Aside from the shade of blue worn by their opponent, the Miami Heat’s losses on Thursday and Friday night were the same.
A double-digit lead exploded. An inability to get close to a Western Conference contender on the road. Providing a platform for an All-Star to make his case for a 2023-24 MVP. A stunning performance from an elder statesman.
With the NBA playoffs approaching, should Heat fans be worried about Friday’s 107-100 loss to the Thunder and Thursday’s 114-108 loss to the Mavericks? These losses came after a recent loss to the Denver Nuggets. The Heat have lost their last three games to playoff contenders.
“We’re going to get better through this,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said Friday night.
Losses against elite teams are nothing new. Miami has the 20th-worst record in the league (3-17) against opponents with a top-10 point differential, according to Cleaning the Glass. Shouldn’t that seem unsettling? After all, he’s the one they’ll have to beat to avenge their loss in the NBA Finals last season. Who cares how they perform against the hapless Wizards at home on Sunday night, or against the dregs of the NBA going forward?
Fans can take solace in recent wins over the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and New Orleans Pelicans, but that was before injuries to Kevin Love and Tyler Herro.
Perhaps their presence could have stopped the Thunder from going up 17-0 in the third quarter to overcome an 11-point deficit or changing momentum in the fourth quarter to prevent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from scoring 10 of his 37 points in the Final 3 :04 to take control. The lasting image of that loss was a putback by Gilgeous-Alexander to give the Thunder a 104-97 lead with 1:36 to play. He stood still, staring at his dagger as the Heat’s Terry Rozier stumbled to close.
The recoil, the dagger, the crowd roar and the Heat’s eventual loss was the same song and dance that Luka Doncic performed the night earlier when he had a 35-point triple-double.
At this rate, who knows how much damage Denver’s Nikola Jokic will inflict on Miami at home on Wednesday. Could he pull off another 28-point, 16-assist masterpiece like he did in Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals?
Miami should hope not.
By losing four straight games to playoff contenders, players’ confidence could start to wane. Spoelstra, meanwhile, could find himself tinkering at a time when other contenders have a solid idea of how they want to play.
Stellar offensive performances from Terry Rozier and Jaime Jaquez Jr. should be encouraging, but questions remain about how Tyler Herro, currently sidelined with a foot injury, will fit in upon his return.
From a different perspective, Miami need have you understood everything? Just take last year. The Heat were 4-6 in February and 7-8 in March, then turned conventional wisdom on its head and used the momentum of a 4-1 start in April to bulldoze the elite of the ‘Is on his way to an NBA Finals appearance.
But hoping for another playoff turnaround of the magnitude of last season isn’t exactly a plan. There’s also an argument that this year’s team is stronger than last year’s.
Even after a back-to-back stretch that saw Jimmy Butler commit a season-high six turnovers and Bam Adebayo go 1 of 9, the margin between the Heat and their playoff-caliber opponents was narrow.
“There’s a lot of good things to take away and none of us want to talk about it or feel that way, it doesn’t matter right now, because we’re competitors,” Spoelstra said. “But by the time we get back to Miami, even the head coach can see there are good things happening in our locker room.”
