Heat wastes a late lead and Duncan Robinson injured. Takeaways from painful loss to Wizards
The Miami Heat and Washington Wizards have been two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference during the first month of the season. They’ve also featured two of the NBA’s best defenses.
That led to a competitive game that was an offensive struggle at times, but the Wizards (11-5) rallied to escape with a 103-100 win over the Heat (11-6) on Saturday night at Capital One Arena. The loss ended Miami’s winning streak at four.
The Heat wasted a lead late, as it was ahead by 10 points with 4:42 left in the fourth quarter.
“This league is very humbling,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said. “It’s fragile and just as soon as you think you’re good and you’re high on yourself, you get hit like this. I don’t think we should have lost this game. We did.”
The Wizards responded to the 10-point hole with a 15-2 run to take a three-point lead with 1:43 to play.
Heat center Bam Adebayo was then fouled and made both free throws to cut the deficit to one with 34.8 seconds left.
The two teams then traded free throws, with Kyle Kuzma making two foul shots to push the Wizards’ lead back up to three with 34.1 seconds remaining and Butler hitting both free throws to narrow the deficit to one with 26 seconds to play.
The Heat then tried to force a turnover on the next Wizards possession but ended up fouling Kuzma, who entered as a 51.6 percent free-throw shooter this season. Kuzma again made both foul shots to put Washington ahead by three with 12.4 seconds left.
The Heat had an opportunity to tie the game, but the Wizards jammed up the play out of the timeout with their switching and Butler missed a contested three with 1.9 seconds left.
“They defended it well,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of that late-game sequence. “Sometimes those can get you looks. Often times, you have to create something off the dribble and we weren’t able to do that. That’s a credit to them.”
Miami had one final chance to send it into overtime, as Kuzma missed two free throws with 0.6 seconds left and Adebayo grabbed the rebound and immediately let go of a one-handed full-court heave that banged off the back of the rim from 80 feet away. The last-second attempt would have counted with Adebayo letting it go just before the final buzzer.
Along with leading by 10 with 4:42 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Heat also was ahead by 16 with 7:15 left in the third quarter. The Wizards responded by closing the period on a 24-12 run to cut the deficit to just four entering the final period.
Butler finished with 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The Heat continues its four-game trip on Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons. Miami is 0-1 on the trip.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Wizards:
The Heat has struggled to hold on to fourth-quarter leads at times this season, and the issue popped up again Saturday.
The Heat led by 10 with 4:42 to play. The Wizards closed the game on a 19-6 run to rally for a three-point win.
The Heat missed five of its final six shots and each of its three three-point attempts during this stretch. Meanwhile, the Wizards shot 5 of 7 from the field and 4 of 6 from deep during their late-game surge.
The fourth quarter has been a bit of an adventure for the Heat recently.
In Miami’s matchup against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 6 at FTX Arena, the Heat led by 19 with 5:20 to play and Utah used a 24-6 run to cut the deficit to just one in the final seconds. Miami hung on for a 118-115 victory.
Then in an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Nov. 10, the Heat led by nine points with 4:45 remaining in the fourth quarter before the Lakers forced overtime on their way to the three-point comeback win.
And in a 111-105 win over the Jazz on Nov. 13 at Vivint Arena, Utah scored 18 unanswered points late in the fourth quarter to trim Miami’s lead from 22 to four points in the final seconds. The Heat still managed to come away with the win.
But there was one late no-call Saturday that possibly changed the game.
With the Wizards ahead 101-100 and 14.3 seconds left, Washington guard Spencer Dinwiddie appeared to travel before delivering a pass to Kuzma. The Heat then fouled Kuzma and he made two free throws to push the Wizards’ lead to three and score the final points of the night.
“It looked like it and everybody was screaming,” Spoelstra said when asked about the potential travel. “I wasn’t sure enough [to challenge the play]. Those are these flash decisions that you have to make.”
Heat guard Tyler Herro said: “My view looked like a travel. But I mean, obviously that’s a tough call for the ref. Whatever happened in the game, you can’t change it. You got to continue to play.”
The Wizards are among the best in the NBA at defending the three-point line, and the Heat struggled from deep.
Washington entered limiting opponents to a league-low 30.3 three-point attempts per game and the third-worst three-point percentage at 31.2 percent this season.
As a result of the Wizards’ quality defense and some missed opportunities, the Heat shot just 1 of 14 from three-point range in the first half. Miami made more outside shots in the second half but still finished 7 of 27 (25.9 percent) from beyond the arc.
Washington outscored Miami 33-21 from deep.
The Heat is 3-5 this season in games that it shoots worse than 30 percent from three-point range.
Herro was back in his usual sixth man role for the first time in over a week.
With Butler and Kyle Lowry each missing time recently, Herro started in each of his previous four appearances. He missed Thursday’s home win over the Wizards with a bruised right wrist.
But with Lowry and Butler both in the starting lineup Saturday, Herro played as the Heat’s sixth man for the first time since the Heat’s Nov. 10 loss to the Lakers.
Herro finished with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Herro, who is considered the early favorite for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, entered averaging a league-high 20.9 points in 11 appearances off the bench.
With Herro back in his usual bench role, guard Gabe Vincent was not part of the Heat’s rotation on Saturday. Vincent scored 18 points in 25 minutes off the bench in Thursday’s victory over the Wizards.
The Heat used a bench rotation of Herro, Dewayne Dedmon, Caleb Martin and Max Strus on Saturday.
Adebayo continues to battle a lingering left knee bruise and he also battled foul trouble against the Wizards.
Adebayo, who missed two of the previous three games because of his knee bruise, was listed as questionable for Saturday’s contest. But he started and finished with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Adebayo was forced to sit on the bench down the stretch more than usual, though, because he was called for his fifth foul with 9:24 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“It was a tough whistle,” Spoelstra said when asked about Adebayo’s foul trouble. “I liked what he was doing. His activity and protecting the rim. If I wasn’t holding on to that challenge until the very end, I was really thinking about challenging the one where he was vertical with Dinwiddie for his fifth foul.”
The knee bruise is still an issue for Adebayo. He didn’t participate in the Heat’s shootaround session on Saturday morning as the team manages the injury.
“Obviously, they’re cautious about my knee and they want me to take the most care of it,” Adebayo said of skipping shootaround. “So rest is the best thing for it.”
So what’s the process like in determining whether he’ll play each game as he deals with the injury?
“It’s really a game-time decision for us,” Adebayo said. “Depending on how my knee does after my workout, then I go in there and see [assistant athletic trainer Wes Brown]. If I go in there and see Wes and it’s too big, there’s a decision to be made. So the best thing is to hope that my knee stays down.”
Adebayo, 24, has been dealing with a bruised knee for about three weeks and also missed the Heat’s road win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Oct. 30 because of the injury.
Duncan Robinson left the game in the third quarter and did not return.
Robinson exited the contest after he was called for his fourth foul with 4:56 remaining in the third quarter and quickly headed back to the locker room. He did not return to the game because of a right knee contusion.
“He got hit above the knee and hyper-extended it a little bit,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll see how he feels [Sunday].”
Before the injury, Robinson extended his franchise record of consecutive games with a made three to 65 regular-season games. He finished Saturday’s loss with seven points on 1-of-5 shooting from deep and five rebounds in 19 minutes.
But Robinson’s other streak is now in jeopardy because of his knee contusion. He has appeared in 164 consecutive games dating back to April 9, 2019, which is the second-longest streak in franchise history.
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 9:44 PM.
