Takeaways and details from Heat’s ugly blowout loss to Mavericks to close trip
Just two nights after putting together one of its most complete performances of the season in Wednesday’s blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans, the Miami Heat put together one of its worst performances of the season.
It’s that type of inconsistency that has been the theme of the Heat’s season so far, as it fell to the Dallas Mavericks 115-90 on Friday night at American Airlines Center to wrap up a three-game trip at 1-2. It marked the seventh loss for the Heat (25-22) in the last 20 games during a stretch that has included more good than bad.
But on Friday, basically nothing went right for Miami.
“There’s some days in this league you’re just not going to play well,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “There’s some days where you’re just going to get beat. There’s some days you’re just going to get beat convincingly, sometimes. What was disappointing about tonight is it was just a wasted day.”
The Heat’s biggest and only lead of the game came at 2-0, as the Mavericks (25-22) were in control from start to finish behind a huge advantage from three-point range and elite-level play from superstar Luka Doncic.
The Mavericks, which led by as many as 30 points in the win, outscored the Heat 54-12 from beyond the arc to blow the game open.
Dallas shot 18 of 38 (47.4 percent) on threes, as Doncic led the way with 34 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range, 12 rebounds and seven assists.
Meanwhile, the Heat shot only 4 of 20 (20 percent) from three-point range. It marked the fewest threes the Heat has made and attempted in a game this season.
Heat star Jimmy Butler was limited to just 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field, four rebounds and one assist in 26 minutes. The Mavericks consistently sent double teams Butler’s way whenever he got the ball in the post and it appeared to push him off his usual comfort spots within the offense.
Butler’s co-star Bam Adebayo recorded 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Instead, sixth man Victor Oladipo was the Heat’s most effective scorer on Friday. Oladipo closed the loss with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field off the bench.
The Mavericks set the three-point tone from the start.
Dallas outscored Miami 33-6 from three-point range in the first two quarters to enter halftime with a 60-51 lead. The only reason the halftime hole wasn’t bigger for the Heat was because it was able to outscore the Mavericks 32-14 from inside the paint in the first half.
But the Heat wasn’t able to keep it close for long, with the Mavericks winning the third quarter 32-16 to enter the final period ahead by 25 on their way to the rout.
The Heat now returns to Miami to begin a three-game homestand on Sunday afternoon against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Mavericks on Friday:
Sometimes it just comes down to simple math: Three-point shots are worth more than twos, which is why the Mavericks won.
Although the Heat shot an efficient 29 of 49 (59.2 percent) on two-pointers and made 10 more two-pointers than the Mavericks, Dallas completely dominated the game behind its three-point shooting. Miami actually shot an impressive 11 of 14 (78.6 percent) at the rim and 18 of 35 (51.4 percent) from midrange, but it wasn’t even close to enough.
The Mavericks outscored the Heat 54-12 from three-point range, a deficit the Heat simply couldn’t overcome. The Mavericks’ 42-point advantage tied for the third-biggest three-point deficit in a game for the Heat in franchise history.
The Mavericks, which entered with the NBA’s 15th-best three-point percentage at 35.9 percent, shot 47.4 percent from deep on Friday for its fourth-most efficient three-point shooting performance of the season.
Along with Doncic’s hot shooting night, the Mavericks also got five three-pointers from Reggie Bullock.
“I think it was just one of those nights, man,” Adebayo said. “They did a great job spacing the floor and shooters were making shots.”
The result was the Heat’s second-worst single-game defensive rating of the season, allowing the Mavericks to score 126.4 points per 100 possessions.
Miami’s defense had been excellent during the last month-plus, entering Friday with the NBA’s fifth-best defensive rating since the start of December. But this loss was certainly a step in the wrong direction.
So even with the Heat outscoring the Mavericks on two-pointers, the game wasn’t even close. Why? Because threes are worth more than twos.
“It’s just one of those nights. Shots weren’t falling,” said Heat guard Tyler Herro, who finished with 16 points. “We didn’t hit any threes for the most part that can really get us in a good groove, in a good rhythm on offense. It was a lot of tough buckets, twos, which are good for us. But we got to generate more threes.”
The Heat’s preferred starting lineup opened its second consecutive game together, which is a noteworthy accomplishment.
The Heat used its preferred starting lineup of Kyle Lowry, Herro, Butler, Caleb Martin and Adebayo on Friday for the second straight game and just the 16th game in the first 47 games of the season. Injuries have limited the unit’s availability.
