Breaking Down Why Miami Heat Lose So Many Clutch Games

As the Miami Heat near the end of the regular season once again headed for the Play-In Tournament, they find themselves blowing comfortable leads in the fourth quarter.

After blowing yet another double-digit lead down last night game to the Charlotte Hornets, the Heat have now won just two of nine ‘clutch’ games, (defined by NBA Stats as within the last five minutes of a game, with the deficit being five or less), since the new acquisitions began playing on Feb. 10, They are 13-21 in clutch games. Fans, players and coaches alike are frustrated with the frequency in which this keeps happening.

“Gotta find a way to get ourselves out of this hole”, said Heat guard Tyler Herro after their loss to the Hornets on Monday night. “This isn’t fun for anybody. This is a tough time right now, but we’re staying with it, we’ll figure it out. We can’t blame anybody but ourselves, we just gotta continue to stay in the fight. Don’t let go of the rope.”

In the post-Butler-trade period, the Heat have been outscored by almost 41 points per 100 possessions in the clutch (93 offensive rating 134 defensive rating), the worst mark in the league during that span, (-15.3 Net Rating in the clutch for the season, also while playing the most clutch minutes in the league).

“Our group is a connected group, it’s like a college atmosphere, so in terms of our spirit, we’ll be fine, we just have to forge ahead, you have to forge.” said Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra on Monday. “Sometimes you get tested in a way that you don’t want to be tested in this league, and you can fold the tent or you just keep forging and forging and forging, and that’s what our group is going to do.” Spoelstra then went on to say: “We just have to stay together and use this as an opportunity to overcome something that sucks, and we’re gonna figure this out.”

“I mean, it’s on us to figure out,” said Heat big man Bam Adebayo. “We done went through too much this season to let go of the rope now.”