The third quarter wasn’t the only problem for the Heat.
Sacramento Kings v Miami Heat
The same issues continued to plague the Miami Heat at home with bad free throw shooting and another horrific third quarter being at the top of Miami’s main issues. But even with Miami’s inconsistencies at home, a huge fourth quarter from Jimmy Butler and a clutch defensive play from Tyler Herro gave the Heat the lead back and had a one point lead late in the fourth.
The Heat got the initial stop on the Kings, forcing a miss from De’Aaron Fox, but the Heat could not secure the defensive rebound, leading to a Domantas Sabonis game-winning shot and a gut-wrenching 111-110 defeat to the Sacramento Kings Monday night at Kaseya Center.
Kings win the third 37-17. Heat at home this season in third quarters:
Orlando, 39-18
Detroit, 26-14
New York, 35-22
Sacramento, 37-17
Opponents 137, Heat 71.
All of Miami’s losses this season have been at home, and while there were a lot of negatives in this game which we will dive into, let’s take a look at a bright spot who can be a contributor to the Heat going forward
The positive: Pelle Larsson’s performance
Pelle Larsson’s minutes this season have mainly came in Miami either trailing by a large deficit or leading by multiple scores as Larsson made appearances in the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards games.
But in this instance, Larsson received real rotation minutes, and did he ever make an impact in his 25 minutes of play. Larsson finished with 13 points and buried three triples in the first half.
Larsson’s motor was also impressive, fighting for offensive rebounds and 50/50 balls with one deflection leading to Sabonis and Malik Monk having a miscommunication on a rebound leading to another Heat possession.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra also had a lot of confidence in Larsson’s defense. There were multiple instances where Larsson was defending Fox and ended up doing the best job out of the guards who attempted to defend Fox, who finished with 28 points.
Spoelstra is still trying to figure out the rotations, but after Monday night’s game, Larsson deserves another shot at real rotation minutes to see if these performances can continue.
The negative: Free throw shooting
The Miami Heat have multiple players who can get players in foul trouble and find their way to the free throw line. The issue is that the Heat have been very inconsistent from the free-throw line and have an abysmal free-throw percentage of 72 for the season.
In a game where Miami lost by one point, Jimmy Butler missed two straight free thows to tie the game at 92, Bam Adebayo missed a free throw on an and-1 opportunity, and Larsson missed a free throw where two makes would’ve gave Miami a 97-96 lead.
Later in the fourth, Adebayo went back to the line and made one out of two free throws. Had Adebayo made both, Miami would’ve been up two possessions, 103-99. Instead, Sacramento was always in striking distance by being in a one-possession game.
For the most part, Miami showed great resiliency in the fourth to bounce back from another terrible third quarter to take the lead back. But every point ended up being costly and the Heat will look back at the missed free throws as a huge reason as to why they lost.
The tough: Point guard play
With Josh Richardson coming back into the mix, the point guard play has been very bad. In 51 combined minutes of play, Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson combined for 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting and six turnovers.
Not only was the offensive production missing from Rozier and Richardson, both players were often targeted on defense by Fox and DeMar DeRozan. It’s understandable Richardson needs to shake off the rust after finally making a return Saturday night vs the Wizards, but if Richardson is providing nothing offensively, it’s hard to play him over guys such as Alec Burks and Duncan Robinson who can space the floor and have the ability to catch fire at any time.
In the case of Rozier, the efficiency has started to take a dive over the last three games, as in two of those games Rozier has shot under 40 percent from the floor. It’s known that Rozier is going to be the player that is mainly hunted on defense, and in the case where Rozier is struggling defensively, Rozier will need to at least have a good offensive outing in return.
The loss is not solely on Richardson and Rozier, but Miami will need much better outings from their guards if they want to win more games going forward.