Takeaways from the shorthanded Heat’s loss to 76ers. Also, is help on the way?
It turns out eight was not enough for the Miami Heat.
Playing with the NBA minimum of eight available players for the second consecutive game, the shorthanded Heat (4-6) dropped its second straight game 125-108 to the 76ers (9-4) on Thursday at Wells Fargo Center.
Miami was without eight of its players because of the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
“I don’t want to hear anybody say anything about fatigue or anything like that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said to begin his postgame media session. “Our guys were fine. They felt fine. Philly just outplayed us tonight.”
The depleted Heat kept Tuesday’s game against the 76ers close, losing by just three points in overtime.
But Thursday’s matchup turned out to be a blowout, as the Heat’s final lead of the game came in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the 76ers led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter.
Thursday’s loss marked the end of what was scheduled to be a four-game trip for the Heat, but it ended as a three-game trip after Sunday’s game against the Boston Celtics was postponed because Miami did not have the league-required eight available players to play because of COVID-19 issues. The Heat posted a 1-2 record on the trip.
The Heat now returns to Miami for a quick two-game homestand that begins Saturday night against the Detroit Pistons.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the 76ers:
The Heat was forced to play with the NBA minimum of eight available players for the second consecutive game, and the seldom-used young players had to log extended minutes again.
The list of those unavailable for the Heat because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols included Bam Adebayo, Avery Bradley, Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem, Kendrick Nunn and KZ Okpala.
In addition, center Meyers Leonard (left shoulder strain) was unable to play Thursday.
That left the Heat with the league minimum of eight available players it takes to proceed with a game. Those eight, for the second consecutive game, were: Precious Achiuwa, Tyler Herro, Andre Iguodala, Kelly Olynyk, Duncan Robinson, Chris Silva, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent.
Vincent, who played in just one of Miami’s first eight games, finished Thursday’s loss with 21 points on 6-of-17 shooting and eight assists in 35 minutes. The 24-year-old two-way contract guard averaged 22.5 points on 40.5 percent shooting and 5.5 assists in 35.5 minutes during the two games in Philadelphia.
Silva, who played a total of just 10 minutes this season before this two-game stretch, recorded 13 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes. The second-year center averaged eight points, six rebounds and 2.5 assists in 18.6 minutes over the past two games.
Strus, who logged a total of only 12 minutes this season before this two-game span, finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes. The two-way contract forward shot 4 of 12 on threes and averaged 25.8 minutes in the Heat’s two games against the 76ers.
Spoelstra said there was never any thought of finding a way to drop to seven players to force a postponement and avoid playing with such a shorthanded roster.
“The best respect we can give our young guys is to make sure that we emphasize that everything matters,” Spoelstra said. “Winning and losing does matter. And doing enough things to put yourself in a position to win, you have to learn how to do that. These are not just empty minutes to get guys experience and get them touches and get them more reads on how to play offensively. No, there’s accountability to what we want to do defensively. ... But these are great learning moments for our guys to feel it. We have an extremely competitive group in there. Even as young players, they’re competitive.”
The Heat missed its All-Star duo of Adebayo and Butler on both ends of the court, but their absences were especially evident on the defensive end.
Miami wasn’t great offensively, finishing with 108 points on 49.4 percent shooting from the field and 12-of-34 shooting from three-point range. The Heat also shot 16 of 26 from the foul line and committed 20 turnovers.
The offensive rating was 101.9, which is Miami’s fourth-worst single-game offensive rating of the young season.
Herro played an expanded role with Adebayo, Butler and Dragic out. Herro finished with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting, six rebounds and three assists, but all those points came in the first half.
Herro was was held scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting in the second half as the 76ers made a defensive adjustment and switched 6-11 guard Ben Simmons onto him. Back spasms kept Herro from playing in the fourth quarter.
“It’s nothing major,” Herro said of his back. “Just something I’ve been dealing with throughout the week. It tightened up on me throughout the course of the game. But nothing major. I’ll be alright.”
Robinson contributed 22 points with the help of 4-of-8 shooting on threes.
Achiuwa recorded his second consecutive double-double in his second NBA start with 10 points, 11 rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes.
But Miami’s defense could not solve Philadelphia.
Despite a quiet performance from All-Star center Joel Embiid that included just nine points and five rebounds, the 76ers scored 125 points while shooting 53.7 percent from the field and 17 of 37 on threes.
Simmons recorded 10 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a triple-double performance.
Without Adebayo and Butler, the Heat allowed the 76ers to score at a pace of 118 points per 100 possessions in the past two games. For perspective, that’s an offensive rating that would rank second-best in the NBA this season.
“We didn’t do enough good things defensively to keep the game close and you have to credit Philly,” Spoelstra said. “They were picking us up and pressuring us and trying to get us out of our normal timing, and they did a pretty good job of that. But our group is going to be just fine. There are some things that we did well in this game. Our young guys will bounce back. We have a very talented young group of players. We just need to get home, get healthy and get ready for the next one.”
Without a few of its primary ball handlers and facilitators, the Heat was sloppy and the 76ers took advantage.
Philadelphia scored 37 points on 20 turnovers from Miami on Thursday.
Vincent committed a team-high five turnovers in the loss.
“Our turnovers killed us,” Vincent said. “I think at one point I looked up and we had like 15 or 16 turnovers. A lot of those led to Ben Simmons in transition, and that’s where he’s extremely effective. He’s an All-Star, he’s a great talent and he’s extremely effective in transition. A lot of those transitions ended in dunks or kick-out threes. Those hurt us.”
The 76ers received a boost from the return of some of their quarantined players.
While Philadelphia was still without guard Seth Curry and center Vincent Poirier because of the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, the 76ers did get Tobias Harris, Shake Milton and Matisse Thybulle back for Thursday’s game against the Heat. Harris, Milton and Thybulle missed the previous three games because of health and safety protocols.
Harris finished with 18 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Milton was the star of the night with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting and seven assists.
Thybulle finished with eight points, and also contributed on the defensive end with four steals and one block.
The encouraging news for the Heat is its roster could be closer to full strength for its next game.
There’s a possibility that Heat players who are out because of contact tracing purposes could return for Saturday’s home game against the Pistons if they continue to return negative tests. At least one Heat player tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days.
When Spoelstra was asked following Thursday’s loss whether he believes the Heat will get some players back for Saturday’s contest, he said: “I don’t know. I really don’t at this time.”
More clarity on the situation is expected when Friday’s 5:30 p.m. injury report is released.
With the clock seemingly starting this past weekend with the postponement of Sunday’s Heat-Celtics game, players who are determined to be close contacts are expected to be sidelined for seven days in most cases. Players who test positive for the virus likely have to miss at least about two weeks.
The NBA has postponed 10 games since the Dec. 22 start of the season because of the league’s health and safety protocols, and nine postponements have come since Sunday.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 9:30 PM.
