Heat unravels in fourth quarter, loses to Nets to fall back to .500 after 50 games
Five takeaways from the Heat’s Friday night collapse in Brooklyn, resulting in a 102-86 loss to the Nets at Barclays Center:
▪ Playing what should be its final game without its three new players, Miami went ice cold in the final 12 minutes, squandered a fourth-quarter lead against a losing team for the second time in a week and ended a four-game road trip with an unsettling loss.
Miami unraveled in the fourth quarter, shooting just 2 for 21 from the field and 1 for 13 on threes and watching helplessly as the Nets outscored them 31-9 in the quarter. Terry Rozier and Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored the only Heat baskets in the fourth quarter.
“Tonight was very devastating,” Rozier said. “We obviously have got to turn things around right now. That’s why we’re having these tough conversations.”
Ahead 77-71 after three, the Heat missed seven of its first eight shots in the fourth quarter, playing for a time without either Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro. The Nets zipped off a 16-4 run to go ahead 87-81 with 7:30 left.
After a Rozier three, Brooklyn scored the next five baskets to extend the margin to 98-84, with Miami going scoreless for a 5:18 stretch. After the Rozier three, Miami didn’t score again until two Adebayo free throws with 1:43 left. By that point, it was 98-86.
Only Adebayo (7 for 14) shot well for Miami and he missed his three shots in the fourth.
Herro went 6 for 22 on a 15-point night, missing all five of his shots in the fourth quarter.
Kel’el Ware was for 4 for 12.
Rozier missed six of his seven shots in the second half after an excellent first half.
Nikola Jovic and Jaquez went a combined 5 for 14.
Herro and Jovic each had four turnovers.
Miami closed at 35.6 percent from the field (32 for 90) and 12 for 40 on threes.
This collapse was reminiscent of a similar one in Orlando this season, when Miami was outscored 37-8 in the fourth quarter of a loss.
On Tuesday, Miami blew a 12-point fourth quarter lead in a loss in Chicago. Friday’s six-point lead entering the fourth was squandered just three minutes into the quarter.
“We weren’t getting into decisive actions and working the offense to get the best available shots,” Spoelstra said, adding that poor ball movement and shot selection contributed to the nine-point fourth quarter.
“An indication of that is getting our shots blocked 13 times, most of the time at the rim. Right now, we are dealing with inconsistency that we are going to overcome. We will figure this out. That’s our hill to conquer right now.”
Heat newcomers Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson - the three players acquired in the five-team trade that sent Jimmy Butler to Golden State - were not in attendance but will join the team this weekend.
“We should have won tonight,” Herro said. “I don’t think the trade had anything to do with anything.”
This was only the second time in Nets history that they scored more than 30 points and allowed fewer than 10 in the fourth quarter. The previous time: 2019 against Sacramento.
The Heat closed with a 2-2 record on this road trip and returns home to play Boston on Monday with a 25-25 record at the 50-game mark.
▪ The Heat’s bigs had their moments but ultimately not enough of them.
Adebayo (18 points, 8 rebounds) continued his best offensive stretch of the season, delivering his sixth consecutive game with 18 or more points. He entered having scored 17, 26, 21, 30, 23 and 18 points in his previous six while boosting his shooting percentage by more than two points over that time.
His 16.4 scoring average remains below last year’s 19.3, but his offensive game has clearly come around.
Adebayo was very good during the third quarter Heat surge, including a jumper, a three-pointer, a thunderous dunk (off a Herro pass) and a silky jumper that had fans looking toward the Barclays Center ceiling. But he didn’t make much of an imprint after returning with 8:03 left in the game and the Heat down two.
Ware - who had 13 rebounds but no points on 0 for 3 shooting on Wednesday in Philadelphia - shot just 4 for 12 but snared 14 boards in 26 minutes and had four assists (including a lob to Adebayo for a dunk), a block and a steal on a 10-point night.
▪ With the addition of Mitchell, Spoelstra will have some tough decisions about minute allocations at point guard. On Friday, Rozier played very well in the first half but fizzled in the second half.
Rozier scored 17 points in 15 first half minutes, keeping the Heat’s offense afloat with Herro and Ware each shooting 3 for 9 in the first half and no other player reaching double figures.
