How Heat allowed double-digit lead to slip away, other takeaways from crushing loss to Blazers
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 110-107 crushing loss to the Portland Trail Blazers (7-3) on Monday at FTX Arena to begin a four-game homestand. The Heat (4-7) continues its homestand on Thursday against the Charlotte Hornets:
The Heat’s offense was very good in the first half, but not so good in the second half. That opened the door for the Trail Blazers to rally and shock the Heat.
The Heat totaled 60 points on 54.5 percent shooting from the field and 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) shooting on threes in the first two quarters to enter halftime with a seven-point lead.
That lead eventually ballooned to 15 points in the third quarter before the Trail Blazers took advantage of a struggling Heat offense to begin their comeback.
The Heat scored 47 points on just 40 percent shooting from the field and 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) shooting on threes in the second half following its efficient first half.
“We missed some open looks in the third quarter, some wide open looks,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “We had some great looks, honestly. We had some really good shots that didn’t fall in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, they went small and switched everything.”
Despite all of the missed shots down the stretch, the Heat still found itself ahead by 10 points with 5:50 to play. But the offensive issues eventually caught up to Miami, as Portland responded with a 15-4 run to take a one-point lead with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter.
The two teams then traded baskets until Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant hit a corner three-pointer with 29.3 seconds to play to put the Heat in a one-point hole.
The Heat had an opportunity to retake the lead on the next possession, but a critical coach’s challenge saved the Trail Blazers.
After a foul was initially called on Portland guard Anfernee Simons that would have sent Bam Adebayo to the free-throw line with 11.1 seconds on the clock, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups challenged the call and it was successful. The officials changed it to an offensive foul on Adebayo for hooking Simons with his arm on a drive to the basket.
Simons was then intentionally fouled by the Heat. He made both free throws to extend the Trail Blazers’ lead to three points 8.5 seconds left.
The wild close to the game only got wilder, as Heat forward Max Strus hit a contested game-tying three-pointer with 6.2 seconds left.
Instead of calling a timeout to draw up a play, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard took the inbounds pass and raced up the length of the court to draw multiple Heat defenders once he neared the paint. Instead of attacking Miami’s wall of defenders, Lillard found Josh Hart for an open game-winning corner three-pointer in front of the Heat’s bench as the final buzzer sounded.
“It was like everything stopped,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked if he thought the Trail Blazers would use their one remaining timeout prior to that final possession. “I was looking at [Portland coach Chauncey Billups], looking at Justise [Winslow] because he had the ball and everybody just stopped. I don’t even think the official knew what was going on.
“Lillard going full court, got the switch and then made a heady play. I don’t think a lot of players make that play, particularly Lillard. You want to go for that kill yourself, but that just shows you the class and IQ and trust and the unselfishness and that he’s just about winning. He kicked it to an open guy.”
The Heat posted an offensive rating of 122.4 points scored per 100 possessions in Monday’s first half, which would rank first in the NBA among teams for the season. But Miami scored just 104.4 points per 100 possessions in the second half, which would rank third-worst in the league for the season.
The Heat’s defense is also to blame for the painful loss.
Along with the offense’s problems, the Heat’s defense also struggled down the stretch on Monday.
Miami forced Portland into 17 turnovers in the first three quarters, but the Trail Blazers seemed to solve the Heat’s defense in the fourth quarter.
Portland scored 37 points on 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) shooting from the field and 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) shooting from three-point range while committing only two turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Simons led the Trail Blazers with a game-high 25 points. He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
The Trail Blazers posted an absurdly good offensive rating of 176.2 points scored per 100 possessions in the final period to complete the comeback against the Heat. In four clutch minutes (when the game has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter), Portland’s offensive rating was a scorching 242.9 points scored per 100 possessions.
“We just got to take the one-on-one defense more personal and try to get stops individually,” Strus said. “We just didn’t do that tonight.”
The Heat sprinkled in its 2-3 zone look often in the first half, but turned away from it in the fourth quarter after the Trail Blazers found some success against the zone in the third quarter.
One of the Heat’s strengths early this season has been its late-game defense, entering Monday with the NBA’s seventh-best fourth-quarter defensive rating through its first 10 games. But that strength turned into a liability against the Trail Blazers.
“Where we’ve been very good in this short season has been defending and really holding down that side of the court in the fourth quarter and we just were not able to do that tonight,” Spoelstra said.
Butler made his return after missing the previous two games with left hip tightness.
Butler ended the night with six steals. He also recorded 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line, four rebounds and seven assists in 33 minutes.
The Heat had seven Heat players finish with double-digit points, with Butler, Adebayo and Strus each finishing with a team-high 16 points. Lowry contributed 15 points and eight assists, and guard Gabe Vincent scored 15 points off Miami’s bench.
The Trail Blazers also got their star back, with Lillard returning after missing the previous four games because of a strained right calf. Lillard finished with 19 points, three rebounds and six assists in the Trail Blazers’ win.
But starting guard Tyler Herro was one of five Heat players to miss Monday’s game. The hope is Herro will be back soon.
Herro sat out after spraining his left ankle in Friday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers. It marked the first game he has missed this season, with Strus starting in Herro’s place.
“He tweaked his ankle in the Indiana game,” Spoelstra said before Monday’s loss. “He was able to finish the game, but you can see that he was just powering through. But he’s been making progress and that’s the important thing. It will be a short-term deal. How long that will be, I don’t know. But he’s already feeling a little bit better.”
Along with missing Herro, the Heat also was without Jamal Cain (G League assignment), Udonis Haslem (personal reasons), Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle impingement) against the Trail Blazers.
That left 11 available players for the Heat on Monday. Miami shortened its rotation to eight players in Herro’s absence.
What was behind the unique start time for Monday’s game? The NBA’s “Civic Engagement Night” ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day.
All 30 NBA teams were in action on Monday, with the league staggering each tipoff 15 minutes apart from each other from 7-10:30 p.m. as part of its voting initiative. The Heat got the 8:30 p.m. slot.
It’s the first time a Heat regular-season home game has been scheduled to begin later than 8 p.m. since at least 2010.
All 15 games on Monday were available for free on the NBA App. The league used this platform “to amplify the resources available to fans in their states, share messaging and resources from voting organizations and encourage fans to vote on Election Day. “
A public-serve announcement featuring Adebayo, Butler and Lowry to encourage voting was shown on the FTX Arena video boards before the start of Monday’s game.
Adebayo then took the court and addressed the home crowd, saying: “Go out and vote. It’s important. We want your voice to be heard.”
Players around the league also wore shirts with the word, “Vote,” printed across the chest for pre-game warmups on Monday.
The NBA also said in a release: “This season, every team has engaged their local community to promote civic engagement including through nonpartisan partnerships, in-arena theme nights, voter education and voter registration tools as well as using facilities for election-related activities.”
The Heat collaborated with the Miami-Dade County Public School District and Miami-Dade County Elections Department to pre-register voters and provide transportation to young voters.
No NBA games are scheduled on Tuesday’s Election Day.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 10:57 PM.
