Heat are in complete free fall after no-chance blowout against Spurs

The Miami Heat's seven-game win streak is almost officially completely and entirely irrelevant. Their current five-game losing streak is completely and entirely relevant, on the other hand, and it's killing their playoff chances. 

Going into Monday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs, the chances the Heat were going to come out with a win were already small, if any chance at all. Still, a loss with or without a chance to win is still a loss, and the Heat lost big not only in the game, but also in the standings. 

The Heat will remain in ninth place, after just a week ago, they were in sixth. The disappointment is bleeding out, and they've been unable to stop it. What makes matters worse is that, going against the Spurs, the Heat were fully healthy and never in contention. 

Heat can't stop the bleeding as Victor Wembenyama slams the door shut

Indredibly, six different Spurs players notched double digits in points against the Heat, while Miami could only muster three double-digit scorers of their own — only Norman Powell surpassed 20 points. At one point, the Spurs were up by 30 points in the third quarter, but the game was over long before then. 

The Heat simply could not contain Wembenyama or the hot shooting of Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, and Keldon Johnson — the three combined shot 20-for-37 from the floor, while Wembenyama went 11-for-22. 

The Heat, on the other hand, did not shoot well, as Bam Adebayo went just 5-17, and even Powell's 7-18 was unimpressive, yet he led the Heat in scoring. The game did not go Miami's way in any aspect, and emotions were hard to miss at times with Erik Spoelstra receiving a technical foul — his first of the season.

Then there was a heated verbal back-and-forth altercation with Spoelstra and Adebayo after the coach subbed the star out of the game in the second quarter. Suffice it to say, Miami was in no shape to play competitive basketball; they earned this loss. 

On the bright side, all three of Andrew Wiggins, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Powell returned from their respective injuries, which gave the Heat their full complement of players, and that could be massive for them from here on out. 

Miami will head back on the road for three games, starting in Cleveland with back-to-back matchups against the Cavaliers on Wednesday and Friday, then the Indiana Pacers to close out the weekend. If there was ever a game to flush down the toilet and move on from immediately, it's this one against the Spurs. 

The Heat were no match, and two games against the Cavaliers won't be easy either. Nevertheless, they have to find a way to steal at least one, if not both. Miami is on the verge of getting passed by in the standings by the Charlotte Hornets, which would drop them into the final play-in spot. The Heat want to avoid the play-in altogether, but now it seems almost impossible to avoid.