The Oklahoma City Thunder bested the Miami Heat 124-112, handing Miami its third-straight loss for the first time since the New Year.
While the Heat also underwent a separate five-game losing streak in December, the Heat are in the middle of arguably their worst three-game stretch of the season. They have lost each of the last three games by double figures — something that hasn’t happened up to this point — with an average point differential of 21.3 points.
The reigning champions outscored the Heat by 17 in the second half, including 64-39 through the first 17:28. The Heat made a mini — fake — run late, ultimately cutting the final deficit to 12 when it could have been much worse.
“We have to be overall tougher with everything,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game. “I felt like we brought a physical toughness. But the mental toughness (is) when the momentum starts to swing the other way, it doesn’t have to be a 12-to-14 to two run. That can be half that. You hold the fort. You don’t fuel it with turnovers or poor defensive possessions.
“We will get better at that. Hopefully, we will be in a lot more of these kinds of close games where we can feel that emotion collectively and respond in a better way.”
Heat have struggled in second halves this season:
Dating back to the Heat’s 28-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last week, Miami has been outscored by 46 after halftime in its three-game losing streak. However, the struggles extend beyond that date.
Miami is toward the middle of the pack of second-half NET Rating for the season (minus-0.8). But they own the seventh-worst NET in second halves since the start of December, including the third-worst since the turn of the calendar.
Spoelstra pinpointed the biggest reason why that was the case in their loss to Oklahoma City.
“Turnovers,” he said. “Offensively, (it) allowed (the Thunder) to get back into it and then take control of it. And then they started to hit threes from that point. But that really diffused any kind of momentum we would have or creating any kind of advantage. … But that’s what OKC does. They’re like us. They can speed teams up. They sped us up, and forced us into an inordinate amount of mistakes on our part.”
The Heat’s turnover rate has ballooned to 17.9 percent since the start of January, regardless of any half. It’s a small six-game sample, but you won’t win games if you’re coughing up the rock on nearly one-fifth of your possessions. It’s one of the four factors for a reason.
Miami will look to continue this four-game gauntlet Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns.
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Watch out now for Philly. With Embiid, if he stays healthy, they will challenge the Knicks, probably beat them. Maybe win it all.
theres not a guy in sports more injury prone than embid though.a dirty player also.go heat
heats biggest problem cant figure out how to maximize maybe wemby jr and bumu know with the two out there rebounding and defense will be very good that alone should get both of them 35 mins.but top 15 loves niko what a dynamic player dumbot thinks he has .lol.gimme the athletic keshad over niko any day of the week.fire spo see what happens pat he will still love his step father who gave him this oppty,talent is not being maximized it was the first bunch of games and then ball hog was inserted.problem #1b zero herro
“Mediocrity never goes away – but neither, I hope, do those who are willing to challenge it.”
~ Milos Forman ~
Whether or not a team should rebuild is the choice every organization has to make at some point. Arison has billions. If he’s not willing to bite the bullet and take a financial hit for a couple of years, maybe he needs to get out of the NBA ownership business. This annual gaslighting process of empty hope and promises has run its course and the fans are getting sick and tired of it. When he starts losing fans, then he’ll know.
It’s one thing to intentionally tank in order to get high draft picks. It’s entirely another one to intentionally accept mediocrity in order to keep your fan base and maintain your revenue stream. For those people, personal greed is much more important than organizational glory. Apparently, Arison made that decision some time ago.
“When you tolerate mediocrity, you get more of it.”
~ Frank Sonnenberg ~
Good stuff Sun. I agree. Especially the use of the gaslighting concept. There is an over-hyping of the good and a downplaying of the not so good that probably every team does, but you see it around the Heat a lot. And, then you see those deficiencies not being addressed because by some miracle, player “growth”, or changes in usage patterns, will fix it.
And then you also see the, do just enough to look like we are trying, phenomenon a lot too. We take one step forward, stay out of the lottery to reach mediocrity, then go no further and act like the job is done.
Thanks 30. Just trying to call em like I see em. I too, got caught up in the run & gun frenzy and had unreasonable expectations of this year’s team. I’ve come back down to earth and see things more clearly now.
For the life of me, I do not understand why Riley is letting Silver stick it to him/the Heat on the Rozier trade. Is it due to incompetence, mismanagement or lack of a spine?
