Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry Continues To Shy Away From Late-Game Moments

In a, 104-113, Miami Heat loss to Minnesota on Saturday, a nightmare second-half performance would cost them a winning opportunity. While the Timberwolves did deserve credit for defending with their length and pushing the offensive tempo, the Heat had a number of opportunities to secure the win at FTX Arena.

And while they couldn’t, the inability to close games continued for Miami in defeat. To make matters worse, the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference committed 12 turnovers, while being held to a 34 percent field goal percentage in the final half of play.

Those discrepancies will put any team in a position to lose and the very first glance of the Heat’s loss to Minnesota has to be focused on their starting point guard, Kyle Lowry. It’s worth noting as well, this was just his fourth game after returning from an absence due to personal reasons.

The Heat were well aware that without Jimmy Butler, their leading scorer and lone All-Star player of this season, their ability to wear teams down and get to the free-throw line would be limited. However, a larger scoring demand was needed from Lowry, a 15-year veteran and more notably, one of the league’s premier on-court coaches.

Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry Continues To Shy Away From Late-Game Moments

That demand for Miami’s starting point guard to find ways to place himself in positions to score was no greater than it was in this contest. Unfortunately, it only resulted in another polarizing performance for the 35-year-old.

In the first 24 minutes, Lowry was able to stabilize Miami’s offense in a similar way that he’s done all season. While he did commit two turnovers, for which both came on back-to-back possessions in the first quarter, he allocated four assists in the first half.

One came at the end of an Alley-Oop finish from Bam Adebayo.

Lowry has dictated the Heat’s offense in ways that the organization hasn’t seen in years with high-level passing and timely baskets from anywhere on the floor.

However, later in the second half against the Timberwolves, the Miami Heat struggled to string together quality possessions. This is where the erratic and unassertive side of Lowry seemed to creep out.

Here are two examples of such, per NBA.com.

In the opening possession of the third quarter, the Heat led by as many as 12 points on Minnesota. Duncan Robinson sets a back screen on Karl-Anthony Towns in an attempt to create a possible open cut for Adebayo.

After the screen attempt from Robinson was unsuccessful, Lowry second-guesses himself as he mishandles on the perimeter, which leads to a Timberwolves steal and fastbreak score.

While this was certainly a broken play from the moment Robinson fell over, Adebayo was still in position to receive the pass from Lowry, but the long wingspan of Minnesota sophomore guard, Anthony Edwards, definitely bothered the Heat guard.

This takes us into our second possession, with Miami and Minnesota all knotted up at 100. The Heat have the ball with 15 seconds left on the shot clock as Lowry navigates the key and performs a spin move.

One moment later, Adebayo, one of the NBA’s elite screeners, positions himself and lays a brick wall on Wolves’ guard, D’Angelo Russell. As Towns drops and refuses to close out, an open three above the break was clear for Lowry.

However, you can notice a slight hesitation from the Heat guard just before the open shot attempt, as Lowry appeared to be concerned about where his feet were set, instead of dialing in to convert the potential go-ahead basket.

Following the miss, the Timberwolves would embark on a 13-4 run in the final four minutes, as Miami had zero answers for a team that has embraced their youth. So much so, they seem destined to secure their first playoff berth since the Miami Heat’s current top dog, Jimmy Butler, was leading their roster.

While Tyler Herro recorded 30 points for the third time in seven games, he played the entire fourth quarter and led all Heat players in fourth-quarter shot attempts on Saturday. He, most certainly, needed that second secondary scorer behind himself and Bam Adebayo to alleviate pressure while, quite simply, Lowry just couldn’t keep up.

Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry Needs To His Instinctual Self For The Postseason

You can only rely so much on Max Strus and P.J. Tucker to make big plays down the stretch before defenses begin to key in on them. Bam’s ability to attack and accept challenges late in games has grown in promise, but Miami’s options were very limited down the stretch.

The T-Wolves took advantage of these very facts.

As none of those players above are known as dynamic fourth-quarter options, yet in Bam’s case, Lowry must seize the moment as the team’s top ball-handler, demand the ball, and be precise with his decisions. For obvious reasons, that 22-point fourth-quarter performance against the LA Clippers earlier this year seemed to be the epitome of Kyle’s skillset.

Basically, you know he’s more than capable. Seeing these types of mental errors can be frustrating, especially since Lowry is a player who has played and experienced professional basketball at its highest level for a long time now.

He isn’t unfamiliar with leading a championship team and instilling confidence into younger teammates, as he did for several years in Toronto. Whether it’s attempting field goals or creating them, it’s too often that he allows his teammates to find their own confidence, which shouldn’t be an experiment with the game on the line.

As the Heat are inching closer to locking up first place in the East but with 13 games remaining in the regular season, they’ll need to finish strong. The best way for that to happen for Miami would certainly be in concert with an assertive Kyle Lowry.

That’s, not only, the Kyle that everyone likes but it’s the one that the Miami Heat will need to win a title.