Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs dunks against the Miami Heat in second half at Frost Bank Center on October 30, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. Ronald Cortes Getty Images
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 107-101 loss to the San Antonio Spurs (5-0) on Thursday night at Frost Bank Center to begin a four-game trip. The Heat (3-2) now has a few days off before continuing the trip on Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers:
The Spurs won the battle between two of the NBA’s best teams through the first week of the season, as the Heat’s revamped offense fell apart in the second half without two of its top scorers.
The Heat and Spurs entered Thursday as two of only four NBA teams ranked in the top 10 in both offensive rating and defensive rating at this early stage of the season.
That set up for what turned into a competitive game, as the teams traded punches in a back-and-forth first half that included six lead changes and four ties.
After the Spurs entered halftime with a narrow one-point lead, San Antonio appeared to break open the game with a dominant third quarter.
The Spurs began the second half on a 10-2 run and went on to outscore the Heat 28-14 in the third quarter to enter the fourth quarter with a 15-point advantage.
The Heat shot just 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) from the field and 2 of 7 (28.6 percent) from three-point range during its rough third quarter.
But the Heat had a strong response, beginning the fourth quarter with a big run of its own after pulling out its zone defense for the first time this season. Miami started the final period with a 19-3 spurt to come all the way back and take a one-point lead with 6:44 to play.
The Heat’s run ended right there, though, as the Spurs regained control of the game and never let go.
After the Heat pulled ahead by one point midway through the fourth quarter, the Spurs closed the game on a 17-10 run on the way to their first 5-0 start to a season in their franchise’s history.
“We got the lead and the next challenge is to finish,” Heat forward Andrew Wiggins said. “But as a unit, we did a great job coming back, pushing the pace and getting some stops. But that’s only half of it. You got to finish the job or it doesn’t matter.”
The Heat recorded only 43 points on 36.4 percent shooting from the field in Thursday’s second half. It went down as Miami’s lowest scoring half of the season.
“The bottom line is we were kind of uneven all night long,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But there were two key possessions there going down the stretch where they got offensive rebounds and then both those possessions end up in open threes. If we secure those rebounds, my experience tells me that the game would have felt a little bit different those last two minutes.
“So regardless of how you get there, it’s about making winning plays going down the stretch. And there were those couple winning plays and one or two other possessions we could have gotten stops with another rotation, another effort. And then you just grind it and you come away with a win when you’re not playing well. That’s the key takeaway.”
Miami was missing two of its top offensive players in Norman Powell (right groin soreness) and Tyler Herro (left ankle surgery) on Thursday, and it finally showed.
The Heat, which entered averaging an NBA-high 131.5 points per game and playing at the fastest pace in the league this season, was slowed to a season-low 101 points against the Spurs after totaling over 140 points in two of its first four games.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with a team-high 31 points to go with 10 rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.
Wiggins contributed 24 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting on threes, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Simone Fontecchio added 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range in 28 minutes off the Heat’s bench.
But the rest of the Heat’s roster combined for just 28 points on 30.6 percent shooting from the field and 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) shooting on threes in the loss.
The Heat posted a season-low single-game offensive rating of 102 points per 100 possessions during its slowest game of the season (100 possessions per 48 minutes). Miami also totaled a season-low nine fast-break points in the loss.
“It’s not always going to be easy, it’s not about how many points can we put up on the board,” Spoelstra said. “You have to credit their defense, they played well. When we got in the paint, they were there. We missed some shots that during the course of the game that could change things. But it didn’t matter, we were there at the end. It was a ball game, and they just made more plays.”
Harrison Barnes #40 of the San Antonio Spurs steals the ball from Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat in first half at Frost Bank Center on October 30, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. Ronald Cortes Getty Images
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has been one of the best players in the league through the first week of the season, and he again dominated Thursday’s contest.
The Heat started the game with Adebayo defending the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama, but plenty of players got their chance to defend the 21-year-old phenom.
The Heat even allowed 6-foot guard Davion Mitchell to switch on to Wembanyama for a few possessions.
