The Heat are having an outstanding season. But some of their recent losses are on the unexpected side of things. Here’s the Miami Herald reporting:
When asked to explain Monday’s ugly overtime loss to the Cavaliers, Heat guard Goran Dragic attempted to simplify a confusing result.
“They shut us down on offense, and we just didn’t play defense,” Dragic said.
Both things are true, with the Cavaliers rallying from a 22-point third-quarter deficit. But there’s only one side of the court that Heat coaches and players were pointing to as the reason for another road loss — defense.
“It looks and it sounds like a broken record,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat returning to Miami to face the Timberwolves on Wednesday to begin a five-game homestand. “Either myself or Bam [Adebayo] or [Udonis Haslem] or whoever, Jimmy [Butler], you want to bring anybody in here and talk after one of these road games, we all sound the same. We have an idea every game on the road what it tends to be: When the shots go dry, do we have the ability to sustain defensively and get enough stops to change the momentum.” …
With Monday’s loss, the Heat fell to 13-18 on the road for the season. In its past 15 road games, Miami is 4-11 with losses to these sub-.500 teams: Wizards, Knicks, Kings, Hawks, and Cavaliers.
The Heat were without Jimmy Butler and some other key players, so it’s not a total surprise that they took a loss. Chalk it up to some minor bumps in the road over the course of a very successful season that should only get better once the team is fully healthy again and also learns to make the most of some impressive recent additions to the their bench.
