(Photo via Miami Heat/X)
The Miami Heat have dropped their second straight game to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the span of four days. Despite a strong startâand Tyler Herroâs returnâ the Heat suffer their largest defeat of the season with a final score of 122-94.
Miamiâs offense looked encouraging to begin the game, coming out to a 29-27 first quarter advantage. However, they went completely cold as the game went on. Minnesota had a dominant 61-40 second half advantage. This was led by Anthony Edwardsâs game-high 26 points on 45% shooting and 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Rudy Gobert also feasted on the glass, as the Wolvesâ big man submitted a dominant 13 points and 17 rebounds double-double.
For the Heat, Norman Powell was the lone 20+ point scorerâ which was the same notion in the previous Timberwolves loss this past weekend. Virtually nobody else showed up for Miami offensively.
Outside of Powell, the remaining starters of Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kelâel Ware combined for an atrocious 11 of 42 shooting. That figure is good for just 26%.
The Heat have now lost five of their last six matchups versus the Timberwolves.
After a 13-game absence, Tyler Herro recorded 17 points, 9 boards and 3 assists on 7 of 15 from the field in his 29 minutes in a bench role. Coach Erik Spoelstra opted to ease Herro back into game action and be a focal point of the second unit. He had the second-worst plus-minus on the team, as the Wolves outscored the Heat by 25 points in Herroâs minutes. Itâs unclear if the former All-Star will remain coming off the bench moving forward.
Nikola Jovic, who also received an extended bench role with 26 minutes, struggled heavily. He looked out of control at points with the ball in his hands. He added just 9 points with three turnovers. Spoelstra went with mainly a three-man bench rotation with Herro, Jovic and Pelle Larsson. Dru Smith received just six minutes of playing time. Jaime Jaquez Jr. was unable to suit up after tweaking his ankle in the previous game.
Miami shot just 36% overall as a team to the Wolves 45%, along with 32% on 12 of 37 from 3-point range. The inefficient offense was a clear issue. However, Minnesotaâs physicality in beating them up down low was an even bigger problem. The Timberwolves punished the Heat with 62 paint points and a 64-50 rebounding advantage. This was courtesy of Gobertâs elite efforts on the glass, as mentioned.
The double big lineup with Adebayo and Ware were nonexistent on both ends of the floor in this matchup.
A clear discouraging setback after Miami seemed to finally stack some wins together again. Instead they will lose their second out of the last three games and fall to a 20-17 record. Their next opportunity to bounce back again will be Thursday against the Chicago Bulls.
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We got exposed. Some of our players were clearly overwhelmed by the level of physicality and aggression that the Wolves bring. And, the Wolves are just one of several teams that play at that level. You learn a lot about players in a game like this as it is a league where to get to the top being good isnât good enough. Of particular concern was our defense and our vulnerability to bully ball.
The illusions, the false comfort in beating the softer teams, they are gone for a night. But, the Bulls, without Giddey, may bring those delusions of grandeur out again. There are quite a few bad teams in this league, as the parity is not high. So, for a mediocre team like us, the season is going to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. What I am saying is we are who we are, a play in level team, and Jaimie would help but not move the needle that much.
If we truly never tank, then building a roster that has a first round playoff ceiling should not be enough, at least not after three years of this stuff. The purgatory of drafting in the mid-teens and acquiring only rotation level talent and never starter level talent, eventually wears out its welcome too.
Iâm not sure I wouldnât prefer tanking in the big picture. I mean, honestly, who can we trade that gets us enough back that we will truly improve much? Maybe there is hope that the league will award us something for the Rozier fiasco. And maybe we can fleece someone like we did with Powell. But, other than that, there are no real paths towards putting out there an upper echelon roster. The pursuit of a superstar will likely weaken us enough now and for the future that the net effect will not get us deep into the playoffs.
This team needs more. Change, even with some short term pain, and even with the risks it entails of not fixing things, gives us more hope than the status quo. We learned a lot last night if we open our eyes and see it for what it is, which is the first step towards improvement.
Excellent analysis 30. You are exactly right. It is very difficult to build a top tier team without your own top tier first round picks or no picks at all.It is truly NBA purgatory.
The best Riley can do is to keep younger players, trade older players (e.g. over 30) for younger players and/or draft picks or allow contracts to expire and use the money to bring in younger free agents.
It will be interesting to see what Riley does. Sooner or later, he will need to take a risk (or two).
jimmy bron bosh shaq zo not home grown
Here are some interesting statistics:
Conclusions:
At minimum, Miami needs additional scoring from the starters and better team rebounding. These issues need to be addressed by Riley before the trade deadline in order for the Heat to avoid being a play-in team for the 4th year in a row.
when u close with jjj norm bam ware dav u should beat 80% of the teams .misisng jjj is huge dude shoots like 59% from field wahta great player he is.so lets wait toget him back to see what we can do with proper use of personnel and ware getting more mins and more touches
I see why the mods didn’t make a game thread. Herro looked good off the bench, but didn’t change the outcome. One thing for certain is we’re not a top tier team, the wolves ate us up. Certain players need to play better, also I hope, and pray the godfather makes a trade for some talent that will make us better đ.
Absolutely. Must have a ss/closer. It is what it is until Riley makes it what it can be
.a ss is a guy who says give me the fn ball theres nobody that can stop me.and usually it happens.norms the closest thing we have to one and hes not even close to being one.theres maybe 10-12 in the association and i do consider playoff prime jimmy one. when he was cooking in the playoffs.weve seen wade and bron just take over games thats what we need.getting good players is nice but doesnt get u jewelry..kd was out there thats the guy we should have gotten .bad pat for the last few years.
Thank you, Godfather. Thank you, Godfather. Bad Pat the last few years.
While, as of today, you might be willing to part with Ware, you recently said he should be untouchable. You didnât even want to include him in a package for Giannis. And I agree. For the recordâŚ.
In addition to rookie center Ware, the Phoenix Suns wanted significant future draft capital, specifically including Nikola JoviÄ, to complete a Kevin Durant trade with the Miami Heat, but Miami was unwilling to part with both JoviÄ and Ware.
If we had given up Ware AND âsignificant future draft capitalâ, we would be at a major talent disadvantage for years.
Who is most attainable that would fit our system?
system bs get more fn talent.dav is starting to really piss me off.dude has lightning quickness killer crossover and all he does is drive and kick when he can blow by just about anybody in nba.if top 15 was really a top 15 hed sit down with dav and explain to him what yours truly is saying here.take it to the hoop they cant stop u.most of the time.
Earth to hfl, Spo s a top 15 coach because he earned it. Earned it the same way Kerr, Auerbach, Jackson, and Riley earned it. The same way Walsh with Montana and Rice, or Noll with Bradshaw, Mean Joe, Swann, Harris, Bellicheat with Brady and Bronkowski, Reid with Mahomes and Kelce, even Shula with Griese, Warfield, Csonka earned it. Stop making believe that this isnât the standard way to winning 90% of the time.
again coaching in football matters.again coaching in bball doesnt matter.it is determined by the players.brady was a 6th rnd pick if hes drafted by the fins hes prob ryan tannehill.belicheat made brady.u can develop players in football with good coaching.in bball its pretty much raw talent.look at darnold with a crappy org like the jets and he went to minn now s eattle and hes playing allpro level.mayfield with cleve garbage now playing well tampa.i give very little credit to spo all to the players.again last time we bring it up coaching doesnt mean much in bball it does in football.