Miami Heat Lose 40-Point Jimmy Butler Game 4 In Philly, 108-116

The Miami Heat were terrible on offense in Game 3 of their second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Surely, things couldn’t get any worse, right?

Well, not quite, as they would come out with a much better overall showing on the scoreboard in Game 4, however, they still failed to make the mark in one key area.

Shooting just 7-35 from three-point territory, just 20 percent for all the nonmathematicians out there, the Miami Heat couldn’t make enough from range to get the victory in Philadelphia on Sunday night. Now, there are several factors, outside of the mere defeat in itself, that makes this set of circumstances especially tough to take.

A well-known and highly publicized fact, the Miami Heat were the regular-season leaders from three-point territory this season in the NBA at 37.9 percent. Taking almost 36 per game during the regular year, they would rank a not too shabby 14th in that category as well.

That definitely makes the 7-35 tough to take.

The Miami Heat came out in Game 4 to outdo their Game 3 ineptitude. Though they would far outperform Game 3’s scoring, they would shoot the 3 worse.

You also have this next fact.

Traditionally one of the Miami Heat’s best deep shooters and though he has struggled at times this year, the trend of Duncan Robinson not playing also continued. You totally trust Coach Erik Spoelstra and the decisions he makes, it’s just worth wondering if he could have helped in that area.

Though there can be quite a few other things mentioned here as well, the next thing really makes this one sting. On a night where the Miami Heat couldn’t buy makes from deep range, Jimmy Butler did all he could to try and get them a win.

Finishing the game with 40 points, three rebounds, and six assists, the Miami Heat’s best player would leave it all out on the floor. Ironically enough, he would make two of the Miami Heat’s seven range shots, tieing Max Strus for team-best on the night.

This series now shifts back to Miami for Game 5. It’s hard to imagine the Miami Heat continuing the trend of offensive deficiency, in one area or another, as they have across Games 3 and 4.

That’s especially as they head home. If they do though, this will be a hard series to win but again, you have to believe that the law of averages will prevail in the end.

That means that, hopefully, the Miami Heat will be closer to the best shooting team in the league—and not one of the absolute worst.