Takeaways, reaction from Miami Heat’s 124-112 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies
Five takeaways from the Heat’s unsettling 124-112 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, a decisive defeat that snapped Miami’s four-game winning streak:
▪The Heat had no defensive answers for Jonas Valanciunas, Dillon Brooks and Kyle Anderson and offered little resistance against Memphis’ three-point barrage.
This was a beatdown, a mess of a night defensively and surprising because Miami entered sixth in defensive rating (allowing 109 points per 100 possessions) and showed flashes of being an elite defensive team since the acquisitions of Trevor Ariza and Victor Oladipo.
Brooks, of all people, scored 23 in the third - equaling Jamal Crawford’s record for most points ever against the Heat in a third quarter, a record Crawford set in 2007.
Brooks closed with a season-high 28 points on 10 for 16 shooting.
For perspective, Brooks entered averaging 16.1 points and had scored more than 23 points (which was his third-quarter output) only five times in an entire game this season.
The Grizzlies opened 14 of 31 on three pointers and finished the night hitting 17 of 41 threes (41.5 percent). Brooks (five threes), Desmond Bane (three three-pointers) and Anderson (three threes) did much of the damage from long distance.
“We didn’t do it well,” Erik Spoelstra said of defending the three-point line.
But this was both an inside and outside problem.
“They hurt us everywhere; there wasn’t a whole lot we did well defensively,” Spoelstra said. “And we paid the price for it. We’re much better than we showed tonight. It shows how fragile things are in this league.”
Memphis was 11 for 15 on corner threes, many of them open looks.
Asked if he needs to change the defensive scheme to allow fewer open corner threes, Spoelstra said: “I’ll look at it. A lot of these were not scheme related. We’re not going to totally panic and reinvent the wheel. We’ve been trending in a good way defensively.”
Bam Adebayo blamed poor rotations and lack of communication for the open threes. “We were a step behind,” he said.
Miami tried Adebayo, Nemenja Bjelica and others on Valanciunas, the Grizzlies’ 7-foot center. They tried man and zone. They tried fronting and doubling.
Nothing worked early, with Valanciunas scoring 15 in the first quarter and 18 in the first half on 6 for 8 shooting. He closed with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Anderson, who entered averaging 12.3 points per game, scoring 17 in the first half, including three three-pointers, and finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Memphis blitzed the Heat for 37 points in the first quarter and 63 in the first half despite getting just two points from Ja Morant before intermission.
Morant, who entered averaging 19 points, didn’t hit his first shot from the field until two minutes into the third quarter and finished with 10, walking to the locker room gingerly late in the game with what appeared to be a back injury.
The Grizzlies entered 17th in offensive rating, averaging 110.2 points per 100 possessions. But Memphis looked like an offensive juggernaut on Tuesday, closing at 54.8 percent from the field.
And Memphis did it without injured forwards Jaren Jackson Jr, Justise Winslow and Brandon Clarke.
“We can’t have nights like tonight where the effort wasn’t there,” Duncan Robinson said.
The Grizzlies, who swept the season series, led 96-89 after three and the Heat never seriously challenged in the final 10 minutes.
Miami (26-25) shot 53.8 percent from the field and still lost by double digits at home.
▪ Adebayo and Jimmy Butler had efficient nights offensively but it ultimately didn’t matter.
The Grizzlies - specifically Valanciunas - gave Adebayo space on his jumper in an effort to prevent him from driving to the basket. It didn’t work; Adebayo hit three early jumpers and had 10 in the first quarter.
He filled the box score with 18 points on 9 for 14 shooting, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and two steals. It was his second triple double of the season and fifth of his career.
“We lost; I don’t give a damn about a triple double,” he said. “Stats don’t matter to me, as long as we get Ws.”
Adebayo went down after taking an elbow to the jaw on a driving layup from Morant in the fourth quarter. But he shook it off and remained in the game.
Butler, who took only one shot in the first quarter and four in the first half, came alive in the third and closed with 28 points on 11 of 16 shooting, with five assists and three steals.
▪ Duncan Robinson shook off early foul trouble and remained on a roll from three-point range.
Robinson has been the best shooter in the league since the night of the trade deadline, a day Heat president Pat Riley made clear he had no intention of trading him.
Yanked after picking up his second foul just 4:11 into the first quarter, Robinson re-entered in the second quarter, hit a couple of threes and went to the half with 11.
But he finished with just 14, taking only eight shots in 26 minutes and attempting just three shots in 15 second-half minutes. He didn’t pick up another foul after those two early.
On picking up the two early fouls, Robinson said: “It’s frustrating. It’s nobody else’s fault but mine. Got to be more disciplined. I’ve improved in that area. Just a lapse tonight. Got to be better.”
Robinson, who shot 4 for 7 on threes on Tuesday, entered the game shooting 40.3 percent on threes overall this season. He’s now 34 for 62 on threes (54.8 percent) since the day of the trade deadline.
▪ Tyler Herro continued a strong offensive stretch.
Since the day of the trade deadline, when the Heat declined to acquiesce to Toronto’s demand for Herro in a Kyle Lowry trade, Herro has scored at least 17 points in five of seven subsequent games while shooting 18 for 44 on threes during that run. He scored 19 points on Tuesday.
What’s impressive about this offensive stretch is the variety in his game.
On Saturday against Cleveland, he did much of his damage on sharp cuts to the basket. On Tuesday, he relied largely on his jump shot for offense, finishing 7 for 10 overall and 4 for 7 on threes.
▪ Victor Oladipo had some good moments but hasn’t yet resembled the two-time All Star.
Oladipo, who shot 5 for 21 overall and 1 for 10 on threes in his first two games, shot 6 for 14 on Tuesday. He showed signs of offensive life in a 3 for 7 first half, scoring on a nifty driving layup and a three, his only make from beyond the arc on four attempts.
He contorted his body to hit a beautiful twisting layup off the glass in the fourth quarter but missed the free throw. That sequence epitomized his opening week with the Heat: some good, some not so good.
Oladipo had six rebounds and two assists but three turnovers. And his defense wasn’t up to his usual standards at times; Bane drove by him for a layup in one sequence.
Oladipo was called for a flagrant 1 foul on an attempted three point attempt by Brooks early in the third quarter, and Brooks hit all three free throws.
Here was our story from earlier today on the Heat’s plans to sign Dewayne Dedmon and what Miami is getting.
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 10:19 PM.
