ATLANTA – A microcosm of the season, as in the Miami Heat don’t have a shot?
It certainly felt that way in Monday night’s 98-86 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena, when a made shot practically was reason for celebration and a converted 3-pointer practically an abstract.
In falling to 1-6 since trading forward Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, the Heat this time did not have All-Star guard Tyler Herro carrying the load and therefore found themselves unable to shoulder the load for a second consecutive night.
With Herro limited to 11 points a night after scoring 40 in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat got 23 from Andrew Wiggins and little else of substance on offense.
And while rookie center Kel’el Ware was there to clean up some of the misses with his 15 rebounds, there proved to be too much that needed sanitizing, with the Heat closing at .321 from the field and 7 of 40 on 3-pointers.
The upshot is a 26-30 record, now beyond the Hawks in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, a play-in spot that would require two play-in wins just to make the playoffs as a No. 8 seed.
Next up for the Heat is a four-game homestand that opens with the Wednesday night rematch against the Hawks.
Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:
— Closing time: The Hawks led 23-22 at the end of the first period, with the Heat at .273 from the field and 1 of 11 on 3-pointers in the period. Atlanta then moved to a 50-42 halftime lead, as the Heat fell to 3 of 23 on 3-pointers.
From there, the Hawks pushed to a 13-point lead midway through the third period, before the Heat closed within 73-65 going into the fourth.
Atlanta again pushed its lead into double-digits early in the fourth before the Heat closed within six, only to again fall short.
— Rotation alteration 1.0: With Nikola Jovic’s broken hand requiring at least one rotation adjustment, it was another rotation twist that proved most notable.
When it came to a fill-in for Jovic, who broke his right hand in Sunday night’s loss in Milwaukee, Kyle Anderson got the call, just as he did in Sunday’s second half.
The Heat had to get creative in the power rotation, with Ware called for a second foul with 5:13 left in the opening period.
That led to more either/or with Bam Adebayo and Ware than side-by-side play.
Anderson closed with 14 points and five rebounds. Adebayo closed with 14 points and five rebounds.
— Rotation alteration 2.0: But what came next was more of a shakeup, with Alec Burks entering late in the first period in the spot Terry Rozier typically had entered.
With Rozier in the midst of a protracted slump, Burks got the call with 2:46 left in the opening period, after being held out Sunday against the Bucks.
From there, Jaime Jaquez Jr. also was returned to the rotation, entering with 8:11 to play in the second period, his first action in the three games since the All-Star break.
Jaquez was limited to that single stint, closing with two points.
The revised rotation still had Haywood Highsmith and Pelle Larsson out of the mix.
Burks closed with five points on 1-of-12 shooting.
— Regression: With no backcourt support whatsoever in this one, all-or-nothing from Herro turned into a continued volley of missed shots, closing 4 of 19 from the field and 0 for 9 on 3-pointers.
With Duncan Robinson unable to provide spacing with misses of his own and Davion Mitchell hardly a floor spacer, it was open season for Atlanta’s defenders to load up on Herro without consequence.
Robinson closed 1 of 6 from the field, including 1 of 5 on 3-pointers.
— Wiggins can: Wiggins was the lone Heat player to make a 3-pointer in the first half, at 3 of 5 from beyond the arc over the opening two periods, with the rest of the Heat roster 0 for 18.
Wiggins was up to 13 points at halftime, with no teammate with more than seven, and had 20 through three quarters, when no teammate had more than nine. Wiggins stood 4 of 7 on 3-pointers through three periods, with the rest of his teammates 2 of 27.
To his credit, Wiggins has more than carried his share of the load relative to expectations after being acquired for Butler.
Wiggins finished 6 of 14 from the field, 7 of 7 from the line.
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