What was a strength turned into a problem for the Heat late in loss to the Trail Blazers
.JPG "Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons (1) looks for an opening past Miami Heat guards Max Strus (31) and Gabe Vincent (2) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, in Miami.")
What was a Miami Heat strength turned into a major issue in Monday’s last-second loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Heat entered the week with the NBA’s seventh-best fourth-quarter defensive rating through its first 10 games at 103 points allowed per 100 possessions. But the Trail Blazers posted a superb offensive rating of 176.2 points scored per 100 possessions in the final period to rally from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit for a 110-107 win over the Heat on Monday night at FTX Arena.
“For the most part, 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,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “[Damian] Lillard and [Anfernee] Simons were terrific at creating those triggers and creating help situations where we had to rotate and they just made a ton of timely plays in that fourth quarter. It felt like we just could not get a stop and that’s very much unlike us in the fourth quarter. We weren’t able to string together three or four stops in a row.”
The Heat struggled just to get a handful of defensive stops over the duration of the entire fourth quarter. The Trail Blazers totaled 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 final period.
After the Heat pulled ahead by 10 points with 5:50 to play, the Trail Blazers closed the game on a 24-11 run. Portland shot a perfect 8 of 8 from the field, including 4 of 4 on threes, and 4 of 5 from the foul line during that game-deciding run over the final six minutes of the fourth quarter.
“We got to be better. There’s really no excuse for that,” Heat forward Max Strus said when asked about the team’s fourth-quarter defensive struggles on Monday. “We got to figure out a way to get stops and we got to come together more and be better as a unit.”
Simons scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, finishing the Trail Blazers’ win with a game-high 25 points.
“We just got to take the one-on-one defense more personal and try to get stops individually,” Strus continued. “We just didn’t do that tonight.”
The Heat has relied on its 2-3 zone to stabilize its defense at times this season. But after using its zone on 17 defensive possessions in Monday’s first half, it went with that 2-3 look on just three fourth-quarter defensive possessions after the Trail Blazers had some success against it in the third quarter.
Still, the Heat’s zone was more effective than its man-to-man defense on Monday. The Trail Blazers scored 0.96 points per possession against Miami’s 2-3 zone compared to 1.15 points per possession against Miami’s man-to man scheme.
“I think in the fourth quarter, it was all defense,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “You give up 37 points, our offense isn’t going to be well if you’re giving up 37 points.”
TRACKING THE STORM
The Heat’s next game is scheduled for Thursday night against the Charlotte Hornets at FTX Arena.
But with South Florida expected to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Nicole on Wednesday and Thursday, the NBA and Heat are monitoring the storm and have yet to make a definitive ruling on the status of Thursday’s game.
Complicating matters is the fact that the Hornets host the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night and are then scheduled to fly to Miami following that game. That would have the Hornets arriving to Miami on early Thursday morning, which is around the time that the storm is expected to make landfall.
The Hornets are also scheduled to face the Heat at FTX Arena on Saturday night as part of the teams’ set of consecutive games against each other in Miami.
That makes Friday a possibility if Thursday’s game needs to be rescheduled, but there’s currently a concert scheduled for Friday night at FTX Arena. It would also be difficult to move Thursday’s contest to Sunday because that would have both teams playing a game on three straight nights with the Heat hosting the Phoenix Suns and the Hornets traveling to face the Orlando Magic on Monday.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 2:01 PM.
