Furious Miami Heat rally falls short in loss at New Orleans. Details and takeaways
The Heat certainly knows what it’s like to blow fourth quarter leads.
On Friday, it nearly orchestrated the ultimate comeback.
Down 89-74 to start the fourth quarter, the Heat closed to within one on two occasions late before succumbing, 110-104, to the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Arena.
Duncan Robinson (24 points, including 12 in the fourth) spearheaded the furious fourth-quarter Heat rally on a night he set the franchise record for most three-pointers in a season.
That comeback included two key baskets from Andre Iguodala, a three by Solomon Hill (taken out of mothballs amid an injury to Jae Crowder) and contributions from Jimmy Butler (28 points), Derrick Jones Jr. and Bam Adebayo (9 points, 12 boards).
But ultimately, Miami was doomed by two huge late baskets, including a three-pointer, from Brandom Ingram, who had missed 15 of his first 17 shots until that point.
And Miami dug itself an 18-point first half hole because of the usual concoction of Heat road sins -- too many first-half turnovers (11, leading to 18 Pelicans points), defensive breakdowns and errant three-point shooting by multiple Heat players, aside from Robinson.
“There were so many good things we did in the second half,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s almost unrecognizable our team in the first half and I’m sure our fans at home are probably wondering that as well. We clearly weren’t sharp and that’s perplexing, particularly coming off the four games [Miami won at home] and what we showed in the second half. We were playing from a hole and couldn’t get over the hump.”
Down by 15 to start the fourth quarter, Miami closed to within 100-99 with 3:12 left. But Ingram hit the two big baskets, Butler missed a free throw, Robinson committed a turnover, Adebayo missed a 7-footer, Hill missed a free throw and Miami was done.
Hill, who had barely played at all in his first month with Miami, played all 12 fourth-quarter minutes because Crowder left the game for good in the second quarter after taking a Zion Williamson elbow to his jaw.
But Goran Dragic (5 for 15, 15 points) and Kendrick Nunn (2 for 8, 4 points) had poor shooting nights.
Williamson, New Orleans’ rookie phenom, opened 5 for 5 from the field en route to finishing with 17 points (7 for 9 shooting) and six rebounds. Jrue Holiday chipped in 20.
The Heat stopped a slump of 8 losses in 10 games by winning four in a row to close a recent homestand. But the Heat still seemingly cannot fix its issues on the road; Miami has now lost four in a row and 10 of its past 13 away from AmericanAirlines Arena.
Since winning at Indiana on Jan. 8, Miami’s only road wins have come against Oklahoma City, Orlando and Golden State. That stretch has included eight road losses to teams with losing records: the Knicks, Nets, Spurs, Kings, Trail Blazers, Hawks, Cavaliers and now the Pelicans, who are better than their 27-36 mark indicates.
“I think it’s our lack of urgency on the road,” Butler said. “That’s what it all comes down to. It’s been like that all year long. We’re constantly saying we’re going to fix it and we lay an egg like we did in the first half.”
Five takeaways from Friday’s game:
▪ The Heat’s typical road problems surfaced again before Miami’s big late rally.
Miami commits barely more turnovers on the road than at home, but the road turnovers have been more costly. The Heat has now allowed 74 more points off turnovers on the road than at home.
On Friday, there were eight Heat turnovers in the first quarter alone, leading to 12 Pelicans points. Miami generally corrected the problem in the second half, finishing with 16 turnovers, with Hill committing three of them.
Meanwhile, the Heat has repeatedly been victimized by damaging three-pointers on the road in recent weeks, and this game was no exception, with Ingram’s late three a killer on a night the Pelicans sank 14 of 38 three-point attempts (37 percent).
And Miami’s three-point shooting also been much worse on the road, and that trend continued Friday, with the Heat finishing 9 for 33 beyond the arc (27 percent). While Robinson was 8 for 14 on three-pointers, his teammates shot 1 for 19 on threes.
