The Miami Heat learn another hard lesson in Charlotte Sunday

The Miami Heat continue to learn tough lessons throughout the 2022-23 NBA season. A team capable of beating the best teams in the league, having done so several times this year, they are also a team capable of losing to the worst teams in the league.

That’s also something they’ve done several times this season. Take dropping games to the Detroit Pistons or to the LA Lakers without LeBron James or Anthony Davis, or one of our favorites, games like losing to the Memphis Grizzlies without most of their stars playing.

The Miami Heat are about as polarizing as it gets in the NBA. And that continued on Sunday with a loss in the Spectrum Center to the Charlotte Hornets.

Going up by double digits, midway to late in the third period, the Miami Heat would, not only, allow the Charlotte Hornets to come back and take the lead but go up by double digits themselves late in the game only the force a comeback attempt by the Miami Heat.

The Miami Heat played with an inferior opponent Sunday and it did what it always does in that scenario. It came back to bite them and hopefully, left marks.

And as everyone knows by now—that would fall short. Let’s be honest here though, as you hate to lose any game, you definitely hate to lose one to an inferior opponent.

At this particular juncture in the season, the Miami Heat are supposed to be able to take care of their business, right? Well, the answer is yes, assuredly but there are lessons to take from games like these just before the All-Star break.

One is that if you allow a team that shouldn’t even be in the game to hang around, it gives them confidence and yea, enough or the kind that can propel them to walk you down and beat you. The Miami Heat, again, saw that firsthand on Sunday. Two is that every opponent must be treated with the reverence they deserve.

Hopefully though, this is all a huge part of what propels them to their ultimate hopeful goal. To wrap it up about Sunday specifically, yes, it was a letdown. 

And “letdowns” either keep you out of the postseason or get you beat once you get there. It’s really that simple.

Now, this also isn’t a reason to “punt” on the season, as some might have you believe but it’s definitely another one of those hard lessons that the Miami Heat have been dead set on learning this season.