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Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 118-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns (27-20) on Monday night at Kaseya Center to begin a quick two-game homestand. The Heat (24-23), which has lost seven straight games, continues the homestand on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings:
The Heat is now in the middle of its longest losing skid in more than 15 years.
This is the Heat’s first seven-game skid since late in the 2007-08 season — a season that Miami finished with the NBA’s worst record at 15-67. The Heat traded Shaquille O’Neal to the Suns during this rough season.
This is also the Heat’s first seven-game skid since Erik Spoelstra became the head coach prior to the 2008-09 season.
There has never been a team that won the NBA championship after dropping seven straight games during that respective regular season.
“Obviously, if you’re in this kind of hole right now, the level of urgency, concern is extremely high,” Spoelstra said. “We’re just not doing it consistently hard enough, tough enough, with enough resolve with the things that come at you in an NBA game.”
Not only was it the Heat’s seventh straight loss, but it was the third straight defeat by double digits. In fact, five of the seven losses during this skid have been by double digits.
Monday’s game wasn’t close, as the Suns led by as many as 28 points. Phoenix led by double digits for the entire second half.
The Heat’s offense was again bad, shooting 39.3 percent from the field. The Heat finished 14 of 36 (38.9 percent) from three-point range, but shot just 9 of 28 (32.1 percent) on threes through the first three quarters before getting hot late.
The Heat’s defense was also bad, allowing the Suns to score 118 points on 48.9 percent shooting from the field.
“I don’t remember the last time we’ve taken a charge in a game,” Spoelstra said. “You have to do physical things, you have to do tough things. You have to go body to body and we’re not doing that consistently enough. And while we’re going through this period of time offensively, we’re not able to overcome that, those stretches where we’re missing shots or turning the ball over. And then on top of that, we’re not defending the way we’re capable of.”
Trailing by 26 points entering the fourth quarter, the Heat made a late run to cut the deficit to 10 points with 1:33 to play behind zone defense and three-point shooting. That’s the closest the Heat got.
“I’m searching, I’m searching,” Spoelstra said when asked about turning to zone defense in the fourth quarter. “We’re down by 28. At that point, I don’t know what to do. … Whatever we decide we want to do, I’m game for it at this point. Man, zone, switch, blitz, whatever our locker room and the staff can decide on, I don’t care. I just want to see the effort, the toughness, the physicality, the force, the multiple efforts to get through this to see what’s on the other side.
“We know that there’s something that potentially can be great on the other side, but you got to go through it. You got to go through the fires together and these uncomfortable times together.”
Devin Booker led the Suns with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Kevin Durant added 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Suns. Bradley Beal contributed 19 points, five rebounds and seven assists for Phoenix.
The Heat’s struggles began early, as the Suns led by as many as 17 points in the first half before entering halftime ahead by 14 points.
Jimmy Butler scored a game-high 26 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 10-of-10 shooting from the foul line for the Heat, but that wasn’t enough.
Butler’s co-stars Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro struggled to make shots. Adebayo closed with eight points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and Herro finished with 17 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the field.
The Heat fell to 5-11 in the 16 games that Adebayo, Butler and Herro have played together this season.
During the Heat’s seven-game skid, it has posted the NBA’s worst offensive rating and third-worst defensive rating.
“I just think there’s not enough effort,” Butler said when asked about the Heat’s defensive issues during the losing streak. “We’re getting beat off the dribble consistently, giving up offensive rebounds, not getting back. I think those are the majority of the time effort plays.”
The Heat is now in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
“I’m not absolving myself from this at all,” Spoelstra said. “I am every bit a part of this right now and we have to come together to figure out some solutions and dig deep to figure out how to get one win. That’s what this thing is about right now.”
The Heat used the same starting lineup for the third straight game, but it has yet to produce positive results.
The Heat again went with the starting lineup of Terry Rozier, Herro, Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Adebayo.
In their first two games as the Heat’s starting unit, this lineup produced negative results. Opponents outscored this five-man combination by 14.3 points per 100 possessions in their 28 minutes during their first two games together.
On Monday, the results were mixed.
The Heat’s starting lineup opened the game by building a 15-10 lead before Spoelstra turned to the bench for the first time.
But this lineup didn’t start the second half strong, as the Suns began the third quarter on a 17-10 run before the Heat made its first substitution.
By the end of Monday’s loss, the Rozier-Herro-Butler-Highsmith-Adebayo unit tied the Suns 27-27 in 10 minutes together.
Through their first three games, this lineup has been outscored by 10.3 points per 100 possessions in 38 minutes together.
“I mean, it don’t matter what lineup we put out there,” Butler said. “If we’re not guarding and we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do, I feel like the same outcome is going to happen. So no matter what five is out there, we still have a job to do. We still have to play the right way on both sides of the floor. No amount of trades, no amount of lineup changes is going to change that.”
The Heat has been pushing Rozier to be more aggressive in looking for his own offense. He followed their directions on Monday.
Rozier struggled in his first three games with the Heat, shooting just 10 of 33 (30.3 percent) from the field and 2 of 11 (18.2 percent) from three-point range. He averaged 11 field-goal attempts and 3.7 three-point attempts per game in his first three games with the Heat.
But Rozier’s fourth game in a Heat uniform was better, totaling 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting on threes in 27 minutes in Monday’s loss.
“It’s a shame that we’re working through what we’re working through, so we can’t fully capitalize on the things that he can and will help our team,” Spoelstra said. “We will get there.”
Rozier began the night by scoring the Heat’s first six points and they were impressive. He sent Durant flying in the opposite direction with a half-spin fake to create enough space for an open midrange jumper and then converted on a four-point play by making a corner three while being fouled by Suns center Jusuf Nurkic.
Rozier finished the first quarter with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, 1-of-3 shooting on threes and 1-of-1 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds and two assists. It marked his highest-scoring quarter in his first four games with the Heat.
Rozier closed the first half with 12 points on nine field goal-attempts. He scored nine points on five field-goal attempts in the second half.
With the Heat finally whole, Spoelstra extended the rotation to 10 players on Monday.
In the Heat’s first game while whole after dealing with injury issues for the first three months of the season, Spoelstra went with a nine-man rotation that did not include Josh Richardson in Saturday’s road loss to the New York Knicks.
But after receiving his first DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season Saturday, Richardson was back in the mix on Monday.
That meant the Heat went with a 10-man rotation, as Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Richardson were used off the bench against the Suns.
Richardson closed the loss with 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 24 minutes.
Robinson logged just four minutes before exiting the game early with an illness.
The Heat’s struggles against quality teams continue.
With the loss to the Suns, the Heat fell to 7-16 this season in games against teams that entered Monday with a winning record.
The Heat’s last victory over a winning team came against the Orlando Magic on Jan. 12.
Meanwhile, the Heat is 17-7 against teams that entered the day with a losing record.
“We all understand what’s at stake, we all understand what’s happening,” Butler said following Monday’s loss. “So we just got to go out there and do what we’ve been talking about this entire time.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2024, 10:05 PM.
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.
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