Making mistakes

The Heat’s offense took a step backward on Sunday, committing 22 turnovers in its 91-82 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Entering the game, one of the biggest differences in the Heat’s three-game wining streak at home and its three-game losing streak against the Warriors, Clippers and Nuggets was a significant dip in turnovers. But that trend ended against the Bucks.

“It was a physical game and they got up and into us and got us a little bit out of our comfort zone,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Some of those turnovers were forced and some of them were sloppy.”

The Heat averaged just 11 turnovers in wins against the Spurs, Lakers and 76ers. During its three-game losing streak on the West Coast, the Heat averaged 19 turnovers. Before Sunday’s game, Spoelstra acknowledged the Heat’s improvement in reducing mistakes.

“Our film sessions, everyone is taking ownership of it to make more simple, fundamental plays and get those numbers down,” he said.

Then the Heat imploded on the second night of a back-to-back. The Heat is averaging 18.25 turnovers in losses this season and 15.54 turnovers in victories.

“You can certainly make a case that in our four losses [before Sunday] and in particular our three losses on the road, if our turnovers were down where they were the last three games … that those three games would have played out much differently,” Spoelstra said before Sunday’s game. “And our guys understand that very clearly, that we have to take care of the ball.”

Before Sunday’s game, the Heat was averaging 13.85 turnovers at home and 18.75 turnovers on the road.

“We’re getting seven or eight more possessions this year and if we’re coughing up six or seven or eight more possessions that adds up to 15 possessions a game,” Spoelstra said. “If we’re doing it the right way, that really can be dynamic.”

New cheat sheets

During the three-game losing streak out west, Spoelstra broke down the Heat’s turnovers into three categories — carelessness, continuity and attacking — and vowed that the teams’ numbers would improve. Always open to innovation, the Heat’s coach fashioned quarterback-style wristbands for his point guards to help solve the problem.

When the Heat returned home from the road trip, Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole had specialized cheat sheets awaiting them for practices and shoot-arounds. Spoelstra said Chalmers and Cole wear the wristbands “so they can access the information quickly.”

“It looks just like a quarterback’s,” Chalmers said. “Something Peyton Manning or one of them will wear.”

Spoelstra mentioned the wristbands unprovoked but then seemed reluctant to talk about them further.

“Oh, no,” Spoelstra said when asked about the idea. “Now this is going to be a story?”

He then added, “So they’d learn the system. It’s not a gimmick.”

Chalmers says the idea behind the wristbands is “with more repetitions you get used to” a specific play and know “when to run it.” The wristband-method seems geared more toward helping Cole rather than Chalmers. Cole, after all, had little time to familiarize himself with the Heat’s system between the end of the lockout and the start of the regular season. Spoelstra said he hopes the wristband “burns it into his mind.”

Skiles on Wade

It’s become standard operating procedure now that every visiting coach is asked some variation of the question, “How is the Heat different without Dwyane Wade?”

Bucks coach Scott Skiles on the hot-button topic: “They’re obviously much better with Dwyane. Dwyane Wade is Dwyane Wade. LeBron does so much offensively, he can make up for the absence of almost anyone.”

JOSEPH GOODMAN