Podcast: What has happened to the once-great, suddenly struggling Miami Heat?
The Miami Heat is no longer one of the best teams in the NBA. Now the Heat is losing to some of the worst teams in the league.
Wednesday was an outright disaster for Miami. The Heat led by 12 points with less than four minutes left and lost 129-126 in regulation to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have the second-worst record in the Western Conference. Monday was a disaster, too. Miami led by 22 with less than 14 minutes left and lost in overtime to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference. Not to be outdone, last Thursday was also a disaster — the Heat blew a five-point lead in the last two minutes to the Atlanta Hawks, who have the worst record in the East.
Miami is just 1-3 since the NBA All-Star Game, 2-7 in February and 12-13 in 2020. Since it started the season 24-8, the Heat is just 12-14 and has slipped from second place in the East down to fourth, and Miami is only a half game up on the Philadelphia 76ers and two games up on the Indiana Pacers.
Things have gotten dark in South Florida, which means it’s the most dour of episode of the Heat Check podcast all season, as David Wilson and Anthony Chiang, the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer, try to diagnose what has gone wrong for Miami since the calendar flipped to the new year. Are there solutions on the roster or is this group of players just fundamentally flawed?
There’s a lot to talk about, including the continued struggles of wing Andre Iguodala. Did the Heat maybe jump the gun in sending point forward Justise Winslow to the Memphis Grizzlies? Did Miami overrate what Iguodala can be at this point?
This leads us all into the biggest question of all: Just what is this Heat team? Is it the group which started the year 24-8, the group which is 12-14 since or something in between?
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