But he shot just 1 for 7 in the second half and committed a bad fourth quarter turnover that preceded a Brooklyn basket that put the Nets up nine. He finished with 20 points on 6 for 15 shooting.
Rozier entered Friday fourth on the team in minutes per game at 28.5 and is fourth in scoring at 12.3 points per game but shooting just 30.1 percent on threes, among the worst for NBA point guards.
But over the past 10 days, he scored 22 (8 for 13 shooting) in a loss against Cleveland, 19 points (7 for 14) in the win at San Antonio and 20 points (8 for 17) in Wednesday’s win in Philadelphia. He also had 16 assists compared with three turnovers during that stretch, but had two assists and two turnovers Friday.
The one blemish in that stretch was a 2 for 12 clunker in Tuesday’s loss at Chicago.
Now Spoelstra must decide how to divide minutes between Rozier and Mitchell -- challenging because neither likely will start.
Mitchell, a skilled defender, was averaging 24.5 minutes in 44 games and 22 starts in Toronto. He’s averaging 6.3 points and shooting 35.9 percent on threes.
Sharing reserve point guard duties with Mitchell “is going to be dope,” Rozier said Friday evening. “I have a lot of respect for him, his hard work, who he is as a player, his dedication. So it’s definitely going to be a lot of fun getting after guys on the court and trying to turn defense into offense.”
▪ Hours after being named to the NBA’s three-point contest, Herro struggled through a poor shooting night: 6 for 22 overall and 2 for 11 on threes.
Herro entered Friday with 183 three-pointers – behind only Anthony Edwards’ 212 and Malik Beasley’s 191 - and ahead of Steph Curry (178) and Donovan Mitchell (176), who rank fourth and fifth.
Among players attempting at least eight threes a game on average, Herro’s 39.3 percent shooting is fourth best in the league, behind only Edwards, Beasley and Mitchell.
Among players attempting at least seven threes a game, Herro’s percentage is ninth behind Zach LaVine, Norman Powell, Edwards, Cam Johnson, Payton Pritchard, Kyrie Irving, Beasley and Mitchell.
The news came days after Herro’s streak of 79 consecutive regular season games with at least one three pointer ended last Saturday in San Antonio. It was the longest such streak in Heat history and tied for the 12th longest streak in NBA history.
This will be Herro’s second appearance in the three-point contest. “It will definitely be exciting to participate in that again,” he said. “Look forward to the competition.”
Also competing in the three-point contest next weekend at Chase Center in San Francisco: Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Darius Garland, Buddy Hield, Cam Johnson, Damian Lillard and Powell. The event will be at 8 p.m. next Saturday night (Feb. 15) on TNT.
Herro, 25, also will play in the All Star game for the first time the following night.
He said Friday that he’s most looking forward to just “soaking in the experience” of All Star weekend. “I’m a fan of the game and being able to [see the] legends. I was 10 years old watching All Star weekend. LeBron [James] was my favorite player.”
▪ This was something of a bridge game between the official end of the Butler era and the start of a somewhat new iteration of the Heat. It also was likely the last night that the Butler topic would be broached by reporters.
The Heat’s three new players are expected to practice with the team on Sunday and debut on Monday night at home against Boston.
“Thirty plus games left,” Spoelstra said. “We have some work to do. We’re not where we want to be right now. This trade gives us a boost, a kick. It will affect some things. But this group has been great buying into the team.
“There has been a lot everybody has had to go through the last six weeks. All things considered, we’ve been able to steady the ship. We’re in a reasonable spot in the East [sixth entering Friday]. We need something more, regardless of who it is. We need more all across the board.”
Asked how his team has dealt with the drama the past six weeks, which included three Butler suspensions, Spoelstra said: “I’ve had it with different teams. I felt it was less with this team, and that’s not taking away from anything that the group had to go through emotionally the past several weeks.
“I really commend the group for staying the course and focusing on the present moment. You do want to have empathy for guys when it gets close to the trade deadline. This isn’t just fantasy sports. These are human beings. Having to move and change franchises midseason, that can’t be easy. That’s the business we chose, the part people don’t think about on the outside. It’s an amazing profession, not always the best business.”
On social media Friday, Wiggins offered a heartfelt message of appreciation and gratitude for the Warriors and punctuated it with this: “With that being said, Miami, I’m ready!”
This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 9:54 PM.
