Heat’s awful week continues with fourth-quarter collapse. Takeaways from another bad loss
An awful week for the Miami Heat — featuring two lopsided loss to significantly shorthanded teams, a heated bench altercation involving its best player and a slipping grip on the top spot in the Eastern Conference — hit a new nadir Friday against the New York Knicks.
The Heat, which led by double digits for most of the first three quarters, built a 17-point lead early in the fourth and then fell apart. The Knicks stormed back to win 111-103 in Miami, handing the Heat a third straight loss just as the 2022 NBA playoffs are approaching.
Miami is still sitting atop the Eastern Conference, albeit now only half a game ahead of the second-place Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat could fall out of first place Saturday with a loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
Miami scored just 15 points in the fourth quarter after finishing the third with an 88-73 lead. All-Star forward Jimmy Butler gave the Heat 30 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, but only had five points in the fourth quarter, while star post player Bam Adebayo only scored one of his 17 in the final period.
After Miami rode its stars through three quarters, the Heat’s lead mostly slipped away while Butler and Adebayo sat on the bench, then vanished for good after they checked back into the game.
1. Miami unravels in fourth quarter without Tyler Herro.
On one end of the floor in the fourth quarter, Miami shot just 5 of 18 from the field and 2 of 9 from three-point range. On the other, New York went 11 of 18 from the field and 6 of 12 from deep.
The collapse started with Butler and Adebayo on the bench. While point guard Kyle Lowry was on the floor in the fourth quarter, the Knicks outscored the Heat by 23. While wing Max Strus was on the court, New York outscored Miami by 21.
They each played nearly the entire quarter -- Lowry played all 12 minutes, actually -- and the Heat’s 17 point lead was down to 92-84 by the time Adebayo checked back in with 8:08 left, and down to 92-87 when Butler checked in 32 seconds later.
Even those two couldn’t stop the Knicks’ furious comeback. New York attempted 50 total three-pointers and was just 11 of 38 at the start of the fourth. Once the Knicks’ jumpers started fall, Miami couldn’t stop them and needed trade buckets.
With Herro sidelined by a knee injury, the Heat couldn’t do that, either.
The guard is Miami’s most reliable late-game shot creator and the offense suffered with him missing. Butler, who finished 11 of 17 to carry the offense through three quarters, went just 2 of 4 in the fourth quarter and Adebayo only even attempted one shot. Lowry and Strus both went 1 of 4, and each guard missed three threes.
2. The Heat wastes a great Butler performance.
After the Miami suffered back-to-back lopsided losses to the etremely shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers and Golden State Warriors earlier this week, Lowry said it was because “the stars didn’t play well.”
On Friday, they did for three quarters and the Heat followed their lead. Butler had 25 points in the first three quarters and was flirting with a triple-double, while Adebayo had 16 and was pushing toward a double-double.
It was what Miami was supposed to do against the sub-.500 Knicks, especially with Randle sidelined by injury, and the Heat didn’t waste any time. Butler had 10 points and five assists in the first quarter, helped Miami build a 14-point first half lead and hit a buzzer-beater at the end of the second quarter to give the Heat a 58-49 lead at halftime.
Butler had 17 points, six assists and four rebounds in the first half. The 30-point performance was his first since January.
3. Miami moves on from Butler’s sideline blow-up.
Even if he couldn’t get the Heat a win, Butler at least proved his individual play won’t be affected by his bench altercation with post player Udonis Haslem.
To recap: During a third-quarter timeout Wednesday, Butler said something to anger coach Erik Spoelstra and Haslem chirped back. Tempers flared and teammates had to separate the two forwards before anything escalated.
Butler still wound up playing most of the rest of the game and logged 41 minutes -- an indication Miami wasn’t too upset about the incident.
In the immediate aftermath, the Heat downplayed the incident and there were no public disciplinary measures for Butler. Despite dealing with a sprained right ankle, Butler started as usual Friday and was announced as the final starter, drawing a big cheer from the 19,600 inside FTX Arena.
He then went out and had only his first 30-point game since January, didn’t fight with anyone, and even shared a laugh with Adebayo when the post player short-armed an alley oop so badly Butler had to catch it flat-footed and take an uncontested layup.
4. New York beats Miami inside and out.
Those fourth-quarter three-pointers won the game for the Knicks, but their work inside let them stage their comeback.
As big as the Heat’s 17-point fourth-quarter lead was, Miami felt like it should’ve been better. New York grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and outscored the Heat, 28-14, in second-chance points.
5. Heat manages Victor Oladipo’s playing time.
Other than Herro, guards Victor Oladipo and Gabe Vincent were the only other players to sit out for Miami.
Vincent is dealing with a big toe contusion and has been out all week. Oladipo’s absence is for the more vague “right knee recovery.”
What does it mean? Basically, Miami is still monitoring his playing time. This is the second time Oladipo has missed a game for right knee recovery and the other time was also when the Heat had to play games on back to back nights.
The Heat will host the Nets (38-35) on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Oladipo should be back in the lineup.
Miami’s priority is still making sure Oladipo is as healthy as possible with the NBA playoffs start net month and it can afford to be cautious with him, considering the team’s position in the standings and his relatively limited role in the rotation.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 10:40 PM.
