Miami Heat’s 4-game winning streak snapped by Memphis Grizzlies

The Miami Heat dropped their first game in five on Tuesday.

After leading throughout most of the game, the Grizzlies played an almost perfect fourth quarter to pull away and win their third game in a row. The Grizzlies were led by Dillon Brooks, Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Andersen to negate a terrible game by their star, Ja Morant, who managed a meager 10 points along with seven turnovers.

As usual, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo played efficient and consistent. However, they couldn’t find much help.

Tyler Herro shot the ball well to keep it competitive in the first half but along with Victor Oladipo, had a few costly defensive miscues and a terrible plus/minus rating to boot. That won’t get it done, even against teams fighting for their playoff life.

The Miami Heat had their recent streak snapped on Tuesday but get right back on their horse on Thursday.

Even though Oladipo didn’t contribute effectively tonight, I am not worrying about him yet. Considering it’s only his third game in a Miami Heat uniform, he might need a few more games to get properly acclimated.

The last time the Miami Heat played the Memphis Grizzlies, they couldn’t get going offensively and lost 89-85 to start a six game skid. This time around, the problem was surprisingly more on the defensive side than the offense.

The Heat are in the thick of an important seeding battle, but considering they had their own four game winning streak snapped tonight, they are doing okay. As of right now, they are barely positioned as the 6th seed and a full game behind the 4th seed, currently held by the blazing Atlanta Hawks.

Meanwhile and out West, the Grizzlies are in a similar situation, fighting ferociously to improve their playoff chances. After tonight’s game, they sit in the 8th seed and a full game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs.

At this point of the season, you could argue that every game is very important. With that being said, stay tuned for the Miami Heat’s next game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

This is a nationally televised contest on TNT. Even without LeBron James and Anthony Davis playing, the Lakers have won four out of their last six and are out to prove that they are still capable of competing with good teams without their stars.

This should be quite the test for Miami.