Takeaways from a game the Heat doesn’t lose often. What made the loss to Grizzlies so rare?
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 89-85 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies (18-19) on Wednesday night at FedExForum:
The Heat (22-19) clawed back from a late-game deficit and played another clutch game, but it couldn’t end its busy week with a win. In the process, Miami lost a game it almost always wins.
Wednesday was the second night of a back-to-back set for the Heat. It also marked Miami’s fifth game in seven nights.
“I’m sure it did,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked if he noticed the team’s fatigue in its fifth game in seven nights. “I’m encouraged by just our competitive spirit playing a game in the mud. Possession game down the stretch, everything really did matter.”
The Heat found itself trailing by seven points with 3:39 to play, but Miami responded by scoring seven straight points to tie the game with 1:12 left.
After the teams traded free throws to keep the score tied with less than a minute to play, the Grizzlies had possession of the ball with 8.9 seconds left and no timeouts.
Memphis star guard Ja Morant then drove the length of the court past the Heat’s defense and Jimmy Butler for a game-winning layup with 1.2 seconds remaining. Morant finished with 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
“I got to do my job. I’ll take that,” Butler said of the late-game defensive breakdown. “That’s OK. I’ll be better the next time in that situation, that position to get a stop. That’s what I’m here to do. I did not do that. I’ll shoulder it.”
The Heat still had an opportunity to tie or win the game, but center Bam Adebayo committed a turnover on an inbound pass with 0.6 seconds left. With a timeout remaining, Adebayo attempted to throw a lob pass toward the basket to Butler that Memphis defended well and intercepted.
“I read Jimmy’s route and I predetermined my decision,” Adebayo said. “I definitely should have called timeout.”
But Butler accepted some responsibly for that critical mistake, too.
“Maybe I should have went a different route,” Butler said. “Maybe I should have broke off the play. I think I put Bam in a tough position. It’s a tough position I put him in going off late like that. That’s not on him.”
As a result, Miami had to intentionally foul Memphis’ Kyle Anderson, who made two free throws to seal the win.
Miami’s offense struggled in the loss, scoring just 85 points on 36 percent shooting from the field and 8-of-34 (23.5 percent) shooting on threes.
“We just missed some shots we should have made,” Adebayo said. “I feel like we got some good looks. They just didn’t go in.”
The Heat’s defense was effective, limiting the Grizzlies to 35.3 percent shooting from the field and 10-of-42 (23.8 percent) shooting on threes. But Memphis outscored Miami 19-13 at the free-throw line, which proved to be one of the differences in the game.
It marked just the Heat’s fourth loss since the start of the 2008-09 season when holding its opponent to 36 percent shooting or worse. Miami is 53-4 in such games during that stretch.
It also marked a rare clutch loss for the Heat as of late, which is now 10-3 in its past 13 clutch games and 13-11 in clutch games this season. The 24 clutch games that Miami has played this season is the second-most in the NBA behind only the 27 that the Boston Celtics have been a part of.
A “clutch” game is defined as one that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
“I just think all of these late-game situations, we’ve been in a great deal of them the last eight weeks,” Spoelstra said. “And they always produce great teaching moments the next day. The one thing I know about this group is every time we have one of these situations and we have an opportunity to get better, we look at it, we work on it and it helps us the next time we’re in that kind of situation.”
The loss snapped the Heat’s five-game winning steak and six-game road winning streak. Miami has still won 15 of its past 20 games after a 7-14 start to the season.
Butler was questionable because of a sprained left ankle, but he played through the pain on the second night of a back-to-back.
Butler finished with 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting, seven rebounds and two assists..
Butler, who has missed 14 games this season, turned his ankle on a drive to the basket late in Tuesday’s home win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was fouled on a drive into the paint with 3:26 left and came away from the play with a slight limp.
Butler remained in that game, traveled with the Heat to Memphis and ended up playing 36 minutes Wednesday night.
“With Jimmy, he’s always going to want to go,” Spoelstra said. “So you almost have to have a private conversation with the trainers just to make sure, ‘Alright, is this something that’s safe and not going to have any kind of setback.’ Similarly the way it was with Bam. But Jimmy has dealt with his ankle before and he was able to give it a go.”
Adebayo (15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, 12 rebounds and six assists) and Butler combined to score 39 points on 48.4 percent shooting in the loss. The rest of the Heat’s roster totaled 46 points on 29.3 percent shooting.
Duncan Robinson finished with 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting from deep. Kendrick Nunn scored five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field. Goran Dragic ended the night with six points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field.
The Heat used its depth in its fifth game in seven nights, and veteran forward Trevor Ariza is on his way add to that depth.
With Andre Iguodala out because of left hip soreness, rookie center Precious Achiuwa was back in the Heat’s rotation. Even two-way contract wing Max Strus got in.
Achiuwa’s playing time has dwindled recently and he received his second DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season in Tuesday’s win over the Cavaliers.
But with Iguodala missing his first game because of a hip injury, Achiuwa was the first power rotation player off the Heat’s bench in Memphis.
Achiuwa finished with two points and five rebounds in 10 minutes.
The rest of the Heat’s bench rotation included Goran Dragic, Tyler Herro, KZ Okpala and Strus.
Strus finished with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting in eight minutes. It marked Strus’ first game minutes since a March 2 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Along with Iguodala, the Heat was also without guard Avery Bradley (right calf strain), and forward Moe Harkless (illness) on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the Heat finalized a trade Wednesday with the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire Ariza in exchange for Meyers Leonard and a 2027 second-round pick. Ariza has been participating in the NBA’s COVID-19 testing protocols in advance of the trade, and the hope is he’ll be available to make his Heat debut in either Friday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers or Sunday afternoon’s game against the Pacers at AmericanAirlines Arena.
It has been a little more than a year since the Heat traded Justise Winslow to the Grizzles. But Wednesday marked Winslow’s first game against his former team since the move was made in February 2020.
Winslow, who was drafted by the Heat with the 10th overall pick in 2015, spent the first four-plus seasons of his NBA career with Miami. A back injury and then a hip displacement injury kept Winslow out for 13 months before he made his Grizzlies debut on Feb. 20.
In just his 10th game this season and in his Grizzlies tenure, Winslow finished with five points on 2-of-8 shooting and three rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
“We saw him in the bubble, but he wasn’t playing obviously. So this was a little bit different,” Spoelstra said. “First and foremost more than anything, it’s just good to see him back out there competing and healthy again. We invested a great deal of time into Justise’s development and he invested a lot of time into our organization. I think all that now is behind him, he’s healthy and he can move forward in a great role.”
Spoelstra reached an impressive coaching milestone.
Wednesday marked Spoelstra’s 1,000th career regular-season game as the Heat’s head coach. He became the third coach in NBA history to coach 1,000 or more regular-season games with only one franchise for their entire career, joining Gregg Popovich (Spurs) and Alvin Attles (Warriors).
“I’m just extremely appreciative of this opportunity,” Spoelstra said of reaching that mark. “Every day I want to do my damn best for Pat [Riley] and Micky [Arison] and this organization and these players.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2021 at 11:36 PM.