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr. ~
when u add two all star players (jjjj norm).youve got a guy who at times a month ago resembled wemby then .those expectations are risen.but for whatever reason a month later those expectaions have fallen again.so a month of good ball followed by a month of crappy ball.where are we headed for this year with a couple of tweaks to the roster i think we can compete with anybody in the east.first two tweaks quit playing zero and shnozzy.need more athleticism to guard our opponents(keshad).give bam ware 35 mins a game u dumbot.start pelle hes a glue guy good things happen with him,
Spo seemingly every year struggles to put players on the floor where they’re most effective. That’s a huge basic part of a coach’s job. This season is no different. For example …watching Bam dribble between his legs at 3point line isn’t a winning play. Bam’s role should be more of defensive rim protector, intimating rebounding presence vs trying to be an all everything passer & scorer. OKC goes small so Spo goes small – why? Hey maybe go big – duh! Unfortunately we’ll still be witnessing Spo doing random strange things with this roster until season end.
And beyond. I’m going to say that I always bought in that Spo is a great coach, because there is a consensus of experts who think so. But, I’m not sure exactly why. I believe in my heart that in basketball it’s 80-15, more having great players than coaching, with another 5% associated with other factors. In football, it’s 60-35, as your coach plays a bigger role, and in baseball and hockey it’s more like 70-25. Coaching plays a role, but having the talent on the court is far more important. Just a theory of mine with no data to back it up.
So is this team trading for Ja Morant or what?
https://heavy.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/potential-cost-for-ja-morant-trade-revealed/
Trae young didn’t go for a first round pick hell no picks and neither should Ja. If we’re being honest Trae has had more success then Ja has had, Ja never played 70 games in a season while Trae has 3 times, Trae is a better 3 point shooter scorer and assists man than Ja……in all honesty Trae>ja
Two players all I would give up herro and jovic anything more hang up the phone pat
It would be a very hard sell. I think 29 teams would rather get nothing than Herro and Jovic, in part because of their contracts. They would say, give me two seconds rounders over that. If I was GM, I would rather give Niko and Ty away and recoup their salaries, than have them. I am serious. And I would be shocked if there is any market, other than another distressed trade, for them, especially paired.
if there was a market for ty hed be in utah milw port by now.jovic has a market its just east of the atlantic ocean.he could be the doncic of serbia
100% Agree about Trae being more accomplished than Ja
Tyler is an expiring contract next year, so one year shorter than Ja. For less money.
And if not, what are they going to do? Keep making the play-in? what’s the plan here?
should be trying to get the next dwade.instead pat is focused on racial balance.
Jovic can’t be traded because of poison pill contract provision. I posted this before, but I guess you didn’t read it.
Nikola Jović’s “poison pill” provision makes him difficult to trade for the Miami Heat in the current season (2025-2026) because his new rookie extension hasn’t started; for salary matching, the receiving team counts his large average extension salary (around $13.3M), while Miami only counts his small current rookie salary ($4.4M), creating a huge imbalance that hinders trades until the extension officially begins in the next league year. It’s a complicated NBA rule for recently extended first-round picks, making them effectively untradeable in-season for their original teams.
How it Works
Why it’s “Poison”
Team will always be mediocre until they tank period okc spurs Detroit Celtics all have talented players because they tanked hell Washington is becoming a place of destination because of young talent sarr and tre Johnson that’s who players want to play with. But this team is being left behind because of a “culture” when he is no longer here anymore.
The Culture thing is but an anachronism of a three years a play in team’s past.
to much talent to be getting blownout by ind.u cant fire the players so fire the step child.team needs a change asap.top 15 cant get ware bam to work 2 of your top players to me thats a fireable offense.top 15 keeps on playing mr no positionic how many chances u gonna give this guy..fire spobot theres lots good players on team.
Why did Ware play only 16 minutes ? That’s like ninth on the team last night. Spo stifling his growth. Let him play through his mistakes.
whiteside 2.0.
I still think, depending on your expectations, that the teams most glaring issue right now – is Tyler Herro’s fit with the new Spo system.
They’ve lost the last 5 games Herro has played. They are 3-6 overall when he plays. Hard to be a fast break team, when you have to cover the defensive liability that is Herro. Hard to be a fast break team, when the ball just sticks in Herro’s hands.
That’s not to say I have some unrealistic expectations for this team. I thought they were going to be in the mix for the 10th seed this year, so, really they are over performing my expectations, but if they can’t find a way to get Herro in the line-up, without killing the overall performance of the rest of the team, this losing streak, could become extremely long.