But little worked, as Wembanyama finished Thursday’s win with 27 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and five blocks. He picked up three of his blocks in the fourth quarter.
It’s just the continuation of Wembanyama’s stellar start to the season, as he entered Thursday averaging 31 points, 13.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 4.8 blocks per game.
Wembanyama has now recorded a double-double and scored at least 24 points in each of the Spurs’ first five games this season.
Adebayo continues to take and make threes, and appears to be on his way to career-high marks in three-point makes and three-point attempts.
Adebayo set career-highs last regular season in three-point makes (79) and three-point attempts (221).
But Adebayo has started this season at a pace that would shatter those numbers, as he entered Thursday’s contest shooting 9 of 23 (39.1 percent) on threes through the Heat’s first four games of the season.
That trend continued on Thursday, as Adebayo closed the loss 4 of 13 from three-point range. The four three-point makes match a career-high and the 13 three-point attempts represent a new career-high for a game.
“All my teammates believe,” Adebayo said of putting up more threes this season. “They’ve been working out with me, they see that I can get hot.”
At the pace Adebayo has set through the Heat’s first five games, he would finish this regular season with 213 three-point makes and 590 three-point attempts. Both would be career-high numbers for Adebayo.
Adebayo has also now made a three-pointer in a career-best 17 consecutive regular-season games, dating back to last season.
It was a rough night for two of the Heat’s youngest players.
Heat center Kel’el Ware was held scoreless and finished with a team-worst plus/minus of minus 20 in 21 minutes during Thursday’s loss, and he didn’t play in the fourth quarter because of his struggles. The 21-year-old Ware went 0 of 4 from the field, with all four of those shots coming from behind the arc.
“It’s like OK, this is this type of game. This game is a little bit less fluid,” Spoelstra said. “Alright, how else can we make an impact on the game? For Kel’el, it might be 12 rebounds and three changed shots at the rim, playing with energy or whatever. Just whatever, just impact that unit where it’s a positive.”
Heat forward Nikola Jovic also finished scoreless and posted a subpar plus/minus of minus 13 in just 10 minutes, and he also didn’t play in the fourth quarter. The 22-year-old Jovic shot 0 of 5 from the field and 0 of 1 from three-point range.
“Niko, he had a great transition layup and he missed his first layup,” Spoelstra said. “And then that kind of changed his energy now for the rest of the game. It’s going to happen. That’s competition. It’s tough on the road. But now can you come away with 10 rebounds, three deflections, a couple great offensive ball movement plays where you help somebody else or drive, and then you just feel great about it because you contribute to a win.”
The Heat was without Kasparas Jakucionis (right groin strain), Terry Rozier (not with team), Herro and Powell on Thursday.
The Spurs were missing De’Aaron Fox (right hamstring strain), Luke Kornet (left ankle sprain), Kelly Olynyk (left heel surgery), Jeremy Sochan (left wrist sprain) and Lindy Waters III (eye procedure) against the Heat.
“That’s part of the evolution for young players,” Spoelstra continued on Jovic and Ware. “It’s all about, can you make your final box score number a positive and a positive in a big way. I just want everybody at least to be a neutral or positive. And you don’t want to be deep in the negative, whatever that may be on the plus/minus.”
After Thursday’s loss to the undefeated Spurs, the Heat’s challenging road trip now moves to the West Coast.
Following the defeat in San Antonio, the Heat will fly late Thursday night to Los Angeles for two games — Sunday against the Lakers and Monday against the Clippers. The Lakers are 3-2 and could soon be getting Luka Doncic back from finger and leg injuries, and the Clippers are 2-2.
The Heat then ends the trip on Wednesday against the Nuggets in Denver. The Heat has dropped eight straight regular-season games to the Nuggets in Denver and 10 straight regular-season matchups (regardless of whether it’s in Miami or Denver) to the Nuggets.
“We’re going out West,” Adebayo said. “We’re going to a whole different conference and see how we stack up.”