The Miami Heat scored just 14 points in the third quarter en route to losing to the undefeated San Antonio Spurs Thursday night. The Heat did make an honorable comeback in the fourth quarter, but ultimately came up short. The offensive struggles that the Heat endured during the third quarter proved too much for the team to overcome in the end.
Naturally, the Heat and head coach Erik Spoelstra are going to have to look in the mirror as they reevaluate what went wrong for the team in that second half. Especially as teams across the league are going to try to replicate what San Antonio found success with on the defensive end of the floor against the Heat.
In many ways, as the Heat's offense was slowed down and they struggled to get into offensive sets, it was the first time that it was pretty clear that the team missed Tyler Herro. At the same rate, not having a healthy Norman Powell hurt the team as well. But without a player who could help naturally create offense on his own, the Heat struggled to score.
The Heat certainly didn't help themselves any with unforced turnovers and such, but the way Miami lost this game was pretty much what many expected to happen to this team for much of the season.
It's back to the drawing board for the Heat
That's why it's now on Spo to help get the Heat back on track moving forward, and to find ways to keep this from happening in the future.
I'm not sure if just the returns of Powell and Herro in the near future will be enough. There has to be some tweaks that Spo can make within the offense that prevent these dry spells from happening time to time. Ultimately, that will be the clear sign that this offensive scheme is sustainable for the Heat moving forward.
As the Heat's schedule begins to soften up a bit, with the Los Angeles Lakers (without both LeBron James and Luka Doncic), LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Charlotte Hornets, and Portland Trail Blazers on deck, it will be interesting to see what path this team takes.
Miami will probably be favored in four out of those five games. Even though those first three come on the road, if the Heat's hot start is for real, this is a stretch that could be favorable.
The Heat's offense was slowed down for what feels like the first time this season. How will they respond next?