Domantas Sabonis’ game-winning putback with 0.7 seconds rewarded the Sacramento Kings a 111-110 comeback win over the Miami Heat Monday evening inside Kaseya Center.
Sabonis’ putback was Sacramento’s 11th offensive rebound of the game and seventh second-chance bucket, an issue that has plagued the Heat through the early portion of the season. They have surrendered at least 11 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points four times after opponents reached those benchmarks just 27 and 29 times, respectively, last season.
Miami was also at the wrong end of another dismal third quarter, getting outscored by 20 points in the frame for the second time this season. They were up 15 after Jimmy Butler’s 14-foot jumper to open the third before Sacramento rattled off a 29-23 run over the ensuing 7:56 to take a 77-76 lead.
Both teams jostled for the lead throughout the game’s final seven minutes. Still, the Heat’s inability to close the game at the charity stripe in addition to timely baskets from Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan resulted in their fate after Butler brought them back.
Butler and Tyler Herro both tallied a game-high 27 points apiece. Butler shot 9-of-19 with six assists and two steals; Herro shot 9-of-18, including 5-of-11 from 3-point range, with six rebounds, three assists and one block.
Bam Adebayo finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and four blocks in 36 minutes; Heat second-round rookie Pelle Larsson showed out off the bench with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc; Terry Rozier had 10 points on 3-of-6 from deep with five rebounds and four dimes.
Monday’s loss marked the Heat’s first loss to a Western Conference foe this season. They will now head to the West Coast for a six-game road trip–four against West teams–looking to seek its first win against a team with a .500 record in 2024-25.
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Spo needs to start lighting a fire under the players’ asses at halftime or Riley needs to light a fire under Spo’s ass!
Miami starts a six game road trip against 6-1 Phoenix. Eight of Miami’s next nine games are against teams that made the playoffs last season. If the Heat come back with a losing record after the road trip, I think it is time for Riley to start thinking about trading Butler for young studs and picks. Houston would love to have him.
Ware needs playing time. Edey had 25 points and 12 rebounds yesterday for Memphis. Ware didn’t even get to play one minute.
Highsmith’s unselfishness is costing him playing time. Heat does not need passive players. If Highsmith and Jovic were more like Jaquez, they could be tearing shit up. Hell, Pelle Larsson shows more aggressiveness than either one of them and he’s a friggin rookie. Pelle looks like he can handle a spot in the rotation over Robinson, Richardson and Highsmith.
Looks like we are getting close to a major re-tooling. Tick, tick, tick.
Change can often be indicated, but change seldom happens in the Heat’s recent past. Though I hope against it, it seems likely will will return with a losing record. If that comes to pass,,the logical conclusion would be we are undermanned. But, will we do something about it? I have lost confidence in Riley’s ability to creatively improve this team. His moves in the recent past have been mostly uninspired. At some point his illustrious past will no longer give him a pass.
the quickest fix w/o trading jim is putting ware at5 and bam at 4.the interior defense and rebounding is twice as good.not as many second chance pts .what have u got to lose.current squd is 6=8 seed try it for 20 games spobot what the f u got to lose.hes not ready tired of that sht see rebound get reboundl.see ball shot block ball shot this is not rocket science .
Adjustments are made at halftime. For whatever reason…the turd quarter happens. Connect the dots…
spodots.with jimmy on the decline spobot will not be as good a coach
Why Jimmy cant play with Bam anymore, or Bam with Jimmy. Lack of shooting around them? Does opposite teams recognised that Heat can be beaten by packing the rim even in case, that somebody hit something from the distance?
Does game changes so much that those two are dinosaurs now?
I really don’t know.