The Miami Heat enjoyed a strong third-quarter performance against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, but the game’s closing moments proved to be the difference as they fell to 3-4 on the season.
Heat star Jimmy Butler struggled to get a shot attempt off as the buzzer expired, and Miami left Phoenix with a 115-112 loss. This marks the Heat’s third road loss in five such meetings against the Suns. Three of their four losses this season have come after leading at halftime.
“I should have just pulled back and shot it,” Butler said. “We kind of knew what was going to go on and … my turnover. I got to shoot that one. I think we did all that we can do. We played great defense, but great offense is going to beat that every time. They got some hellified players over there — definitely some hellified scorers. We came up short.
“We’re in these games. We’ve just to figure out how to close these games. We’ve got to figure out a way to hold our leads. But we’re doing a lot of good things, and we just have these lapses. They got against us at the wrong time, and it caused us a loss.”
Wednesday’s loss means Miami sits under .500 through seven games for the third straight season. During the 2022-23 season, of course, the Heat turned that slow start into a surprise run to the NBA Finals. Last season, though, Miami clinched the No. 8 seed again but didn’t advance out of the first round. Through seven games this season, the Heat are right in the middle of the NBA in net rating (plus-0.1) and must craft their strong starts into full, cohesive games to remain viable in the East’s playoff picture.
While Tyler Herro led the team in scoring again, no other Heat player crossed the 20-point threshold as Miami’s offense didn’t have enough to finish the job in Phoenix. Both teams scored 29 points in the third quarter as the Heat carried an 87-84 lead into the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, though, that came after Miami held a 15-point advantage after halftime and squandered another lead.
Game result: Suns 115 (7-1), Heat (3-4)
- Suns top performers: Kevin Durant (game-high 32 points, eight rebounds, three assists, one steal, one block, six turnovers), Devin Booker (22 points, game-high nine assists, four rebounds), Jusuf Nurkic (20 points, game-high 18 rebounds, one assist, one steal, two blocks)
- Heat top performers: Tyler Herro (team-high 28 points, six assists, three rebounds), Bam Adebayo (12 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, five steals, one block), Haywood Highsmith (19 points off bench)
Key in-game stretch
- Period: Fourth, 2:53 to 00:17 remaining
- Heat Check of the game: Durant closes out Miami in final stretch
- How it unfolded: The 36-year-old Durant put the finishing touches on his 393rd career 30-point game (seventh in NBA history) by scoring 11 points in this game’s final frame, during which the Suns outscored the Heat 31-25 after entering with a three-point deficit. With under three minutes left, Durant’s eight points almost matched Miami’s output (nine from four different players). Phoenix shot 57.9 percent in the fourth quarter compared to Miami’s mark of 38.1.
What else the Heat are saying
- Tyler Herro (on current offensive rhythm): “Just playing the right way, trying to find my spots. Getting to the shot profile that will help the offense. Hopefully it will get better, but that’s just about it right now.”
- Herro (on third-quarter challenges): “I think just getting stagnant on offense. We need to find different ways to generate good looks and be harder to guard. They were able to get stops, which led to transition buckets, different things on the other end that caused problems for us. And then, the lead was quickly cut to one or two. From there, it was a tight game. And then, really, throughout the fourth quarter, it was back and forth until about a minute left.”
- Erik Spoelstra (on Miami’s final possession): “It was going to be tough. Just tried to create a little bit of movement. And whoever was guarding Jimmy on the inbound just jumped him right from there, so the only play would’ve been Terry to Jimmy, probably for that 3 right there. We put ourselves in that position. We were down three. We had plays to make going down the stretch, and they were able to make more of them.”
- Spoelstra (on whether Miami could’ve guarded Durant better on go-ahead shot vs. Highsmith): “On that one? No. No, you can’t. He’s at 18 feet. He’s getting to his spot. We know this. He’s one of the greatest scorers of all time. We tried to run guys at him. It’s tough to get him at that spot. There was other possessions before that, where it felt like we could’ve had a little bit more of an impact. Every other play, we would’ve had to make so it doesn’t end with Kevin Durant making a shot in his comfort zone.
Next Heat game
Game preview: Miami Heat (3-4) at Denver Nuggets (5-3), Friday, 9 p.m. ET
- Head-to-head in last 10 meetings vs. Nuggets: Denver is 9-1, including eight consecutive wins
- Last head-to-head meeting: Nuggets 100, Heat 88 on March 13
- Key Heat injuries: None
- Key Nuggets injuries: Aaron Gordon (calf), Jamal Murray (concussion), DaRon Holmes II (Achilles)
We will preview this game in full on Friday.
( Top photo: Kate Frese / Getty Images )
