Despite their recent two losses, the Heat are still the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and will soon get reinforcements.
The Miami Heat had a difficult two-game road trip; on Friday night, they fell short of the Oklahoma City Thunder 107-100 after losing a close game to the Dallas Mavericks.
Miami finishes the season with a 35-28 record but holds the sixth seed. Taking down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic on consecutive nights was going to be a tough task. Nevertheless, with the Heat leading by double digits in the first half of each game, both were winnable.
The Heat looked sturdy on Friday night in Oklahoma City. They played a great defensive first half and led by 10 points at halftime. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Patty Mills, who made his Heat debut, provided some spark off the bench. Jaquez finished the game with a team-high 25 points, making 10 of 13 shots.
Patty Mills made an immediate impact, scoring 11 points on 4 of 5 shooting and 3 of 3 from downtown in his first seven minutes of play.
This already deep Miami roster got deeper. The Heat signed 35-year-old free agent Patty Mills last week. At first, it seemed like a random signing, considering the Heat also snagged defensive-minded guard Delon Wright off the buyout market a few weeks back. But Josh Richardson’s season-ending shoulder surgery created a need for another guard on the roster.
Jimmy Butler registered a near triple-double performance, finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Bam Adebayo, on the other hand, put in a forgettable outing, totaling just five points on a rough 1 of 9 shooting on the night. Adebayo does so many other things well that can help mask shooting performances like this, but Miami is simply going to need more out of him offensively when matching up against offensive powerhouses like the Thunder.
Terry Rozier also played well and shot the ball efficiently with 14 points and added five rebounds and four assists. However, when Gilgeous-Alexander is torching teams with 37 points like he did against the Heat, there needs to be enough firepower to combat that. Outside of Jaquez off the bench, not a single Heat player scored over 20 points.
A healthy Tyler Herro could have changed the outcome of this game.
Going up against MVP-caliber players like Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander, Herro could have been a difference-maker for the Heat. His ability to create his own offense at an efficient clip would have helped the Heat keep pace with those offenses.
The bad news is the Heat are now in the midst of a two-game losing streak. The good news is that the hardest back-to-back set on the schedule is now in the rearview mirror. The Heat’s record may have gotten worse, but they didn’t move in the standings and are still in sixth in the East. They are also just a game-and-a-half behind the fifth seed.
Miami gets a good opportunity to bounce back on Sunday at home against a struggling Washington Wizards team.
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