You can’t always win and you can’t always win in the FTX Arena.
This Tuesday, February 15, the Heat saw their five-game winning streak broken against the Mavericks, who prescribed their own medicine.
In a very different match from the previous ones, the Miami team came in losing to the last quarter after giving up their lucky quarter, the third, but they could not get up and the Dallas quintet took a good victory 107-99 with very good defense and better aim.
The key was overconfidence, poor ball movement and offensive collapse, mainly on three-point shots (25.3%). The worst thing is that coach Erik Spoelstra did not know how to react in time and in such a close game he kept Gabe Vicent on the court for too long (29:23 ‘) who neither defends (-6) nor scores (4 points).
What’s interesting is that Spoelstra praised the size of the Mavericks.
“Not every team can and they have a lot of size, that’s what makes them unique,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not necessarily that they have a monster front line, but they’re all 6-8 except Brunson.”
Thus, the Heat (37-21) was overtaken by the Bulls (37-21) at the top of the East before visiting the Hornets on Thursday.
Miami shot for a modest 41.7 percent and only 19 assists compared to 44.7 percent (43.9% on 3s) and 27 assists for Dallas.
Only two players are saved from burning with two double-doubles and they are the stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo who added 50 points. Butler scored 29 cartons and 10 rebounds, while Adebayo put up 21 and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Kyle Lowry, despite the fact that he finished with 13 units, was not very successful with only four assists and a differential of -14 that betrays him, while Omer Yurtseven reached 11 points and eight rebounds.
“We just weren’t aggressive enough,” Lowry said. “We play at their pace.”
Haywood Highsmith, who was hired this Tuesday for 10 days, made his debut with the Heat and did not look bad with six points.,
Tyler Herro (knee) was not there, nor was Caleb Martin (Achilles), who on Tuesday signed a regular contract with the Miami team and the team missed them.
For Dallas, Luka Doncic stood out with 21 cartons and 10 rebounds, Maxi Kleber with 19, Jalen Bruson with 19, Dorian Finney-Smith with 14 and Davis Bertans with 12.
“Doncic was our focal point,” Yurtseven said. “He is a really talented player. We tried to make all the reads on him difficult and take the ball out of his hands.”
Play
At the end of the first half, the FTX Arena scoreboard reflected a 59-51 favorable to the Heat as a true painting of what happened on the court during the first two quarters, with an Adebayo grown in attack with 13 points and a great defense of the other side of the pitch.
The first ended 28-23 in favor of Miami after points 7 and 8 by Yurtseven with a basket at the buzzer. The quintet from the Capital del Sol started a little late, but later turned the score around and later, with the entry of the second unit, extended the lead.
In the second, the Heat continued with their good game and took the quarter 31-28 to extend the lead to eight at halftime.
This time the third was a disaster for Miami and Dallas with 11 points from Doncic not only took the fourth 30-19, but turned the score around 81-78. The Heat were up by 11 in the quarter, but in the end they collapsed and the Mavs took advantage of it to first tie with 1:05 to go and then take the lead.
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Thus, with three points behind, the quintet from the Capital del Sol reached the decisive fourth quarter, but far from getting closer, they saw how the Mavs extended it to 10 with nine minutes to play. It was then that he tried to react, but the damage was done, however with Butler in front they got closer to three with five minutes to go.
But the Heat faded in attack and scored only six points with Robinson (5 cartons) on the bench and Dallas managed to win the quarter 26-21 and thus take Miami’s victory by eight points.