Heat, without 3 starters, loses to Bulls, ending four-game winning streak. Five takeaways
Five takeaways from the Heat’s 113-103 loss against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night in South Florida:
▪ Without three starters - including Jimmy Butler - the Heat’s four-game winning streak ended with a second-half collapse on both ends of the court.
Chicago, down 57-52 at halftime, took control with a 21-2 third-quarter blitz and beat the Heat at FTX Arena for the second time this season.
The Bulls, who ruined opening night in Miami, also ruined the Heat’s opportunity to move two games above .500 for the first time this season. Instead, the Heat fell to 16-16, continuing this team’s penchant for taking a step back after a step forward.
This was another disappointment in a season full of them, not only because Miami looked very good in the first half, but also because the Bulls entered mired in dysfunction, having lost four in a row amid reports of a verbal locker-room confrontation in Sunday’s 150-126 drubbing by Minnesota.
The Heat ultimately neither had enough offense in a 46-point second half nor nearly enough defense to slow DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic and a Bulls team that shot 23 for 39 after intermission.
DeRozan, who had just eight in the first half, scored 10 of his 24 in third, and Vucevic scored 11 of his 29 in the third, a quarter in which the Bulls outscored the Heat, 36-20. Vucevic also had 12 rebounds on the night.
Chicago outscored the Heat 30-10 to open the third quarter and Miami never recovered.
The Heat - playing without Butler, Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin - never drew within single digits after falling behind 82-67.
Wasted were 27 points and 12 rebounds from Bam Adebayo, who shot 12 for 15 from the field.
“I don’t even remember them missing early in the third,“ Erik Spoelstra said. “Our guys competed. It was a matter of doing things with precision on both ends and doing it collectively.
“Once they started to knock down some shots, I’m sure the basket started to look bigger and bigger. In the second half, we missed a few too many open shots and that really affected our resolve on the other end.”
▪ With a team again beset by injuries, Erik Spoelstra needed to use a new starting lineup - the Heat’s 12th different one in 32 games. This one didn’t work out.
This time, the bingo card included Victor Oladipo, Max Strus and Haywood Highsmith alongside regular starters Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
Those five were outscored 12-9 during their time together to begin the game, then were blitzed 23-8 to open the third quarter before Spoelstra went to Duncan Robinson in place of Oladipo.
Butler was a late scratch after waking up from a Tuesday nap with a gastrointestinal illness.
Lowry missed his third game in a row with left knee soreness and Martin missed his second consecutive game with a sprained left ankle.
Oladipo made his first start since Game 5 of the first-round playoff series against Atlanta.
He closed 4 for 13, including 2 for 8 on threes, on an 14-point night. But he had two steals and five rebounds and played a season-high 34 minutes.
Spoelstra said he prefers to keep Oladipo coming off the bench, so that he can gain a rhythm in that role, but “we had three starters out. I really didn’t want to do that tonight. I wouldn’t have done this with Victor tonight if we didn’t have two days after the last game and two games before the next one. I want him to continue to have confidence in his role off the bench, which he has done a great job with.”
Highsmith was helpful, offering his usual harrassing defense and scoring a career-high 18 points, making all four of his threes.
But this starting group was overwhelmed to start the second half and the Heat could never dig out of the hole it created.
Before the game was essentially settled late, Spoelstra went only eight deep, playing Robinson, Dewayne Dedmon and Jamal Cain off the bench. Cain, summoned earlier in the day from the G-League showcase in Las Vegas, had three points and two rebounds in eight minutes.
Nikola Jovic and Orlando Robinson didn’t play until final 1:21. Udonis Haslem was available but didn’t play, and Gabe Vincent missed an eighth game in a row with left knee effusion.
Miami fell to 5-7 without Butler this season.
▪ Against a team that has been dreadful defensively in recent months, there wasn’t enough offense beyond Adebayo (27), Herro (19) and Highsmith (18).
Not only was Chicago blitzed for 150 points in Sunday’s loss at Minnesota, but the Bulls entered having allowed at least 119 points in five of their last nine games.
Before Tuesday, the Bulls hadn’t permitted fewer than 108 points since Nov. 28.
But after a 36-point second quarter, Miami managed just 20 in the third quarter on 7 for 18 shooting, with six turnovers.
Strus remained mired in a slump, shooting 1 for 9 overall and 1 for 7 on threes on a four-point night.
The Heat - the league’s best three-point shooting team last season - entered 24th at 34.3 percent and finished the night at 34 percent on threes (15 for 44).
Adebayo did all he could, making all seven of his shots in the first half.
Herro, scoreless in the first quarter, made all four of his shots in an 11-point second quarter, but shot 3 for 8 in the second half.
“They were trapping Tyler a lot,” Spoelstra said.
In the second half, the Heat shot 16 for 37 and 7 for 21 on threes.
Defense was equally problematic, with the Heat unable to slow DeRozan, Vucevic, Zach LaVine (21) and Coby White (14). Chicago shot 54.8 percent from the field and 41.9 percent on threes.
Vucevic often was matched against smaller defenders, as the Heat played a lot of zone and switched a lot.
“More than anything, we haven’t been giving up the one trigger scores in the last several weeks,” Spoelstra said about where the Heat was vulnerable defensively on Tuesday. “We have made that a lot tougher -[where opposing teams] have to work your offense to get a good clean look in man or a zone.
“We uncharacteristically gave up, in the second half, one pass shots and one trigger shots where they weren’t burning a lot of calories to score. That’s an aberration. They have super highly skilled offensive players. They see a few go down and they start to make quite a few shots.”
▪ After being a healthy scratch four times in seven games, Robinson again got early minutes and sizzled early.
With four three-pointers, Robinson is now seven behind Tim Hardaway’s franchise record for career three pointers (806).
But after shooting 4 for 8 on threes in the first half, Robinson was 0 for 4 after halftime.
Robinson, who scored 13, entered shooting 9 for 25 on threes during this stretch and has scored in double figures in three of the four games, after scoring in double figures only four times in his first 19 games.
▪ The Heat continued its bad habit of losing to bad teams at home.
Embarrassing home losses to Detroit and San Antonio earlier this month left Miami with a 6-4 record at home against teams that are currently below .500.
The Heat is now 6-5 in those games - unacceptable for a team with aspirations of going anywhere in May. Chicago entered 11-18.
There will be more opportunities to beat teams with losing records on this four-game homestand, with Indiana in town Friday night and the Lakers visiting next Wednesday. Minnesota, a game over .500, visits FTX Arena on Monday.
The Heat fell to eighth in the East at 16-16, behind the No. 7 Hawks (16-15), No. 6 Knicks (18-13) and No. 5 Philadelphia (17-12).
This story was originally published December 20, 2022 at 9:46 PM.