Those shooting problems extended to the free throw line, with Miami missing 10 of 31.
As usual, everything was just a bit off on the road - including an attempted Dragic to Adebayo alley-oop that might have been a thunderous dunk at home but amounted to an ugly turnover on Friday.
The Heat dropped to 13-19 on the road - a record worse than all but three of the other 15 teams currently holding playoff seeds (Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Orlando).
On the flip side, Miami is 27-4 at home.
▪ The Heat, like virtually every team before them, couldn’t stop Williamson but did better than most.
Derrick Jones Jr. - who opened on Williamson - certainly tried, making every effort to deny Williamson the ball when he was guarding the rookie phenom.
Jones Jr. was munching on a basket of fried food before Friday’s game, when Heat lifer Udonis Haslem approached and cracked: “You got a 300 pounder tonight. You might want to add more popcorn shrimp” to the basket.
The Heat sent a bunch of defenders at Williamson, most at a significant deficit in girth - including Jones and Andre Iguodala, who are listed at 215, Solomon Hill (225) and Crowder (235).
Williamson hit his first five shots, doing his damage in the basket area. He drove past Jones for a nifty reverse layup, dunked on an alley-oop and muscled his way deep in the post against Crowder and banked in a jumper, sending Crowder to the floor with an elbow to the jaw.
To add insult to injury, Crowder was called for a foul on the play. He didn’t return, but Spoelstra said he was doing fine and talking about playing Sunday in Washington.
Williamson scored just six in the second half and failed to score 20 after reaching that mark in his past 13 games.
▪ Robinson had another banner night and put himself in the Heat record books.
By making his third three-pointer early in the second quarter (his 228th of the season), Robinson became the Heat’s single-season leader for three-pointers in a season - quite an achievement for a player who went undrafted out of Michigan just 21 months ago.
Robinson, who finished 8 for 14 on threes on a 24-point night, broke Wayne Ellington’s franchise record with 19 regular-season games to spare.
“You want to do it in a win first and foremost,” Robinson said. “Disappointed in that. It’s been a journey. Certainly humbled to be in position I’m in, appreciative of everything coming my way. Just want to keep it rolling, continue to impact winning.”
Robinson also moved past Damon Jones for the record for most three-pointers in a season by any undrafted player in NBA history. Jones had the old record at 225.
“He has uncanny, uncommon persistence,” Spoelstra said. “It’s a wonderful story. It’s somebody who’s absolutely self made and he has gotten better each month. He’s becoming a very good NBA basketball player.”
Robinson remains on pace to finish with just over 300 three-pointers this season. Only Houston’s James Harden and Sacramento’s Buddy Hield have made more threes than Robinson this season.
Here’s some perspective on what Robinson has accomplished and where his season ranks in NBA history.
▪ Even the death lineup didn’t inflict its usual damage and then was tabled by Williamson’s elbow.
A lineup of Robinson, Dragic, Iguodala, Crowder and Kelly Olynyk had outscored teams 179-121 in 62 minutes entering Friday.
But the Pelicans outscored that quintet 19-17 in the first half. There was no such lineup in the second half because of Crowder’s injury.
With Crowder out and Adebayo and Jones in foul trouble, the Heat gave 14 second-half minutes to Hill, who played well but inadvertently sent Jones to the floor, in the final 10 seconds, with an inadvertent swipe to the eye. Jones said after the game that he’s fine.
Olynyk, who had been scorching hot from three-point range (20 for 27 since the All-Star break), missed his only two shots (both from two-point range) and went scoreless in 10 minutes.
▪ Other results delivered mixed news in the battle for playoff seeding.
With Utah winning at Boston, the fourth-seeded Heat remained 2.5 games behind the third-seeded Celtics.
But with Indiana winning at Chicago, the Pacers closed to within two games of the Heat. Both Philadelphia and Indiana are two back of Miami.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 10:49 PM.
