It was easy work for the Heat as they figured out the tanking, visiting Nets by the second quarter, and earning their 19th win at Kaseya Center. The offense scored 125.3 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 79th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.

Danny Wolf gave the Heat fits in early, cutting, shooting and driving, yet the hosts finished the first period ahead by six thanks to Bam Adebayo carrying them with his rim pressure. 

Tyler Herro then took over for a stretch, piercing the lane thrice, plus Andrew Wiggins hit the fast lane in transition for two baskets, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. kept getting to the body and nailed two triples. 

The crew had a 15-point edge at intermission, having made a dent in transition and with second-chance opportunities. They subsequently were sloppy in the third quarter, committing avoidable turnovers and guarding in third gear, but the Nets could never get within striking distance, in part because Herro had a quick burst at the end of it. 

The fourth quarter was a formality as Simone Fontecchio got plenty of burn, making multiple 3-pointers and a few freebies. Adebayo stayed in the game for a bit to ensure the Nets wouldn’t make a comeback and checked out with fewer than four minutes left. 

The Heat won 124-98, and they had six double-figure scorers log between 11 and 23 points.

Takeaways: 

• Not much can be taken away from this victory, like when a fighter cruises to an easy win against a piece of meat. The Heat will play them again Thursday, giving them a chance to bolster their record, but the public will learn more in Friday’s matchup with the surging Charlotte Hornets, who have an 18-6 record since Jan. 10.

• Adebayo being in kill-mode early set the mood for the team, yet it took the defense a bit longer to catch up despite their blocks and steals. He even had five steals and a denial in the first half. Things would be different for the Heat this season if he were that player full-time, and maybe he can be. 

• The big front court featuring Adebayo and Kel’el Ware got some more time in the first half and in the fourth, yet it will take more than short stretches against a basement team for coach Erik Spoelstra to trust the lineup. They still need some fine-tuning, working with the other three to guard, but the lineups’ intensity on the glass is an edge the Heat needs. And of course, all of their minutes didn’t come together, but they combined for 11 steals. 

• Fouling on jump shooters is a league-wide problem, but it doesn’t make it any less embarrassing and inexcusable for the Heat to keep making them if they are serious about doing things this season. It happened thrice in the second quarter, including two behind the arc. The team that bites on fewer fakes, and doesn’t commit cheap fouls and unnecessarily sags off the 3-point line can easily save an extra 10 points per game.    

• Herro has never been scared to talk but this was his second straight game getting a technical foul. On Feb. 28, he had words with Kevin Durant, and on Tuesday it was with Noah Clowney, presumably after he stepped over Pelle Larsson after a blocking foul was called.

It only took the Heat four days after their return from the All-Star break to remind everyone how unserious they are. Losing to the Bucks without their indecisive Greek megastar is one of their worst losses of the year, and there’s a new candidate for those every few weeks, it seems. On top of that, no matter how close they get to grasping the sixth seed, it slips through their fingers, like most recently on Thursday.

Pat Riley had a distraction from this team in his trip to Los Angeles, in which he was honored for past glory, but it ended just in time for him to witness the Milwaukee meltdown, too. 

The players sang the same tune in the locker room and presser about not getting stops. Their Tuesday performance highlights how much they’ve seen better days, in the 20-year anniversary of their first championship.

Coach Erik Spoelstra has preached the same platitude about pressure being a privilege, and now he sounds like a cleric reciting sermons on the street corner that no one is listening to. He could turn to veterans like Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem and Andre Iguodala in the past to inject the rotation with a different dynamic, but aside from Tyler Herro, who has glaring defensive shortcomings, there’s not much else. 

One wonders what the decision-makers hope to prove this season, as a swift first-round exit likely awaits them if they get that far. It should sting them twice that the star they covet knows how they’ll struggle with what he’s got already. Keep in mind that it was in Milwaukee’s best interest to lose that game to improve their lottery chances. 

Then they blew their second-half comeback on Thursday in Philly against the 76ers because they were clueless on how to guard the arc and got beat in the open court 27-22. Spoelstra called it getting beat at their own game, yet interestingly, the Heat are not good at playing fast; they do it more than other teams to break down opponents’ legs (first in frequency), yet are 29th in points per possession (1.07).

Thursday’s loss was a double whammy because they fell a game further away from the sixth seed (2.5), held by Philadelphia.

