Winderman’s view: Heat letting go of the rope or at end of their rope?
· Yahoo Sports
TORONTO – Observations and other notes of interest from Thursday night’s 128-114 loss to the Toronto Raptors:
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– For the Heat to do anything in the play-in, it will require being in lockstep with their coach.
– Less than one week out from that win-or-go-home play-in game, the Heat in the early stages on Thursday night hardly looked anything close in Toronto.
– No, not necessarily a team letting go of the rope.
– But one seemingly at the end of its rope, as it stands overmatched, having to fight just to make it competitive in the second half.
– Twice during his media sessions ahead of the game, Erik Spoelstra spoke of pride, as in the pride needed to overcome the humiliation of Tuesday night’s loss to the Raptors.
– “We were embarrassed the other night,” Spoelstra said 90 minutes before tip-off.
– Fire lit?
– Not quite.
– Instead, down 69-50 at halftime.
– Then 26 early in the third quarter.
– Spoelstra went in stressing the meaning of the moment, with his team entering 0-3 against the Raptors.
– “We still have to forge ahead and focus on this challenge,” he said. “We have to conquer this challenge.”
– And then, more of the same.
– Including the Heat being outscored 19-5 on second-chance points in the first half.
– With Toronto then pushing its lead into the 20s.
– Toying, again, with the Heat.
– Before the Heat finally made a stand in the third period.
– As in too little, too late.
– Spoelstra stressed going in it is about the little things.
– “We have the habits to do it,” he said. “You can’t ever get bored or lose focus on those specific details.”
– But it’s more than that.
– It’s about a talent deficit.
– Which requires ultimate precision.
– A high bar to maintain night in and night out, let alone against postseason-level competition.
– Spoelstra said it is not by coincidence that his team’s rim attempts have been down as of late.
– “I think it’s scouting-report related,” he said. “I think teams are really trying to lock in on our drives, and rightly so. If you keep us out of transition and keep us from getting 70 points in the paint, then teams have had some success.”
– He added, “But that just means you have to be better at what you do. We cannot let teams take us out of our pace.”
– To Spoelstra, it is a basic truth of his team’s approach.
– “We cannot let teams take us out of our attacking game,” he said. “Our spacing has to be great out of that. We need to be able to get paint opportunities at the rim.”
– So the talk was talked.
– But, again, the walk not walked.
– The Heat again opened with Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson, Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell.
–That lineup is now 4-7.
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– So it again was Norman Powell off the bench, as he works through a groin issue.
– Perhaps at this point better off to give it a rest until the play-in.
– The Raptors opened with a lineup of Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley
– Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kel’el Ware entered together first off the Heat bench.
– Powell then entered after Wiggins and Herro each had picked up two first-quarter fouls.
– With Kasparas Jakucionis making it nine deep before the end of the opening period.
– The trust factor with Ware remains nominal.
– With just one more first-half minute than Johnson.
– Ware not returning until the closing second of the third period.
– The game opened the Heat’s 17th and final back-to-back set of the season, which ties the league high, with the Heat playing in Washington on Friday night. The Heat are 12-4 on the second nights of such pairings.
– If Jaquez also plays in the final two regular-season games, he will tie his single-season high of 75 appearances.
– Spoelstra will have to wait for next season to move past Cotton Fitzsimmons for 16th on the NBA all-time regular-season coaching wins list. Spoelstra entered Thursday four wins from Fitzsimmons’ 832.