Nov 3, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Miami Heat guard Norman Powell (24) celebrates at the end of the game against the LA Clippers at Intuit Dome. Kirby Lee Imagn
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 120-119 win over the Los Angeles Clippers (3-3) on Monday night at Intuit Dome to improve to 1-2 on its four-game trip. The Heat (4-3) ends the trip on Wednesday against the Denver Nuggets:
After a poor defensive effort in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena, it appeared the Heat was on its way to another rough defensive night across town. Then Monday’s second half happened.
After allowing a season-high 130 points in Sunday’s loss to the Lakers, the Heat’s defense again looked bad to begin Monday’s contest against the Clippers.
The Clippers took advantage of the Heat’s early defensive issues, totaling 71 first-half points on 52.9 percent shooting from the field and 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) shooting from three-point range to enter halftime with a five-point lead. It marked the second-most points that the Clippers have scored in a single half this season.
The Heat tightened things up in the third quarter to regain control of the game, though, limiting the Clippers to 24 points in large part by forcing nine turnovers in the period.
The Heat led the Clippers by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, outscoring Los Angeles 37-24 in the period to enter the fourth quarter with a 103-95 advantage.
But after allowing an eight-point fourth-quarter lead to slip away in a season-opening loss to the Orlando Magic, wasting a one-point fourth-quarter lead in Thursday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs and then allowing the Lakers to blow the game open after pulling within two points in Sunday’s fourth quarter, the Heat again needed to face late-game drama on Monday.
The Heat’s eight-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter disappeared quickly, as the Clippers began the period on a 12-2 run to erase the Heat’s lead and pull ahead by two points just four minutes in the quarter.
This time, though, the Heat found answers down the stretch to escape with the victory with the help of its physical and disruptive defense.
The Heat and Clippers traded punches in the final minutes, as the two teams found themselves tied at 116 with 1:46 to play.
But center Bam Adebayo made a 15-foot jumper to put the Heat ahead by two points with 1:31 left.
Then Heat guard Norman Powell came away with a steal and Adebayo drew a foul on the other end, hitting both free throws to give Miami a four-point advantage with 57.4 seconds remaining.
The Clippers didn’t go away quietly, though, as guard James Harden made a three-pointer to cut the deficit to just one point with 19.7 seconds to play.
Following a timeout, the Clippers forced a jump ball on the Heat’s ensuing inbounds pass.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac won the jump ball to give Los Angeles an opportunity to steal a walk-off win, but forward Kawhi Leonard missed a 26-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to clinch the Heat’s one-point victory.
“I thought it was fitting for us, the way the second half went, that we were able to get the last stop of the game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
The Heat held the Clippers to just 48 points in the second half after the Clippers totaled 71 points in the first half.
“I was really encouraged and pleased with the defensive mentality that second half,” Spoelstra said.
Most of the Clippers’ second-half issues came down to simply making too many mistakes, as they committed 15 turnovers in the final two quarters. The Heat took advantage to score 23 points off those second-half errors on the way to the one-point win.
Heat guard Pelle Larsson had three second-half steals, guard Davion Mitchell recorded two steals in the second half, and Powell forward Andrew Wiggins and Adebayo each contributed one steal in the second half.
The Heat finished the night with 37 points off 21 Clippers turnovers.
“Pelle really sparked everything in that third quarter, just with his passion, his energy,” Spoelstra continued. “And then Davion and Wiggs showed me what they’re capable of on the ball or just making plays off the ball, really impressive. And Bam continues to be just our leader.”
The Heat’s offense was also impressive, reaching the 120-point mark for the fifth time in the first seven games of the season. Miami shot 54.2 percent from the field, 12 of 25 (48 percent) on threes and 18 of 24 at the foul line.
Adebayo led the Heat with a team-high 25 points and 10 rebounds on Monday.
Adebayo was one of five double-digit Heat scorers against the Clippers, along with Powell (21 points), Wiggins (17 points), Kel’el Ware (16 points) and Simone Fontecchio (11 points).
The Clippers duo of Harden (29 points) and Leonard (27 points) combined for 56 points in the loss.
“Man, just to scrap and get a win like that, those are the most gratifying wins,” Adebayo said.
Powell returned from a groin injury and returned to the Intuit Dome to face his former team for the first time since the Clippers traded him to the Heat in early July as part of a three-team trade.
Powell, who spent three-plus seasons with the Clippers before being dealt to the Heat, closed his return to Intuit Dome with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting on threes and 7-of-7 shooting from the foul line.
“I know a lot of people have a lot of emotions going forward, and I had it,” Powell said after playing against the Clippers on Monday for the first time he was traded to the Heat. “But I just told myself to lean into it, not shy away, and just continue to be present no matter what was going on. Whether I had a good start, a bad start, whatever, just stay the course, stay even-keel, and work the game and we were able to get the win.”
