The Miami Heat have hit rock bottom – Hot Hot Hoops

If Monday night wasn’t it, I’m not sure what it will be — but the Miami Heat officially reached rock bottom against the then-15-win Charlotte Hornets Monday, losing 105-102 inside Kaseya Center. For more on that game, click here.

To summarize it, the Miami Heat blew a 17-point first-half lead and 11-point fourth quarter lead, falling on their face into another clutch game that they weren’t able to overcome. Over the final 6:45, the hapless Hornets outscored the Heat 28-14, shooting 8-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-7 from 3-point range–led by Miles Bridges, who nearly outscored the Heat (13 points) by himself.

Monday’s disasterclass–we’ve rightfully been saying that too much lately–marked the Heat’s fourth-straight loss and fifth over their last six games. Those losses have also featured:

• A blown 12-point second-half lead to the middling Chicago Bulls, who outscored the Heat 36-20 in the final period
• A haphazard final four minutes against the Cleveland Cavaliers
• A blown 12-point fourth quarter lead against the New York Knicks over the final 8:03

At this point, this is who the Heat are — and it’s turned more into a mental collapse than anything. They don’t have the current ingredients to close out games on a nightly basis, and shrivel when the pressure reaches its apex. Every loss is becoming a new low, a new “how did this happen?”

The reality is, this team simply isn’t good enough right now. And with 18 games left, the answers to the test aren’t there.

Currently, the Heat are 29-35–six games below .500 for the first time since February of 2021. They have played a clutch game–defined by a game that has a point differential of five or fewer in the final five minutes–in over half (34) of their games, where they sport the league’s second-worst NET Rating (minus-15.3).

It’s become a comical recurring characteristic that’s plagued the Heat for the last three seasons. It could be the Boston Celtics or Washington Wizards–they find their way into a clutch games and, more often that not, stumble on their own two feet.