The Heat lost 111-92 to the Mavericks in Miami and are now 44-36. This means that the Heat will almost certainly be in the play-in tournament once again. It is understandable that the Heat fell short, since this was the second night of a back-to-back following a double overtime win against the Hawks. Let’s dive deeper into this game.
Heat 2024 Season Part 20: The Heat’s Offense Went Cold
Obviously, the Heat did poorly offensively in this game. The Heat only managed to score 92 points on 40.7% shooting from the field. It is worth noting that the Heat shot 43% from three-point range. However, this was not enough to help them win. Tyler Herro was the only Heat player to score 20 points or more in this game, but he did so on 6/15 shooting.
Bam Adebayo struggled mightily in this game, only scoring eight points on 3/13 shooting. This is clearly not good enough from the Heat’s star center. Turnovers also hurt the Heat’s offense in this game.
The Heat committed 18 turnovers in this game, leading to significant disruptions of their offense. Of course, this also led to easy points for the Mavericks in transition, as well. The Heat need to take much better care of the ball in their final two regular season games to end the regular season on a positive note.
The Heat’s Defense Was Uncharacteristically Poor
The defense is the one aspect of the Heat that has remained consistently good this season. However, the Heat did poorly defensively in this game, allowing the Mavericks to score 111 points on 49% shooting from the field.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving combined to score 53 points in this game on pretty good efficiency. This kind of offensive output is part of why so many Mavericks fans have Luka Doncic merchandise. It is clear that the Heat will need to step up defensively in future games. Hopefully, the team will do so.
The Heat Play the Raptors Twice at Home to End the Regular Season
The Heat close out the regular season with two home games against the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are terrible and have a number of injuries, so the Heat should beat them twice. We will see what happens.
Check back next week for more Miami Heat content as the playoffs draw closer.