Heat drops to 0-2 as defensive issues continue. Takeaways and details from loss to Celtics
This is not the start the Miami Heat anticipated after returning 13 players from last season’s team that made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals.
Two days after Wednesday’s season-opening loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Heat dropped an early-season showdown against the Celtics 111-104 on Friday at FTX Arena in a rematch of last season’s East finals.
The Heat is 0-2 to start a season for the first since 2007-08, which was Pat Riley’s final season as the team’s head coach. But Heat coach Erik Spoelstra believes Friday’s display still represented a step in the right direction from Wednesday’s disappointment.
“I thought the competitive disposition was certainly higher tonight,” Spoelstra said. “... We were way more active, way more of a disposition. I think this game and disposition that we brought tonight probably would have won Game 1. But that’s the way it goes. We have to continue to work at it and get better.”
The Heat, which closed last season with a top-five defense, turned in its second straight underwhelming defensive effort to begin the season. The Celtics shot an efficient 51.9 percent from the field on Friday.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics (2-0) with 29 points, five rebounds and four assists. Jaylen Brown also was excellent for Boston with 28 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
The Celtics led for most of the first half, entering the break with an eight-point lead.
Boston led by as many as 12 points early in the third quarter before the Heat used a 20-6 run to rally and pull ahead by two points a few minutes later.
But Miami didn’t lead for long, as Boston responded by closing the third quarter with a 20-6 spurt of its own to regain control and enter the final period with a 12-point advantage.
The Heat didn’t go away, cutting the Celtics’ lead to five with 1:40 to play. But that’s the closest Miami would get.
Tyler Herro scored a team-high 25 points for the Heat in the loss, along with contributing six rebounds and three assists.
The Heat is right back at it on Saturday to close its first of three home back-to-back sets of the season with a matchup against the Toronto Raptors at FTX Arena (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).
“We just know we have to do better on the defensive end,” said Heat star Jimmy Butler, who finished Friday’s loss with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. “We said it after the Chicago loss, we’re going to say the same thing after the Boston loss, but we do not want to say the same thing come Toronto tomorrow. We’ve got to be more excited to play defense and get a stop, match that energy that we put into offense.”
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Celtics.
The Heat’s defense has not been good to start the season.
After a shaky defensive performance in the opener, the Heat’s defense again didn’t live up to the elite standards it established last season.
The Celtics shot an efficient 52.5 percent from the field and 9 of 21 (42.9 percent) from three-point range in the first half and never cooled off.
Boston went on to finish the game at 51.9 percent shooting from the field, 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) shooting on threes and a perfect 15 of 15 from the foul line to earn the win over Miami.
It marked the first time in franchise history that an opponent has shot 50 percent or better from the field, 40 percent or better from three-point range and 100 percent from the foul line in a game against the Heat.
The Heat, which finished last regular season with the fourth-best defensive rating at 108.4 points allowed per 100 possessions, has allowed 113.5 points per 100 possessions through the first two games this season.
The Heat’s first two opponents have also combined to shoot 47.7 percent from the field and 39.1 percent on threes, compared to last season’s opponent marks of 44.7 percent from the field and 33.9 percent on threes.
“I just don’t think we’re on a string defensively together as a unit. We don’t have each other’s backs,” Herro said. “We’re not trusting each other on that end of the ball like we should be. But it’s early. We’ll figure it out.”
Despite the Celtics consistently generating quality looks, the Heat’s defense did find a way to be somewhat disruptive. Boston finished with 20 turnovers, but it still wasn’t enough for the Heat to overcome the Celtics’ hot shooting.
It’s still early, but the defense must be better for the Heat to be considered a true championship contender. A top-10 defense is essential for Miami to be part of that class.
“Our connection as a unit hasn’t been where we’re used to being,” Herro said. “But it’s early. That’s why it’s an 82-game season. We’ll have a lot of time to get things right, but we got to continue to get better game by game.”
After a very quiet performance in the opener, Heat guard Kyle Lowry took a more assertive approach on the offensive end in the second game of the season.
