Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 105-102 loss to the Charlotte Hornets (16-48) on Monday night at Kaseya Center to fall to 0-3 on its five-game homestand. The Heat (29-35) continues this stretch at home on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers:
The Heat’s nightmare continued, blowing another double-digit lead to drop its fourth straight game.
The Heat entered Monday having blown a fourth-quarter lead in seven of its last eight losses and in a total of 14 losses this season. Only the Minnesota Timberwolves entered Monday with more blown fourth-quarter leads (16 blown fourth-quarter leads) than the Heat this season.
The Heat also entered Monday having blown a double-digit lead in 16 losses this season. That’s the second-most such collapses in the NBA this season behind only the Utah Jazz (18 blown double-digit leads).
It happened again. And it happened again in game against the team that enterd the contest with the NBA’s third-worst record.
The Heat led by as many as 17 point in Monday’s first half, pulled ahead by 11 with 6:47 left in the fourth quarter ... and still lost.
After the Heat went ahead by 11 points with 6:47 to play, the Hornets closed the game on a 28-14 run to complete their comeback.
The Heat had a chance to stave off the Hornets’ comeback multiple times, pulling ahead by three on a Duncan Robinson three-pointer with 2:45 left in the fourth quarter and taking a one-point lead on a Tyler Herro midrange jumper with one minute remaining in the fourth quarter.
But after Herro’s jumper put the Heat ahead, Miles Bridges made a clutch three to give the Hornets a two-point advantage with 41.5 seconds to play.
Then after Herro missed a three and Bam Adebayo didn’t convert on a layup on the Heat’s next possession, the Hornets added to their lead with a Mark Williams dunk in transition to pull ahead by four points with 19.6 seconds left.
The Heat still had an opportunity to send the game to overtime, finding itself with the ball and trailing by three points two times in the final seconds.
But Adebayo air-balled what would have been a game-tying three 6.9 seconds remaining.
The Hornets then committed a bad turnover on the ensuing inbound pass to give the Heat another chance to force overtime.
Herro couldn’t take advantage, though, as his three-point shot bounced off the front of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.
The Hornets won despite shooting 11 of 44 (25 percent) from three-point range.
Adebayo (23 points) and Herro (21 points) combined for 44 points for the Heat.
Bridges led the Hornets’ comeback with a game-high 35 points. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter.
The Heat lost despite another standout performance from Adebayo.
Adebayo recorded his fourth double-double in the last five games, totaling 23 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in Monday’s loss.
Adebayo nearly had a double-double by halftime, scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the first half.
This is just the continuation of Adebayo’s best stretch of the season, as he entered Monday averaging 22.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 10 of 29 (34.5 percent) on threes in 10 games since the All-Star break.
But unfortunately for Adebayo and the Heat, that production hasn’t led to wins.
The Heat lost despite a fine defensive effort.
The Heat usually wins games when it holds its opponent to 111 points or fewer. But Monday’s loss dropped the Heat to 25-10 in those games.
The Hornets won despite scoring just 105 poins on 41.9 percent shooting from the field and 11-of-44 (25 percent) shooting on threes.
With the Heat as healthy as it has been in a few weeks, it appears that the rotation is starting to stabilize.
The Heat was able to use its preferred post-trade starting lineup of Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware on Monday for the second straight game
It marked the seventh time that the Heat has used this starting lineup this season, 2-5 in those games.
The Heat then went with a bench rotation of Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, Terry Rozier, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Pelle Larsson against the Hornets. This is the same bench unit the Heat used in Saturday’s loss to the Bulls, except Larsson played on Monday after not playing on Saturday.
That left Kyle Anderson Kevin Love, Keshad Johnson and Isaiah Stevens out of the Heat’s rotation on Monday despite all of them being available to play.
The only Heat players unavailable for Monday’s game were Alec Burks (lower back pain), Josh Christopher (G League), Nikola Jovic (broken right hand) and Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery).
The Hornets were without Tre Mann (disc herniation), Brandon Miller (right wrist ligament repair), Josh Okogie (left hamstring strain), Tidjane Salaun (G League), KJ Simpson (G League) and Grant Williams (right ACL repair) against the Heat.
Monday’s loss came against one of the worst teams in the NBA. And another really tough stretch is ahead for the Heat.
Following Monday’s loss to the struggling Hornets, the Heat’s next six games come against teams with a winning record.
The Heat hosts the Clippers on Wednesday and Boston Celtics on Friday before traveling to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday and New York Knicks on March 17. Then the Heat returns home to face the Detroit Pistons on March 19 and Houston Rockets on March 21.
If the first five months of the season are any indication, that’s not a good thing.
The Heat holds an underwhelming 9-23 record this season in games against teams currently with a winning record. Since Jan. 1, Miami is just 2-13 in those games with its only such wins in that span coming against the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 7 and Indiana Pacers on Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, Monday’s loss dropped Miami’s record in games against teams with a .500 record or worse to 20-12 this season.
Miami Herald
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Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.