They were 14-7 at one point with the Herro games 3-3 at that point. In the 18 games since then, they are 0-3 (as you indicate above) with Herro, and 6-9 when they have played without Herro. Herro does not fit, particularly with the starters, but the recent 6-9 record when he’s not in the lineup indicates the team has been playing like doo doo with or without him after that fast start to the season. Changes are needed.
told u rc ty they were rolling enter oft injured no d ball hog
He’s not changing his tune on herro just like spo and Riley. Soon as Herro is mentioned here comes RC with his cape on to be herros defender and protector from all things negative. Herros knight in shining armor
BS bro. I’m stating absolute facts. Try reading for a change . I am saying Herro isn’t a fit, I am saying trade Herro and don’t pay Herro. I am also saying blaming any player for what happens on the court when that player is not playing is the height of absurdity. Players are playing worse because they’re thinking about Herro? That’s laughable.
Who do you blame in those 15 games when they went 6-9 and he wasn’t on the court? What in the world prevents them from playing the same level when he wasn’t on the court like at the beginning of the season? Please explain the logic. His mere presence on the bench is causing players to miss shots, turnover the ball, and play poor defense? Wow, it’s like Houdini, the Amazing Kreskin, and David Copperfield all rolled into one!
11-3 without, is better than 3-3 with. 6-9 without is better than 0-3 with.
End of the day, Miami isn’t a very good team, but they are currently inarguably worse when Tyler plays.
Maybe it’s more nuanced than I’m making it, but it sure doesn’t look like he fits with this team.
And if the team isn’t going to be good, it’s disappointing that they aren’t fun.
Early in the season, running up and down the court, was entertaining, even when they lost. Now they are just losing in the ugly Jimmy Butler era style, without the playoff dreams.
And when you factor in his impending contract, it’s GM malpractice to force him down the teams throat. But, this is the web Pat has weaved and he’s hemmed in to the latticework.
See, but I believe you are the voice of reason here. The points you make are realistic and entirely valid.
It’s not just turnovers. It’s not that simple. For whatever reason, this team has not meshed since late November. Turnovers are just one of several symptom of a more serious illness.
What is Riley’s vision of the future, both the team’s and his own? His hands are tied with Rozier and the albatross extension he gave Jovic (who can’t be traded until this summer because of his poison pill contract). He should be exploring trades for any of the players who do not have a future with the team.
Bam + Herro + Wiggins should bring in a pretty good haul, to start with
how do u feel about the insertion of herro at beginning of year after team looked great first bunch games?
That is only one factor.
Teams adjusted to Miami’s offense. Spo didn’t adjust in return. Heat is stuck between old system and new, Still playing small ball, still playing P&R, still allowing Herro to slow the game down and ISO more than pass, Bam has been terrible, most players have been inconsistent, Rozier tying up money, Jovic extension, constant line-up changes, Ware having love/hate feedback from Spo, fouls, turnovers, defense, offense, etc., etc., etc.
it all started with ty insertion correct?u had mentioned how much fun the team is having w/o quitter when herro was out.?if it would have just kept the same rotationgoing things would be different.i dont remmeber shnozy being in at the beginning of the season either?
Sorry heat. Can’t blame everything on the white devil. This is a coach/player/team problem. Miami caught teams ill prepared to stop the run & gun offense in November. Teams eventually made adjustments to counter it and Miami failed to react. Up until now, Spo has not developed a successful Plan B, as demonstrated by the teams underwhelming performance. Simply getting rid of Herro won’t get rid of the problem. There is no quick fix. This ailment requires major surgery.
Yes, good observation. It’s more than a Herro problem. It’s at least a two player problem, in that two players need to be upgraded from what we have. But, and here is where you know I take a different stand from those who take the high road, or are at least more willing to say it. Those two players do have to be what we politely refer to as two way players.
I’ve explained my position on this subject in full now and won’t go into it again except to say it remains valid and applicable and will continue to be as long as balls are going thru hoops. And it is a devilishly difficult problem to fix by any other method. So, it’s not the specific players, as you could win with Ty, or even Niko, but Niko would be a ninth or tenth man while Ty a seventh. But, it would require two less of players who have better contract situations in KJ and Fonzi. If I were GM, the two most definite keepers, of the six, would be Pelle and Jaime. Both could fit in well on a championship contender.
1 good month 1 bad month.with a better gm 3rd month could be good.4th month be better and so on.if u need major surgery youve given up on the season already?
Another voice of reason, thank you! I can’t have put it any better.
Spo sounded a little delusional there. The Thunder are not like us. We wish we were like them. We are only like them when we play a weak team, and sometimes lately, not even then. I guess he can’t really say certain things.