Lowry finishing the opener with just two points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field.
But Lowry needed only a few minutes on Friday to surpass his scoring output from the first game, as he recorded five points in the first quarter against the Celtics. And Lowry needed just one half to surpass his shot total from Wednesday, as he took nine shots in Friday’s first half.
Lowry ended Friday’s loss with 17 points while shooting 4 of 13 from the field and 3 of 7 on threes, four rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes. He also drew enough fouls to finish 6 of 8 from the foul line.
“We lost. So it doesn’t matter how I felt, honestly,” Lowry said when asked about his bounce-back performance. “It’s about the team. For me, I got to stay aggressive and find ways to help our team win basketball games.”
The Heat doesn’t need Lowry to take double-digit shots every game, but the team does need him to be engaged and involved in the offense like he was on Friday. Lowry averaged 10 shot attempts per game last season — his first with Miami.
Heat center Bam Adebayo put together a much better offensive performance after an inefficient night in the opener. But he ran into foul trouble that proved to be costly.
Adebayo shot just 1 of 10 from the field in the first half of Wednesday’s loss on his way to finishing with 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
Adebayo got off to a much better start in the Heat’s second game of the season, hitting his first six shots on Friday. Three of those six makes were midrange jumpers.
Adebayo closed Friday’s loss with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, eight rebounds and five assists.
But foul trouble slowed Adebayo and the Heat, as he was called for his fourth foul on a moving screen and was forced to head to the bench earlier than planned. That proved costly, with the Heat holding a two-point lead when Adebayo exited the game with his fourth foul and then trailing by 12 points when Adebayo re-entered the game at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Heat outscored the Celtics by 20 points in the 35 minutes that Adebayo played, but was outscored by 27 points in the 13 minutes he spent on the bench.
“I felt like I let that dictate the swings of the game,” Adebayo said of his foul trouble. “That’s on me.”
The Heat’s bench rotation on Friday did not include any new faces, but there was a different wrinkle.
After using a bench rotation of Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Dewayne Dedmon, Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith in the opener, the Heat went with the same five reserves to complete its 10-man rotation against the Celtics.
So what was different on Friday from the opener?
Highsmith was used more after playing just 28 seconds on Wednesday. He played as a small-ball center in a few of the non-Adebayo minutes, logging 4:24 of action.
Highsmith and Dedmon teamed up to play as the the backup center behind Adebayo on Friday. But both struggled, as Higsmith posted a plus/minus of minus-9 in four minutes and Dedmon was a minus-18 in nine minutes.
Robinson also didn’t play much against the Celtics, logging just 6:07 of court time. He played 11 minutes in the opener.
The Heat’s available and active players who did not play Friday were Nikola Jovic, Udonis Haslem and Dru Smith.
The Heat remains without guard Victor Oladipo and center Omer Yurtseven.
After playing in the Heat’s final two preseason games, Oladipo has now missed the Heat’s first two regular-season games because of left knee tendinosis. There’s no timetable for Oladipo’s return, but the team has labeled him as day-to-day.
When asked if the Heat is taking an extra cautious approach with Oladipo because of his injury history that includes two surgeries on his right knee in the past three-plus years, Spoelstra said before Friday’s game: “I wouldn’t say extra cautious. I would say appropriate and measured approach with this. We’re looking at the long game. This has been about investing in him and his health for two years and we just want to make sure that we’re taking all the necessary steps to get him back out there where there’s not a setback.”
As for Yurtseven, he has been sidelined for the last two weeks because of a left ankle impingement. He hasn’t played in a game since the preseason opener on Oct. 4 and has yet to resume work on the court yet.
Yurtseven is also day-to-day, with no timetable for his return.
It’s also worth noting that forward Jamal Cain was among those listed as inactive for the Heat on Friday. It’s second the straight game Cain has been made inactive despite being healthy, as the Heat navigates the NBA’s two-way contract rules.
Cain is only eligible to be on Miami’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games as part of his two-way deal.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 10:04 PM.
