Spoelstra bemoans “pretty ridiculously poor defense”: Takeaways, reaction from Heat loss
Five takeaways from the Heat’s 117-113 loss in Brooklyn, a painful setback in which Miami frittered away a 109-100 lead with just over five minutes left:
▪ The Heat’s defense continues to have too many lapses on the road against mediocre teams. And it has now cost them several recent games against sub-.500 teams.
Though the Heat scored just four points in the final 5:08 and could do little against Brooklyn’s zone defense late, Erik Spoelstra and players afterward cited defensive breakdowns and the inability to corral 50/50 balls as the key to Miami’s undoing against a Nets team that entered with seven consecutive losses.
Spoelstra called the team’s defense “pretty ridiculously poor,” adding: “Even when we were ahead and we were scoring, they were winning the physicality battles, clearly the rebounding, the loose balls and things of that nature. Brooklyn deserved to win this game. We got what we deserved. They came out and outcompeted us.”
Brooklyn outrebounded the Heat, 51-40, and the Nets’ 117 points were the second most they had scored since Dec. 4. This comes on the heels of the Heat allowing 118 in a loss at Memphis and 123 in a loss at Washington in recent weeks.
“Our energy from the jump, I don’t think we came out with an edge,” Jimmy Butler said. “We did not set the tone. They were the more physical team. I don’t think we did what we were supposed to do for the entire game.
“I would like to say it’s one of 82, but it tends to happen too often with our group. If our starters don’t set the tone like we’re supposed to do, it will end like that a lot of times. We’re not getting to those 50/50 balls on the ground or in the air.”
Miami fell behind 15-5 early but led by 12 at halftime and by nine with 5:09 left.
“This was one of the first games where the other team got more 50/50 balls,” Adebayo said. “That’s about effort.”
▪ Miami is the NBA’s most dominant team at home (17-1) but just 10-10 on the road.
“We’re still searching for maturity on the road as a basketball team, and we didn’t take a step forward in that department tonight,” Spoelstra said. “We’re much better than that. It’s not an indictment on who we are as a team. We’re a good basketball team. Our group knows that.”
Dragic said: “We are still .500 on the road but we feel that’s not good enough for this team. We need to get better. The effort and energy are there.”
And Butler, on the team’s 10-10 road record, offered this: “We just need to do better. I don’t know what it is. I think we get comfortable we’re a good team, start overlooking individuals, teams as a whole. Good teams don’t do that. Good teams handle business home and away.”
▪ Bam Adebayo’s offensive game continues to grow.
Even before this season, Adebayo was among the league’s better bigs as a playmaker, and that part of his game was again on display Friday, including a fabulous pass to Derrick Jones Jr. for a dunk.
But the development in other parts of his offensive game, particularly in the last couple of weeks, has been significant.
He shot 10 for 13 on Friday, meaning he has hit 39 of his last 50. What’s more, he’s reached double figures in 17 consecutive games - much longer than his previous high streak of 10 games.
Many of the shots are coming around the basket area, but his moves in the paint are clearly more polished than a year ago. On Friday, he used a spin move to fake out Jarrett Allen for one basket, then hit a face-up jumper from eight feet on the next possession en route to finishing with 22 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Fact is, Adebayo is hitting his mid-range jumper more consistently than ever before.
Last season, he shot 41.5 percent from 3 to 9 feet (49 for 118). This season, entering Friday, he was at 47 percent on those shots (55 for 117).
Last season, Adebayo shot 37.3 percent (22 for 59) from 10 to 15 feet. This season, he’s at 43.6 percent (24 for 55).
“You want him to be aggressive,” Dragic said. “With him scoring, it takes pressure off us. He’s the leader of this team.”
▪ Jimmy Butler was on his game and not the least bit distracted by Nets fans chanting TJ Warren.
Hoping to distract Butler at the free throw line, Nets fans chanted the name of the Pacers forward who got under Butler’s skin - and earned an ejection - in Wednesday’s game at Indiana.
It didn’t work. Butler promptly shot 9 for 9 from the line. He also opened 4 for 4 from the field, finishing 12 for 18 on a 33-point night which also included nine rebounds.
But after he put the Heat ahead 109-100 with a layup with 5:09 left, he took only two shots the rest of the game, both in the final 16 seconds, because, as Dragic said, “they played a zone. We couldn’t get the ball to him.”
Asked how much the zone affected the Heat late, Butler said: “How many points we have? 113 is good enough to win in this league. We gave up 117. That’s the problem. We never worry about offense. We probably won’t even look at our offense [Saturday].”
▪ James Johnson got Justise Winslow’s minutes.
With Winslow again sidelined indefinitely by a back injury, Spoelstra opted for James Johnson as his fourth reserve off the bench instead of Kelly Olynyk or Chris Silva.
Johnson, appearing in only his second game since Nov. 27, followed his his 12-point, 6-rebound game against Portland last Sunday with a six-point, three-rebound, two-assist game in 12 minutes.
He hit two big threes in the fourth quarter before the Heat collapsed late.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 10:56 PM.