With Powell returning after a three-game absence, Spoelstra said he was “on somewhat of a minutes restriction” on Monday.
“Honestly, whenever I’m faced with injuries or an obstacle or a challenge, whatever, I just try to look at the bigger picture,” Powell said of the recovery from his groin issue. “Take it one day at a time, be in the moment. That’s what I did with this. I wanted to come back a little earlier, but they got to save me from myself sometimes and take it slow. But when they cleared me, I was ready to go.”
Powell has been vocal about the fact that he’s unhappy with how his Clippers tenure ended. Powell was in extension talks with the Clippers before his sudden trade to the Heat this past offseason.
The Clippers’ decision to trade Powell to the Heat came after he produced All-Star caliber numbers for Los Angeles last regular season, averaging a career-high 21.8 points to go with 3.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 41.8% on 7.1 three-point attempts per game.
The Clippers played a tribute video for Powell during the first timeout of Monday’s game, and it was met with a nice ovation from the Los Angeles crowd. Fans even briefly chanted, “Norman Powell,” at the end of the video.
Powell’s return led to a change in the Heat’s starting lineup, and it proved to be a good move on Monday.
The Heat went smaller, as the 6-foot-5 Larsson replaced the 7-foot Ware in the starting lineup on Monday. It marked the Heat’s fourth different starting lineup through the first seven games of the season.
The Heat opened Monday’s contest with a lineup of Mitchell, Powell, Larsson, Wiggins and Adebayo.
This five-man combination had not been used prior to Monday’s game, but still produced positive minutes against the Clippers. The Heat outscored the Clippers by 12 points in the 21 minutes this group played together.
Larsson played a big part in the unit’s success despite scoring just seven points on four shots in 24 minutes. He was a force defensively, finishing with three steals and drawing one charge.
Larsson, who is in his second NBA season, came away with all three of his steals and drew his lone charge call of the game in Monday’s third quarter to set the defensive tone for the Heat following an underwhelming defensive effort for the team in the first half.
“He started the spark in that third quarter,” Wiggins said of Larsson. “First with the deflection, then he got the steal. He was all over the place, making it hard for the other team.”
That led to Ware playing off the bench after starting in the previous five games, but he contributed quality minutes in this new role.
It has been an eventful trip for Ware.
In the first game of the trip, the 21-year-old Ware was held scoreless and finished with a team-worst plus/minus of minus 20 in 21 minutes during Thursday’s loss to the Spurs in San Antonio. He also didn’t play in the fourth quarter of that contest because of those struggles.
In the second game of the trip, Ware was benched for the final 18 minutes of the first half after a rough start in Sunday’s loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles. Ware didn’t re-enter the game until late in the third quarter, as he was limited to just 11:30 of playing time in the defeat.
In the third game of the trip, Ware was moved to a reserve role in the Heat’s win over the Clippers on Monday.
“I know probably people will point to Kel’el and say it’s a demotion. It’s not,” Spoelstra said. “I know there will be some teams that it makes more sense to play big. We have a team that it makes more sense to use our versatility. Sometimes it changes the starting lineup to do that.”
Ware recorded 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 18 minutes off the bench.
“Kel’el gave us great minutes,” Spoelstra said. “It was really great to see them respond.”
Ware was part of a five-man bench rotation that also included Jaime Jaquez Jr., Fontecchio, Nikola Jovic and Dru Smith against the Clippers.
The Heat’s new-look offense continues to be the talk of the league early this season.
A night after Lakers coach JJ Redick was asked a few questions about the Heat’s revamped offense, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue spent a chunk of his pregame media session on Monday fielding questions about Miami’s offense.
“That’s what great coaches do, and Spo is a great coach,” Lue said of Spoelstra’s decision to completely change the Heat’s offense to fit this season’s roster. “You’ve got to play, and you’ve got to adjust to the team and the personnel that you have. You just can’t run the same system if you don’t have the same players. And so, Spo does a great job of that, just catering to the team he has and what he has to do to install for the team to be successful. He’s been able to do that this year as far as playing fast, attacking early.”
So far, this season’s offense has represented a drastic shift from recent Heat offenses.
Not only has the Heat been one of the five slowest-paced teams in the NBA in each of the past six regular seasons, but Miami has also never finished the regular season as a top-15 team in pace through Spoelstra’s first 17 seasons as the Heat’s head coach. The Heat has also finished with one of the NBA’s 10 worst offensive ratings in each of the last three seasons.
But the Heat entered Monday with the NBA’s 10th-best offensive rating, and averaging the third-most points per game (124.5) in the NBA while playing at the league’s fastest pace (107.1 possessions per 48 minutes) through the first two weeks of this season.
Along with the high-scoring performances and fast-paced style, the Heat is also using significantly fewer screens and handoffs this season.