But when this group has been able to play together, the results have been very positive. This five-man combination entered Friday outscoring opponents by 11.1 points per 100 possessions in 211 minutes together this season — a net rating that ranked sixth-best among the 24 NBA lineups that had logged at least 180 minutes.
The results weren’t positive on Friday, though. The Heat’s starting unit was outscored by 13 points in 14 minutes together against the Mavericks.
That includes a 14-8 deficit to open the game and then allowing the Mavericks to begin the second half on a 15-6 run before the Heat turned to its bench.
Still, the Heat’s hope is that it can avoid injuries and finally use its preferred starting lineup for a sustained stretch to at least get a more accurate read on the group. The longest string of consecutive games that Miami has been able to go with this starting unit is four, and that stretch came in the second week of the season in late October.
The only Heat players unavailable for Friday’s game because of injuries were Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery) and Omer Yurtseven (ankle surgery).
The Mavericks were without their second-leading scorer in forward Christian Wood because of a fractured thumb. Dallas also did not have Maxi Kleber (hamstring tear).
The Heat has actually had more success than just about every other NBA team in defending Doncic. But Doncic solved the Heat’s defense on Friday.
Doncic’s 34 points marked the most points that he has ever scored in nine career matchups against the Heat.
“Doncic clearly can manipulate the defense in a unique way,” Spoelstra said. “But I don’t think he really felt us tonight, ever. And he still may have been able to get a triple-double or whatever he had.”
Martin started the game as Doncic’s primary defender, but the Heat also switched other defenders on him and frequently sent doubles his way to try to get the ball out of his hands. But Doncic had answers for pretty much whatever Miami threw at him.
“He just did what he does every night,” Herro said of Doncic. “He makes plays, he’s a great player. He makes plays for himself and for his teammates. He makes the right play a lot of the time and they ended up making shots.”
Doncic was due for a big game against the Heat.
Doncic entered Friday averaging just 20.8 points on 37.6 percent shooting from the field and 31.1 percent shooting from three-point range, 8.1 rebounds and 6.5 assists in his eight previous games against the Heat during his NBA career. It represented the fewest regular-season points and assists he has averaged against any NBA team.
Doncic improved to 4-5 against the Heat in his career.
It might be safe to say now that undrafted rookie Orlando Robinson is the Heat’s new backup center.
Veteran Dewayne Dedmon has been used as Miami’s backup center for most of the season. But Robinson has now played in that role in four straight games despite Dedmon being available, with Dedmon receiving four DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) during that stretch.
But like most on the Heat roster, it was a quiet night for Robinson, who finished Friday’s loss scoreless but grabbed five rebounds in 11 minutes off the bench.
Dedmon’s demotion comes after his season-long struggles while battling through plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The Heat has been outscored by 10.1 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon on the court this season.
Meanwhile, Robinson has actually turned the non-Adebayo minutes into a positive so far. The Heat entered Friday’s game outscoring teams by 3.4 points per 100 possessions with Robinson on the court this season.
The Heat went with a four-man bench rotation of Oladipo, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Robinson on Friday for the second straight game before others entered in the fourth quarter when the Mavericks were already in full control.
The Heat has been among the NBA’s best at forcing turnovers this season. But Miami lost that battle in Dallas.
Instead, it was the Mavericks that had success forcing mistakes.
Dallas scored 31 points on 16 turnovers from Miami. Meanwhile, the Mavericks only committed 10 turnovers.
This was one of the many aspects from the Heat’s formula for success that was missing on Friday.
Miami entered with the second-highest opponent turnover rate, forcing opponents into a turnover on 16.9 percent of their offensive possessions this season. But the Heat wasn’t able to disrupt a Mavericks team that features the NBA’s most efficient half-court offense for the season.
The Heat has also been among the NBA’s best at limiting its own turnovers, entering with the league’s 10th-lowest turnover rate (committing turnovers on 13.8 percent of its offensive possessions) this season.
In fact, Friday marked just the fourth time in the last 17 games that the Heat has committed more turnovers than its opponent.
“They were very active,” Spoelstra said of Dallas’ defense, which is among the NBA’s worst. “We require doing things with a much higher motor, moving the defense a little bit more, getting to second and third actions without missing the moment, and putting the ball on time and target, which we’ve been building a lot of those habits the last several weeks. We just weren’t able to do that tonight.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2023 at 10:08 PM.
