trading our draft picks. We had none in several years I looked at. Fortunately, it seems he now knows picks are important for player development and as chips.
Riley was never like he is now. He changed. And it was around 2019 or the next year that our rosters started to reflect it.
I understand your frustration, but it goes beyond race. However, since you are on the subject:
I agree Herro should be traded. A two-way point guard such as Dejounte Murray) would be preferable.I also believe Fontecchio should be gone when his contract expires. Jovic should be traded next summer, if his mojo hasn’t returned and if there is a taker for his 4 year $62M contract.I disagree that players on inexpensive rookie contracts (black, white, mixed race or other) should be traded before their contracts are up. I can think of several players who did not blossom until they were well into their rookie contracts… and in some cases after their rookie contracts.In addition to Herro, Fontecchio and Jovic, non-whites such as Rozier, Wiggins and Johnson should also be gone by next season.That leaves Bam, Powell and Mitchell.Unless a trade for a ss is available by the trade deadline (at a reasonable price) the best Miami will be able to do is extend Powell (hopefully before his asking price jumps from 3 years/$77.4M to 4 years/$128.5M) and wait until next summer to see what players are available for trade and in the draft.
Meanwhile, the Rozier situation should be resolved, one way or another and his $26.6M salary will be off the books. If the NBA gods are smiling on Miami, the Heat will be returned its 2027 draft pick and a portion of the money it has spent on Rozier’s salary the past 2.5 seasons. Furthermore, if Wiggins is not traded by the February 5, 2026 deadline, he will hopefully opt out and return to the Warriors or sign with a team such as the Lakers (which will free up another $30.2M).
I do not believe Miami should break up the team of Bam and Ware. The front court tandem (one of the better ones in the NBA) will only improve with time. The team should also make every effort to retain the core of Bam, Ware, Powell, Mitchell and Jaquez. I see Bam, Ware and Powell as starters with Mitchell and Jaquez as solid anchors on a second unit.
The real question is, what can Riley do to turn Herro, Wiggins, Rozier, Jovic, Fontecchio, Johnson and a draft pick into 2 more solid starters (a PG and an SF) and a solid back-up PF/C? A team such as New Orleans may have all 3 answers.
P.S. I don’t care if the solutions are black, white or green. It is curious to note that of the six non-black players on the Heat, four are European (Fontecchio, Jovic, Jakucionis and Larsson), one (Jaquez) is mestizo (half white/half Mexican) and only one (Herro) is an American born white player. Maybe a good compromise would be to focus on trading for, drafting and recruiting just light-skinned mulattos and mixed race European players in the future (such as Wemby), so as not to offend people too much.
Lol, a little levity is a good thing!
Actually, I think the real problem is that the NBA has far too many white fans. If the NBA can do something to reduce the number of white players in the league by 50%, or more, maybe it will also reduce a proportionate number of white fans.
Sign me up
Probably true. Its similar as with European players. I would never start watching NBA if our players wouldn’t play there.
Exactly. I would have never started watching the Heat if Goran Dragic hadn’t been traded to Miami. It’s funny, but when I hear Jakučionis talk during interviews, he reminds me a lot of a young Dragic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXdb2gCv8P8
A slightly bigger and far more skilled copy of Goran.
Skinny and fast kid, speaking English with strong accent. The difference is, that he still has all his teeth.
I put it out there so I respect all your responses and opinions even if they don’t agree with mine.
Actually, your thoughts and mine very much align. I just want Ty and Niko traded, not anyone else, but for totally different reasons. Ty, because Powell and now KJ amply replace him and he isn’t worth his contract.
I’m also excited about KJ and his potential. I liked a lot about how he moves, his size and body type, and his clear athleticism and effort.
Im just asking for us to try to find the best possible players and to have those players earn their keep.,
Actually, I would like to see Herro traded for entirely different reasons. He’s injury prone, his defense sucks, his defensive effort is directly proportionate to his success on offense, he is not a closer and he is a bit of a ball hog.
His defense and defensive effort are exactly the same reason I would hate to see Miami trade for another one-way player like Morant, Young or Ball (LaMelo). Miami cannot afford to carry a PG who is a defensive liability unless his name is Doncic, Curry, Maxey or Brunson.
In addition to my 3 draft class analysis above, I just did a little more research. Of the last 10 Heat first round picks, 6 were black, 3 were white, and 1 was Latino (Jaquez).
