Third quarter woes sink the Miami Heat again at home to Bulls, 113-103

The Miami Heat were back home on Tuesday to face the Chicago Bulls after what can only be described as an encouraging road trip for them. Winning four games straight on the road, albeit against some of the bottom-seeded teams in the league, you love to see that kind of consistency and continuity from this Miami Heat team.

And on Tuesday, they would be tasked to get the job done without three of their starters in the lineup. Without Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Caleb Martin able to suit up for the Miami Heat, they would try to go out and make it five in a row.

And to get right to it, the game was a pretty even one for much of it. With Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro both going and off to good starts through two periods, the Miami Heat would find themselves up by five points.

Though they would be outscored by 10, 31-21, in the first period, they would win the second period by 15 points to take a, 57-52, lead into the half.

The Miami Heat welcomed in the Bulls Tuesday, looking to keep their current win streak alive. However, they allowed a familiar foe to prevail, the third quarter.

Heck, adding in the fourth quarter, where they outscored Chicago, 26-25, the Miami Heat should have won by six, right?

Wrong, as it has been for some time now for this Miami Heat team, they don’t come out of the half with enough intensity on too many occasions. Losing the third period by 16 points, 36-20, the Miami Heat would ultimately lose by the 10-point difference in that quarter and the lead they had in all the other quarters combined.

This though, speaks to a larger issue. The Miami Heat got pretty good games from both Adebayo and Herro, 27 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists for Bam and 19 points, three rebounds, and seven dimes for Herro.

Even with that though, it was not enough to propel them to a win and nonetheless, to even within a double-digit defeat. The next step for them is to make sure that their big statistical showings always impact winning.

That’s what Jimmy Butler does so well and where he was sorely missed. Now, this isn’t to say that with some of those other pieces, perhaps even on other nights alone as the core duo, Herro and Bam couldn’t get it done, it’s just that they need to become more consistent at impacting winning with their big performances.

The Miami Heat will have a few days off before welcoming Indiana in for a rematch from last week’s streak. Hopefully, they’ll have some of their guys back, where they’ll look to hop back on track themselves as a team.