It seems inevitable that the Heat will be in their fourth consecutive Play-In Tournament. So the NBA should change its name to the Miami Heat Invitational. Unfortunately for them, they’ll have no vintage Jimmy Butler to bail them out.

The Heat’s brief two-game road trip started with a loss in Milwaukee against the Bucks. They failed to convert easy baskets, and they let Ryan Rollins turn into vintage Ray Allen.

The Heat got out in transition early and had the edge on the glass, but they had five turnovers, and the Bucks led by one at the end of the first quarter thanks to superior long and mid-range shooting, much of it coming from Ryan Rollins and Kyle Kuzma. 

The hosts kept raining 3-pointers in the second quarter, but the Heat countered with four straight of their own, forcing coach Doc Rivers to call a stoppage. The visitors closed out the half on a 10-13 run and were down five, plus they had started losing their intensity to hunt for loose balls and soiled their offense with multiple late turnovers. 

They subsequently had an early flurry in the first few minutes of the third quarter to take the lead, but the Bucks snatched it back half as fast with a pair of shots in the lane and two 3-pointers. The Heat eventually went into the fourth ahead by four points following their success getting back to their transition attack, plus they made 10 shots in the paint. 

The team followed up going cold, and Norman Powell did his best to bail them out of a tight fourth quarter by nailing a trifecta and five free throws, yet they let go of the rope late when Andrew Wiggins missed two late freebies. 

The Heat were outscored by 15 in the fourth quarter and lost 128-117.

They will not practice on Wednesday.

Takeaways:

• This was the Heat’s second confrontation of the year with the Bucks, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo for his 12th straight game. The Heat has the bad habit of playing down to the level of the competition, and they struggled to guard.  One particular mistake they keep making is reckless closeouts to the arc. 

• Kevin Porter Jr. limped to the locker room fewer than four minutes into the game after hurting his ankle, and then came back scoring 32 points. He finessed his way into the lane for eight baskets, but none were bigger than his corner jumper while absorbing the contact from Davion Mitchell to take the lead in crunch time; then he finished on a quick pick-and-roll set to put them up four. Rollins’ two late unguarded jumpers closed the deal. 

• The Heat had big-time contributions from Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins and Kel’el Ware in the third quarter, yet they combined for only 25% shooting in the fourth. Powell was the team’s best player, scoring 26 points, yet he had zero assists and six turnovers. On top of that, the team’s offense was in the gutter, scoring 111.4 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 39th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. The corner shot is the easiest in the NBA, and the Heat missed all nine attempts there.

• Using Tyler Herro and Powell together, especially late, is not a good idea because they are not good enough defenders.

The Heat are on a three-game win streak, and the low-level competition is largely responsible. It’s their fifth streak of that length, which is also their second-longest as they sit inches away from the six seed, claimed by the 76ers. Being in the top six bypasses the Play-In Tournament, which they have crossed the last three seasons, and it’s imperative they avoid it in 2025-26.

It won’t be easy since it’s been hard to count on health, plus the Magic are closely behind and own the tiebreaker. The Heat need a few things for a strong close to the regular season. They are…

Defined role for Tyler Herro

It’s been a frustrating season for Tyler Herro because he hasn’t been able to play but 13 games, yet he’s healthy now, and it should be a big help to the team. He’s a professional scorer who can create havoc as a starter or off the bench, yet the latter might be the preferred option for now to keep up the defensive style.

Davion Mitchell has been the starting point guard since he’s been their best playmaker for others and one of their top one-on-one defenders. When he’s out, rolling with the 6’6 Kasparas Jakučionis has worked. The rook has good passing instincts, doesn’t turn the ball over much, and uses his length to guard well.  He will eventually get more assertive as a scorer, but there have been flashes of that, most recently scoring nine points in the third quarter of Saturday’s win against the Grizzlies.

It’s not a sexy role to come off the bench the season after being an All-Star, but sacrifice gets noticed. This squad has many ingredients of similar impact and using them in different spots by having a key member buy-in, could take them from mid-level to something dangerous.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been terrific as a sixth man, but his lack of a deep shot makes it possible to scheme him out. Kel’el Ware is maybe a season or two away from putting it all together. So, Herro is left as the go-to because of his proficiency from long range in combination with comfort in playing at a fast or slow pace.