It’s like no one understands that and they just deflect and try to make it about race. Some bring up other yt players and what they do or can’t do. I’ve been saying exactly what you’ve said for years, Mia have 1 too many it’s not about race it is what it is. Pat is living vicariously through them, it’s why he paid jovic have picked them in abundance during the draft and why he has not traded herro (despite the team literally making it to an nba finals without him) if he were on any other team he would’ve already been traded He sees a little of himself in them
Thanks for responding. There have always been three of us with the courage to say what everyone else sees. I don’t even mind how they expand the argument to things we never said or talked about to the point where the things we really did say are lost and everything sounds ridiculous. I’m beyond that. This site needs us for our honesty. I wish things weren’t like they are but they are and it is a fairly unique situation in the NBA. The only irony, for me, is my whole life is about social justice and fairness. I do wish these folks knew I blog on another site daily where none of these issues have ever come up, not one word.
Okay, so the rest of us don’t have courage? Because we see it somewhat differently? There is truth both ways. As you see above, I have laid out certain facts relative to drafts, including pointing out that in the last 10 first round picks, 6 blacks, 3 whites, 1 Latino. That’s not opinion or perception, it’s facts. I understand what you see and say, but if every white player on our team had the skill set of Doncic, Jokic, Nash, Dirk, Stockton, would there be any discussion about the racial makeup of this team? I think not. To me it’s about the talent level or lack thereof. For every Jovic or Simone, we can find a Winslow or Pittman.
That’s truth that there are plenty of below average black players too. But, we don’t have the high quality white players you mention.
Of the 6 white guys we have accumulated, only two, Jaimie and Ty, are even pretty good, one, KJ, has potential, and the rest are below average. And Ty gives it back on the d and is hurt all the time. And having these guys hurts us as our team is mediocre, third year running. Our black players are our really good players, our top players are, in order, Norm, Bam, Kel’el, Davion, and Andrew, then comes the first white guy. The drop off with the rest of our white players, of which we have the highest amount in the league, is pretty steep. That is a fact that anyone watching can easily see. Ask anyone from any other town and they will say what I am saying.
So, I do appreciate what hhhfl said because he is right. And quite frankly, you and others have treated him and hfl badly at times for having the guts to tell it like it is. You and others have made a lot of snide remarks on this subject. We try to tolerate you all and live in harmony and we never attack back at you guys but I have watched this go on for years now.
And it does take a lot more courage to go against the grain and tell people what they don’t want to hear, especially when it is so indicated. And I appreciate hhhfl and hfl and all the others who had the courage to give you the truth.
I can’t tell you what to think, but I will say I disagree with you on this subject.
Jaquez goes 5-15, BLAME HERRO. Powell goes 7-21, BLAME HERRO. Kas goes 5-13, BLAME HERRO. Simone goes 4-13, BLAME HERRO. Dru goes 2-10, BLAME HERRO.
Let me give a reality check based on facts. The Heat have leveled off for these reasons:
Opposition started playing zone to slow down our pace.
Teams adjusted their defense against Jaquez.
Powell came down to earth. He was ss level early on.
Simone started the season on fire from distance. He has shot 31% in his last 10 games.
The team, lacking a legitimate backup center, has to stagger Bam and Ware for much of a game, taking away from their efficiency when together.
Everybody was giddy when the team was 11-4 and 14-7 (3-3 with Herro). The race bs subsided because we were doing so well. There was much praise in that period for what Riley had accomplished. Hfl changed his prediction from 41-41 to 50+ wins. My prediction before the season was 45-37. I am sticking with that and will not get irrationally high when they’re winning or irrationally low when they’re not. So far, the season is going as I expected. I am looking forward to trades that will bolster the weakest areas.
The race bs is back! And I’m not backing down anymore. I’m tired of this mediocrity and the race bs is playing a part in it. Yes, a Butler superstar could cover it up but we don’t have that privilege anymore.
I agree with all your comments. My original assessment was 45-37 but I lowered it to 44-38 about a month ago. We see a lot of the same things. I don’t blame Ty even though I have said everything I can to get us to trade him.
What’s wrong is simply collective strength. Analysts get lost in the weeds of our pretty good players and often lose the ability to compare and contrast with other teams in a league where being just good isn’t good enough.
You are excellent at keeping an even keel when the waves are going with us or against us.
I have been for trading Herro even before he missed so many games. The extension issue was on my mind for a player who, imo, should not be paid any more than he is now. But to move him, it has to be in a package.
So far, the season is going better then expected. A lot of quality basketball. Not lately, though, that’s true.
Correct
Well, maybe as expected.