The new era of Miami Heat basketball, without Jimmy Butler, came out to an embarrassing start on Saturday night. Heading into the matchup against the visiting Utah Jazz, it could have been fair to view the game as a scheduled win.
Utah entered the evening with a 7-25 record, good for the 14th seed in the Western Conference and one of the three worst teams in the entire league. But their bottom feeding status didn’t stop them from handing Miami a humiliating blowout loss on their home floor, with a final score of 136-100.
Suspend the Heat for conduct detrimental to the fanbase #HEATNation
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) January 5, 2025
The Jazz received strong showings from several of their rotation pieces, but the biggest disparity came in the rebounding, where they had a drastic 57-32 advantage over the Heat. That also included 16 offensive rebounds compared to Miami’s five.
With the length of Utah’s three-headed monster frontcourt of Lauri Markkanen, John Collins and Walker Kessler, Miami needed functional size more than ever in the matchup. Their All-Star big man and team captain, Bam Adebayo, failed to provide that.
Bam Adebayo finished tying a season-low of four points on 0% shooting.
It was a discouraging no-show from Adebayo, who was unable to even make one field goal on the night. He went 0 for 6 shooting overall and the Heat were outscored by 24 points in his minutes.
It was the first time since January of 2019 that he did not make a single field goal. And that notion gets even worse when looking at a more advanced stat.
This will mark the first game in Bam Adebayo's NBA career that he finishes with zero field-goal makes while playing at least 25 minutes.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) January 5, 2025
With all things considered, this was a rather concerning effort from Adebayo. Miami recently committed to a max contract extension with the big man over this past summer. And even outside of this game, he has had an underwhelming 2024-25 campaign.
He has severely struggled to find consistency on the offensive, despite the rest of his versatility providing an impact in other ways even on his rough shooting nights. His season averages are down to 16.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists on 46% shooting. There has been a shocking regression in the 27-year-old's game, after coming off his third All-Star appearance and first team All-Defensive nod just last year.
The most important part of his steady decline is the efficiency numbers. Being at 46% as a center, where most touches come closer to the rim, is a problem. He is tied with Jusuf Nurkic of the Phoenix Suns for the lowest field goal percentage in the league among qualified big men.
Miami’s deflating performance against the Jazz was the worst loss of the season and the sixth biggest home loss in team history. With Butler out of the picture, a lot falls on Adebayo and will continue to do so.
Of course there is still time for him to turn things around, but his increased responsibility will only make his inconsistency pop out even more.