Thriving in the non-Bam Adebayo minutes

When Ware is focused and slightly ticked off, he’s a powerhouse with possibly the highest ceiling on the team. Yet it’s not realistic to expect him to be a complete player in his second season. Bam Adebayo wasn’t close to what he became in his sophomore campaign, either.

It’s harder for him to get going towards the rim with the team using the lowest screen roll frequency in the league. He’s capable of scoring off the catch and on short-range catch-and-go moves, but needs to get stronger to get in the post more to bank on his gifts.

Perhaps Keshad Johnson’s confidence from winning the dunk contest will carry over, and he can be the reliable backup big man option when it’s clear that Ware’s minutes aren’t working. Maintaining a rhythm while playing sporadically is a challenge, too, but they must avoid a drop-off when Adebayo rests. The team is most vulnerable without its captain as a security blanket on defense, so quick feet and effort on the glass are the only ways they won’t get exposed.

Better 3-point defense 

Defensive rating can be a misleading metric because it will never tell you how bad a team’s 3-point protection is. Nonetheless, the Heat allow the most open 3-point attempts (18.3) in the NBA, yet get lucky because opponents only make 33% of those. Additionally, they give up 17.7 wide-open 3-pointers per game, which is somehow fourth-best, but that’s an indicator of how behind with the times teams are at covering the arc. The Heat aren’t as fortunate on wide-open attempts as rivals make 38.3% of those.

They could permit a few to a handful fewer if they played the corners tighter and didn’t give unnecessary help on opposing drives. Keep in mind that 90% of 3-point attempts taken in the NBA are open to wide-open. There has to be equal emphasis in disrupting that as there is to take those shots.

Tyler Herro returned in the Miami Heat’s first game after the All-Star break in the win against the Hawks in Atlanta, looking like he’d never left. His jumper was on target, and he dribbled past defenders for five shots in the paint.

“I feel good,” Herro said. “Just happy to be back here playing with my teammates.”

The Heat had payback on their mind for the Feb. 3 game, in which the Hawks blasted them on 2006 championship commemoration night. They built their largest first-half lead (15) mostly plowing into the lane while their deep shooting faltered. The Hawks sliced the advantage down to six going into intermission, and their biggest dent came from behind the arc, making seven treys in the second frame.  

The third quarter subsequently followed a similar script to the first, as the Heat briefly ran up a 17-point lead, courtesy of the bench’s intensity and accuracy. Still, the Hawks maintained a pulse as McCollum and Nickeil Alexander-Walker combined for six baskets on and off the dribble from short and long range. 

The visitors flashed a zone in the fourth quarter to throw off the Hawks’ rhythm, and they outhustled them up-and-down the court, plus cut them up in the half-court. The edge was eventually raised to 34 points, and the Hawks yielded before the final buzzer.

The Heat won 128-97. They scored 72 points in the lane, which ties their third-highest mark of the season.

Takeaways:

• The Heat started their back-to-back, while the Hawks were on the second night of theirs, plus the latter was dead-legged on defense. The former had seven double-digit scorers log between 10 and 24 points. On top of that, they did so much damage in the fourth quarter (41 points) that coach Erik Spoelstra found garbage time minutes for Nikola Jović, who has struggled this season. It was also their sixth win this season by 30 points or better (31).

• The Hawks’ offense broke, as they recorded 93.1 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the third percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. Onyeka Okongwu was their only starter to shoot better than 50% from the field (66.7), and their All-Star, Jalen Johnson, had a triple-double, but his abysmal shooting (27.3%) was a big help for the Heat.

• Pelle Larsson was the only Heatle to play 30 minutes or more (31), while the rest of the starters logged between 24 and 27.

• The Heat did a solid job on the glass, with eight players recording at least four rebounds. Kel’el Ware, specifically, was like a magnet for misses. The team preventing the Hawks from having successful second-chance opportunities was a difference maker, and so was punishing them for their 12 mistakes with 20 points off turnovers.

• McCollum has averaged 19 points on a 54.5 effective field goal percentage in his career against the Heat, which included eight nights of endless artillery strikes. Friday was not much different as he kept the Hawks from falling apart with 20 points on 50% shooting. 

• Herro was the team’s leading first-half scorer with 16 points on 62.5% shooting and later scored the back-breaking baskets in the fourth. Bam Adebayo also had an efficient dozen on close-range shots before intermission, which included two nice post-up moves. He didn’t keep it going, but the team didn’t need him to as the bench kept producing.