At 4-7 it stays considerably of a problem to get a definitive learn on the place the Miami Heat stand on account of such a restricted pattern dimension in opposition to the remainder of the league.
Of the 11 video games which have left the Heat at 4-7, eight have are available in two-game units in opposition to simply 4 groups, with Erik Spoelstra’s workforce 1-1 in opposition to every the Toronto Raptors, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers. Otherwise, there have been losses to the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers.
The pattern will proceed, with the Heat’s subsequent two a pair of video games in opposition to the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday and Saturday nights at FTX Arena.
“We’re 11 games into an 82-game season,” level guard Kyle Lowry stated. “So we simply received to type of chip away at it and take it sport by sport, one after the other, and get to .500 first. And then you definitely simply type of construct from there.
“But we can’t even think about .500. We just got to think about getting the next game.”
The numbers in some ways say the Heat are who their file says they’re. With the complete NBA off Tuesday, the Heat rank:
– twenty first in offensive score.
– seventeenth in defensive score.
– nineteenth in web score.
– twenty first in rebound share.
– twenty fourth in field-goal share.
– twentieth in 3-point share.
– 1st in free-throw share.
– fifteenth in assists per sport.
– twenty third in tempo.
– thirteenth in assists-to-turnover ratio.
– thirtieth in blocked photographs per sport.
It has left the Heat in an Eleventh-place tie with the Brooklyn Nets within the Eastern Conference standings, forward of solely the Hornets, Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic.
“Bigger picture,” heart Bam Adebayo stated, “we simply received to take it sport by sport. We can’t look into the longer term. Next sport up, take it day-to-day. I really feel like if we preserve that mindset, we’ll find yourself on a four-game successful streak, five-game successful streak.
“So we can’t look too much into the future. We’ve got to take it game by game.”
Ugly ending
To a person, probably the most disappointing side of Monday evening’s 110-107 loss to the Trail Blazers was permitting Portland to shoot 14 of 17 within the fourth quarter, with conversions on their closing eight photographs.
“For the most part,” Spoelstra stated, “the place we’ve been excellent this season, within the brief season, has been defending and actually holding down that facet of the court docket within the fourth quarter. And we simply weren’t in a position to do this.
“That fourth quarter, it felt like we could not get a stop. And that’s very much unlike us in the fourth quarter, where we haven’t been able to string together four or five stops in a row.”
Empty feeling
When Jimmy Butler went scoreless in Monday’s third quarter, it was the primary time this season he logged minutes in a interval and didn’t rating.. He didn’t play the fourth quarter of the lopsided victory in Portland . . .
Adebayo performed all 12 minutes within the fourth quarter Monday for a team-leading sixth time this season. He leads the Heat in fourth-quarter minutes at 116:37 . . .
In going 13 of 15 from the road Monday, the Heat made it a franchise-record 10 consecutive video games of a minimum of 80 % or higher on free throws. The league file is 15 consecutive such video games, by the Oklahoma City Thunder, who did from the tip of 2010-11 to the early phases of ‘11-12. The single-season file is 14 by Charlotte (2017) and Golden State (2012) . . .
With Monday’s loss, the Heat turned simply the second workforce in NBA historical past to finish a season sequence in opposition to three totally different opponents inside the first 11 video games of a season, becoming a member of the 2005 Warriors, who did it in opposition to the Bulls, Knicks and Bucks inside the first 9 video games of that season.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com