The Miami Heat let themselves down on Saturday evening. They had a complete meltdown.
After beating the Wizards in Miami on Thursday night, they had to know that they would be facing an extremely motivated team on Saturday night. Though they showed that early on and throughout a ton of the game, in those moments where it mattered the most, they couldn’t come through.
They gave up too many good open looks and it bit them. There is no further need for the formalities though.
Skipping right to the portion of the game that matters, the Miami Heat had a 16-point lead late in the game, almost through the third quarter. They, then, proceeded to allow this Washington Wizards team to climb back in it.
They allowed a series of huge three point shots, that ultimately closed the gap and then, they couldn’t give a blow back to this Washington team. To put it all into complete perspective, the Washington Wizards closed the game on a 19-6 run.
The Miami Heat blew a huge lead to the Wizards on Saturday in Washington. They blew the game too and that should be humbling for them.
Yes, for as great as the Miami Heat’s 20-4 run had been earlier in the game and in the second half, no less, this one usurped it. How or why so?
Well, though it wasn’t as large or as deep as the Miami Heat’s, it came at the most important time of the game. That’s winning time and that’s just what the Wizards did.
Listen, the officiating was very questionable down the stretch. The Miami Heat were called for a very shaky offensive foul on a Jimmy Butler layup.
They were also called for another very head-scratching foul on a Wizards inbounds play, an area they struggled in all night, where Kyle Lowry was, simply, fighting for position with Kyle Kuzma.
They do that on every single play of that nature and this time though, it was called a foul. You can’t blame anything on that though, as the Miami Heat were up big and simply gave it back to them.
You hate to lose any game and especially like this, but this is good for them or at least, not that bad. Against a team that they, certainly, should have beaten for a second straight time, they had to give it away and of course, being humbled along the way never hurts.
That goes double for a Miami Heat team that choked like this one did on Saturday night. They have a few days off before heading to the 4-11 Detroit Pistons for a get right opportunity.