Heat falls to Clippers for eighth loss in 10 games. Takeaways and details from the home defeat
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 103-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers (33-15) on Sunday night at Kaseya Center to open a four-game homestand. The Heat (26-24) continues the homestand on Tuesday against the Orlando Magic:
The Heat’s struggles against quality teams this season continued.
Sunday’s loss dropped the Heat to 8-16 this season in games against teams that entered Sunday with a winning record.
The Clippers continued to roll, improving to 25-5 in their last 30 games after an 8-10 start to the season.
Meanwhile, the Heat fell to 2-8 in its last 10 games.
“I don’t think it was a step backwards,” Heat guard Josh Richardson said after the loss. “I think we came out and competed super hard. That’s all you can really ask for. I think we got good looks at it, missed a lot of easy ones and the Clippers are a good team. They’re very talented, they’re the hottest team in the league right now.”
It was a competitive game through three quarters, but the Clippers took control in the fourth quarter and never let go.
After the Heat took a one-point lead with 10:24 left in the fourth quarter, the Clippers responded with a game-deciding 20-6 run to pull ahead by 13 points with 5:20 to play on their way to the victory.
Along with shooting 5 of 9 on threes in the fourth quarter, free throws also were at the center of the Clippers’ fourth-quarter success. Los Angeles outscored Miami 15-2 at the foul line in the fourth quarter after the Heat committed its fourth foul of the period to get into the penalty just three minutes into the quarter.
“I think the game really turned in the fourth quarter when we started fouling and it’s a tough team not to foul,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They have professional scorers and professional foul drawers, and they three straight times drew fouls and then got into the penalty early and continued to draw fouls. That just created that separation when it was back and forth.”
The Heat made a late push to cut the deficit to four with 13.3 seconds remaining, but it was too late to complete the comeback.
Following a 1-of-9 start on threes, the Clippers shot 15 of 30 (50 percent) from three-point range the rest of the way and the Heat’s offense continued to struggle. But Miami still managed to hold Los Angeles to its ninth-worst single-game offensive rating of the season.
The Heat’s offense remains its biggest issue, though. The Heat, which entered with the NBA’s 22nd-ranked offensive rating, was held to under 100 points for the seventh time in the last 16 games.
On Sunday, the Heat shot just 41.8 percent from the field, 8 of 30 (26.7 percent) on threes and tied a season-low with just 12 free-throw attempts.
The Heat scored just 100 points per 100 possessions for its seventh-worst single-game offensive rating of the season. Miami is 1-12 this season when posting an offensive rating of fewer than 106 points scored per 100 possessions.
“Just shots going in, honestly,” Richardson said of what could have been better for the Heat on the offensive end. “I think we were getting a lot of the looks that we wanted. So I’m not discouraged, I don’t think the guys are discouraged.”
Sunday’s loss came after the Heat led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter behind a feisty defensive effort.
With the Heat mixing in zone for extended stretches for the third straight game, the Clippers appeared to need some time to adjust. Los Angeles began just 8 of 24 (33.3 percent) from the field.
But the Clippers made enough shots in the second quarter to rally and tie the score at 43 entering halftime before separating themselves from the Heat in the fourth quarter.
Jimmy Butler scored a team-high 21 points for the Heat on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Bam Adebayo added 14 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals, but shot just 5 of 13 from the field.
The Clippers were led by James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, who combined for 46 points.
Leonard finished with a game-high 25 points to go with 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.
Harden closed with 21 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists while shooting 5 of 9 from behind the arc. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Initially announced as part of the Heat’s starting lineup on Sunday, Tyler Herro was a late scratch after developing a migraine.
After the Heat announced Herro would be in his usual spot in the starting lineup about 30 minutes prior to tip-off, Herro was downgraded to questionable for the game because of a migraine shortly after and was then ruled out as the teams took the court for pregame warm-ups.
It marked the 20th game that Herro has missed this season.
Richardson started in Herro’s place alongside the rest of the Heat’s preferred starting lineup of Terry Rozier, Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Adebayo. It went down as the Heat’s 26th different starting lineup in the first 50 games of the season.
This new Heat starting lineup opened Sunday’s game strong, building a 16-7 lead before the team made its first substitution of the night.
But the second half didn’t go as well for the Heat’s new starting unit. The Clippers began the third quarter on a 16-8 run to turn a halftime tie into an eight-point lead over the Heat early in the second half.
Richardson finished his sixth start of the season with 14 points, three rebounds and four assists. He shot just 2 of 8 on threes.
Along with missing Herro, the Heat was also without Duncan Robinson for the third straight game while he remains in the NBA’s concussion protocol. That left the Heat without two rotation players and two of its best three-point shooters against the Clippers.
“I mean, Duncan and Tyler are triggers even if they don’t get the ball,” Adebayo said of playing without Herro and Robinson. “So you’re missing two guys who make great triggers for us. Obviously, having two of your best shooters out hinders your team.”
Without Herro, the Heat needed Rozier to take on a bigger scoring role. But his outside shooting struggles continued.
Rozier finishing Sunday’s loss with 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field and 0-of-5 shooting on threes, seven rebounds and five assists in his seventh game with the Heat.
It’s a continuation of Rozier’s shooting slump since being traded to the Heat. He has shot just 32.9 percent from the field and 7 of 32 (21.9 percent) on threes in his first seven games with the Heat.
Before the trade to Miami, Rozier shot 45.9 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from three-point range in a high-usage role in 30 games for the Charlotte Hornets this season.
“We want him to be aggressive, we want him to be him,” Spoelstra said of Rozier. “Everybody is saying the same thing. He’s very respectful of everybody in the locker room. But we’re better with his aggressiveness, for sure.”
The positive is Rozier has dished out 38 assists to just nine turnovers since joining the Heat. But another negative is the Heat has been outscored by 14 points per 100 possessions with Rozier on the court in his first seven games with the team.
Butler didn’t do enough to lead the Heat to the win, but he continued to make threes.
On the way to scoring 21 points on 19 field-goal attempts, Butler shot 2 of 5 from three-point range in Sunday’s loss.
Butler’s three-point surge has been a season-long trend, as he has now made a three-pointer in eight straight games to match the longest streak of his NBA career. He has hit multiple threes in five of those eight games.
For the season, Butler is shooting an ultra-efficient 34 of 79 (43 percent) from three-point range this season. Butler has never shot better than 40 percent from behind the arc in a season during his NBA career, with his previous career-best mark coming in his second NBA season when he made 38.1 percent of his threes in 2012-13.
Butler, who is in his fifth season with the Heat, shot just 26.6 percent on 1.9 three-point attempts per game in his first four regular seasons with the team.
If the Heat doesn’t start racking up wins over quality teams soon, a rough few weeks are ahead.
Sunday marked the start of a 10-game stretch that includes eight games against teams with winning records. Those eight opponents are the Clippers, Magic, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets.
The only two opponents during this 10-game stretch with losing records are the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers.
Making this segment of the Heat’s schedule especially interesting is the fact that Thursday’s trade deadline is also part of it. The Heat already shook things up by trading Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick to the Hornets for Rozier, and the front office has a few more days to decide if another move is necessary.
Following Sunday’s loss, the Heat fell from seventh to eighth place in the Eastern Conference and is in danger of needing to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA’s play-in tournament for the second straight season. The play-in tournament includes the seventh- through 10th-place teams in each conference.
This story was originally published February 4, 2024 at 8:40 PM.
