The Miami Heat had to try it a different way, with Tyler Herro and his all-or-nothing theatrics not available Monday night due to an ankle sprain.
So after blowing a 15-point lead to the Portland Blazers and falling behind in the fourth quarter, the Heat had to turn elsewhere.
This wasn’t going to be Herro for the win, as it was on Wednesday night against the visiting Sacramento Kings, or Herro coming up short at the buzzer, as it was Friday night on the road against the Indiana Pacers.
No, this was the Heat lacking a leading man and coming up short for the fourth time in seven home games, this time by a 110-107 count.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t theatrics as the Heat fell to 4-7.
There were.
First with the Heat’s Max Strus tying it with a 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds to play.
And then with Portland’s Josh Hart winning it with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
So, another loss.
“First of all,” guard Gabe Vincent said, “losing sucks, and obviously it’s frustrating.
“We’re going to get our heads together and figure it out.”
While the Blazers got 25 points from Anfernee Simons, 23 from Jerami Grant and 19 from Damian Lilliard, the Heat got middling scoring across the board, with 16 points apiece from Strus, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, 15 apiece from Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry, and 10 from Dewayne Dedmon.
“We should have won that one,” Adebayo said.
Five Degrees of Heat from Monday’s game:
1. The final 8.5: The Blazers went ahead 107-104 on a pair of free throws by Simons with 8.5 seconds to play, leading to a Heat timeout.
Then, with 6.2 seconds to play, Strus converted his double-pump 3-pointer from the left corner to tie it 107-107.
And then it was as if everything stopped, the Heat somewhat still celebrating Strus’ basket, perhaps expecting a timeout by Portland, the Blazers looking to coach Chauncey Billups to see if he wanted one.
“It was a while,” Lowry said, “and I guess Chauncey wanted to go.”
So the Blazers played on, with Lillard drawing full attention and Hart hitting his winner.
“Dame made a great pass,” Lowry said, “and Josh hit a great shot, and we lose the game – unfortunately.”
Leaving both crowd and Heat stunned.
“It felt like the longest six seconds possible,” Strus said. “But he hit a tough shot. Sucks. But we’ve got to live with it.”
2. Closing time: After a 28-28 tie after the first quarter, the Heat moved to a 60-53 halftime lead. They then pushed a 15-point third-quarter lead, before going into the fourth up 81-73.
From there, the Blazers closed within 84-80 with 9:37 to play.
The Heat again pushed their lead into double digits, but it was down to five with 3:46 to play and with 2:21 to play it was tied 98-98 after a driving Lillard layup.
Then, after Butler turned and banked in a layup for a 100-98 Heat lead, the Blazers’ Simons converted a three-point play for a 101-100 Portland lead.
Back came the Heat, with Vincent getting to the line with 1:26 left and making both foul shots for a 102-101 Heat lead.
Lillard then tied its 102-102 with 1:11 to play by making only the second of two free throws.
Then it was Butler to the line with 52.9 seconds left, his free throws putting the Heat up 104-102.
But a Simons 3-pointer with 29 seconds to play gave Portland a 105-104 lead.
Then two more Simons free throws.
Then the decisive sequence of consecutive Strus/Hart 3-pointers.
Ultimately, the Heat allowed 37 fourth-quarter points.
“It felt like we just could not get a stop,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “and that is very unlike us in the fourth quarter.”
3. Lowry leads: This was something far closer to the expectations with Lowry, offering a needed contribution off the boards, while also confidently orchestrating the offense and converting timely 3-pointers, finishing with four.
He also closed with eight assists and seven rebounds.
And, yes, a moment of feistiness that drew a second-quarter technical foul.
The quintessential Lowy moment might have been his 3-point play with 6:15 to play, when he threw his ample body into massive Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic to draw a foul and then threw in an off-balance basket.
4. Grand theft: The Heat forced 13 Blazers first-half turnovers, with Butler lurking for pick-six steals, with five of the Heat’s first 10 steals.
Butler had six steals earlier this season in the road loss to Golden State and matched that total Monday.
It was part of Butler again filling the boxscore, back after missing two games with hip soreness, also with seven rebounds.
Butler declined comment after the game.
5. Strus again: Strus started his third consecutive game, this time for sidelined Herro, after starting the previous two in place of Butler. Strus had also started earlier in the season for Caleb Martin, when Martin was suspended for a game against the Toronto Raptors.
Herro was out with an ankle sprain sustained in the first half of Friday night’s road loss to the Indiana Pacers.
“He’s been making progress, and that’s the important thing,” Spoelstra said. “It’ll be a short-term deal. How long he’ll be out? I don’t know. But he’s already feeling a little bit better.”
The Heat also were without Victor Oladipo (knee), Omer Yurtseven (ankle), Udonis Haslem (personal reasons) and Jamal Cain (G League).
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