Three takeaways from the Miami Heat’s loss to the Sacramento Kings

The Miami Heat fell short once again on the road, this time to the Sacramento Kings.

It’s been a rough trip out west for the Miami Heat.

After falling short 115-99 at the hands of the Portland Trailblazers on Monday night, the Heat then took another loss against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday. Being outplayed 123-119 throughout four quarters and overtime, Miami looked lost against the then 21-47, No. 13 Western Conference team.

The defeat dropped the 36-33 Heat back into eighth place in the Eastern Conference, and extended their road losing streak to nine.

So what went wrong?

Well, for head coach Erik Spoelstra, it all comes down to defense.

"“It’s (up to) our defense to hold on for the win. We did not have a consistent defensive game. It was not good enough throughout the course of the game.”"

And he’s certainly right. For one reason or another, true Miami Heat Basketball has not been displayed so far on this three-game road trip.

But there’s more to be said about the loss.

For one, Goran Dragic cannot carry the entire team on his back.

The veteran has been playing some great ball as of late. Averaging 17.3 points on 48.2 percent shooting so far this month, Dragic came away with 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the field against the Trailblazers. He was even more productive versus the Kings, finishing with 33 points, shooting 11-of-21 from the field and 3-of-4 from downtown.

But obviously, the guard’s performance alone wasn’t enough to keep Miami afloat.

With Josh Richardson, Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside all sidelined last night, Dragic had to take the offense into his own hands. And while Wayne Ellington totaled a nice 22 points, with James Johnson eventually collecting 18, the scoring effort just wasn’t consistent nor balanced enough for No. 7’s output to ultimately make a difference.

Also, Justise Winslow still has work to do.

The third-year has made a huge leap recently. While many weren’t sure what to make of him upon his return back from a torn labrum last January, March has proved Winslow a worthy competitor. The 21-year-old is averaging a solid 12.6 points and 7.6 rebounds a game this month, his best contest being against Portland when he finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

However, that doesn’t mean he’s reached his full potential just yet. And will obviously still make mistakes. While he totaled 10 points and seven rebounds in Sacramento, he missed three open layups and shot just 4-for-12. Not his best showing.

Obviously, rotational changes are still giving the Heat a hard time.

Having three top guys sidelined on Wednesday not only hurt Miami in the boxscore, but also continued to mess with the team from a standpoint of having to make more adjustments to rotations.

Spoelstra had to use his 22nd different starting lineup of the year, including throwing Luke Babbitt into the mix.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite ready, and went 0-for-3 from the field in 14 minutes.

This not only had an effect on the offense in the end, but surely caused a shift for his teammates as well, as that particular unit had never played together before.

Next: Miami Heat's Justise Winslow talks to AllUCanHeat about new partnership, more

While it was a bad night for the Miami Heat, all they can do is learn from their mistakes and continue on in their playoff push. The team will take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, March 16.