Heat Home Woes Continue With Loss To Wizards

Down the rabbit hole the Miami Heat continue to go.

The Heat came up short against the Southeast Division leading Washington Wizards, 105-103, falling to 12-15 on the season. To make matters worse, Miami is now 4-9 at American Airlines Arena, as home cooking just doesn’t taste as good as they would like. The loss drops the Heat eight games behind the Wizards in the division.

The Wizards were led by Nene, who scored 20 points and absolutely feasted on the Heat’s rotation of big men that were more nuisance than an obstacle, while their dynamic backcourt of John Wall (20 points, 10 assists) and Bradley Beal (16 points) provided a challenge for the Heat in containing their speed and athleticism for 48 minutes.

Washington loves to run and create open shots, and with passes along the perimeter, but the Heat were able to corral them and hold them to just 8 fast break points, and limit them to 3 for 14 shooting from downtown. Unfortunately, without Chris Bosh, the Heat just aren’t talented enough to make enough plays to beat a team like this.

Things that pleased me: Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 28 points, while leading the Heat with 8 assists. He wasn’t as efficient as he’s been all season (12 for 26 shooting), but he did his part to keep Miami in the game against a very good Wizards team. He had a costly turnover with under 10 seconds left while the Heat were trying to set up a game-tying three. Otherwise, he continues to play well and can’t be counted out going forward.

The ever underappreciated Luol Deng played well, scoring 19 points, on 7 of 12 shooting. He hit 2 of 3 from downtown, as he was able to give Wade the help he needed to help compete with Washington. While not overly as exciting as You Know Who, Deng contributes in his own ways, whether it’s smart cuts to the basket or spreading the floor with jumpers.

You can’t stop Hassan Whiteside, you can only hope to contain him! Whiteside came off the bench and provided some size and length in the interior, tipping passes and jumping over people to grab rebounds. He finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block in his 15 minutes of action. He was thrown into the fray with a hobbled Chris Andersen and an inefficient Justin Hamilton providing little, so Whiteside added a spark that the Heat lacked. We’ll see if he earns more minutes over the next few games.

Things that annoyed me:  Professional irritant Paul Pierce still finds a way to impact a game, even when he’s no longer in his prime. He had 14 points, but none were bigger than his 4 in the fourth quarter, first on a drive to the basket, then on a tip-in late in the game. He knows that he’s not the focal-point any longer, so he picks his spots whenever the Wizards need a big possession. Friday was no different.

It’s not just the Heat’s inability to get big stops, but it’s their inability to not commit stupid fouls at the worst possible times. The Wizards got to the line 17 times in the fourth quarter – hitting 11 of them – to help keep pace with the Heat. Andersen had a foolish foul on Wall, who had nowhere to go on a drive and was bailed out by the whistle, and… well, I’ll get to another dumb foul in a moment.

Things that perplexed me: Call me old-fashioned, but I can’t stand when home teams wear their road uniforms at home. If the NBA wants to come out with different alternate uniforms, throwbacks, Hispanic heritage, or whatever they’re breaking out on Christmas, then so be it. But when it’s the home team simply wearing their road uniforms for no apparent reason, then it’s pointless. Especially when the road reds say “MIAMI” on the front. I like my home jerseys saying the team name on the front. Whatever. Get off my lawn with all your new-fangled jerseys.

Scale of 1 to 10, how bad did I want to throw a lamp because of Mario Chalmers?: 7. Chalmers got the start tonight, scoring 14 points, while dishing out 5 assists. It’s the usual Chalmers game that makes you go “Well, looks like Rio is really stepping up.”

But then there’s that Evil Mario lurking, ready to do something that will make you want to throw a lamp. And how convenient, since that’s the name of this section! With under 90 seconds remaining down by 2, Chalmers tried to set a screen, but leaned into the defender a little too much, drawing an offensive foul. Wall would then make the subsequent jumper to extend the lead to 4 with a minute remaining, forcing the Heat to continue playing catch up with time running out.

No, they didn’t lose this game because of this play. But it’s a microcosm of what you’re signing up for when you’re looking for Chalmers to make smart decisions at pivotal moments.

What we’ve learned: The short-handed Heat played hard against a much improved Wizards team, but just didn’t haven’t enough at the end to pull it out. Sadly, it comes on the heels of an embarrassing loss at home to the woeful Utah Jazz. Had the Heat played like this on Wednesday, they probably would have walked away with the win. But now the Heat have lost their last five games at home.

The homestand continues on Sunday, when they take on the Boston Celtics – who just traded their best player, so Miami needs to pounce on this opportunity, followed by Tuesday’s game against the D-League team in training Philadelphia 76ers. They’ll need all the momentum they can muster, leading into the Christmas Day showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers.