Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 103-91 loss to the Boston Celtics (48-19) on Friday night at Kaseya Center to close a winless five-game homestand and drop its sixth straight game. The Heat (29-37) now travels to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) to complete the back-to-back set and begin a two-game trip:
The Heat’s fourth-quarter struggles and losing skid continue.
The reeling Heat put together a quality effort against the talented Celtics, entering halftime with the score tied at 50 and entering the fourth quarter trailing by just one point.
But the Heat was outscored in the fourth quarter for the sixth straight game on Friday on the way to its sixth straight loss. The Heat now stands eight games below the .500 mark for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
After 11 lead changes and five ties through the first three quarters, the Celtics pulled away from the Heat by opening the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to turn a one-point lead at the start of the period into a nine-point advantage with 9:19 to play.
The Heat kept fighting, cutting the deficit to four points on a Davion Mitchell three with 4:22 left in the fourth quarter, but Derrick White responded by hitting a three on the other end to push the Celtics’ lead back up to seven with 3:54 remaining.
The Celtics then went on increase their lead to 14 points in the final seconds to cruise to the double-digit win.
the Heat was outscored 25-14 in Friday’s fourth quarter and has now been outscored by an NBA-worst 126 points in the fourth quarter since the start of February.
The Heat shot just 5 of 20 (25 percent) from the field and 2 of 9 (22.2 percent) on threes in its ugly fourth-quarter performance.
Andrew Wiggins scored a team-high 23 points for the Heat on 9-of-21 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 shooting on threes in the loss.
Tyler Herro added 19 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Bam Adebayo finished with nine points, nine rebounds and two assists.
Jayston Tatum (28 points) and Jrue Holiday (25 points) combined for 53 points for the Celtics.
The Heat’s last win came nearly two weeks ago on March 3 against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center.
In search of solutions amid its losing skid, the Heat made major changes to its starting lineup.
After going with the starting lineup of Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware and Bam Adebayo for each of the previous three games and in eight of the previous 14 games. With the Heat posting an underwhelming 2-6 record in this group’s eight starts together, coach Erik Spoelstra decided to shake things up.
The Heat started Friday’s game with Duncan Robinson in place of Mitchell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. in place of Ware alongside Herro, Wiggins and Adebayo.
Not only did it mark the first time that the Heat has used this lineup to start a game, but Friday was also the first time that the Herro-Robinson-Wiggins-Jaquez-Adebayo combination has played together at any point in a game this season. This is the 20th different starting lineup that the Heat has used this season.
The changes to the Heat’s starting lineup forced changes to its bench rotation.
After starting in 21 straight appearances, Ware returned to the bench and played as the Heat’s backup center Friday. The Heat’s rookie center entered for his first action of the night with 1:35 left in the opening quarter and immediately threw down an alley-oop dunk on his first possession of the game.
Ware recorded seven points and three rebounds in 15 minutes off the Heat’s bench in Friday’s loss.
After starting in his first 14 appearances with the Heat since being traded to Miami in early February, Mitchell was the first player used off the Miami’s bench on Friday. He entered the game for his first action with 5:52 left in the first quarter.
Mitchell provided a spark, contributing 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting on threes, nine rebounds, four assists and one steal in 35 minutes off the Heat’s bench.
Ware and Mitchell were part of a four-man bench rotation that also included Haywood Highsmith and Pelle Larsson.
Terry Rozier, Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love, Keshad Johnson and Isaiah Stevens were out of the Heat’s rotation on Friday despite all of them being available to play.
The only Heat players unavailable against the Celtics were Alec Burks (lower back pain), Josh Christopher (G League), Nikola Jovic (broken right hand) and Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery).
The Celtics were without two starters, as Jaylen Brown (right knee posterior impingement) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness) missed Friday’s game.
In an attempt to slow down one of the NBA’s top offenses, the Heat turned up its aggressiveness on defense. But instead, the Heat ran into its own turnover issues.
With timed double teams and active hands, the Heat made a noticeable effort to be disruptive against the Celtics’ high-powered offense in an attempt to force some empty possessions.
The Heat was effective early, forcing nine Celtics turnovers in the first half behind five steals. But Boston committed only six turnovers in the second half.
The Heat was the sloppier team, closing Friday’s loss with 18 turnovers. The Celtics closed with a 19-16 advantage in points off turnovers.
Forcing turnovers has been at the center of the Heat’s defensive formula for the last few seasons, finishing with a top-10 opponent turnover rate (percentage of opponent possessions that end in a turnover) in each of the previous four seasons.
But the Heat has taken a big step back this season, entering Friday’s game with the NBA’s 21st-ranked opponent turnover rate. The departure of Jimmy Butler has played a role in that.
The Heat’s last regular-season win over the Celtics came more than two years ago.
The Heat has now lost six straight regular-season matchups against the Celtics. The Heat’s last regular-season win over the Celtics came in a 98-95 victory in Miami on Jan. 24, 2023.
Most of those defeats haven’t been close either, as four of the six Celtics’ straight wins over the Heat have come by double-digits.
Of course, the Heat ended the Celtics’ season in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals in the middle this regular-season losing skid to Boston.
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.