Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 133-124 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night at United Center on the front end of a back-to-back to fall to 1-1 on its four-game trip. The Heat continues the trip on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) to complete the road back-to-back set.
Considering the Heat led by double digits in the fourth quarter and was playing a team in flux, this was a bad loss.
The Bulls entered as a team in flux after trading Zach Lavine to the Sacramento Kings as part of a three-team deal that also sent De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Bulls acquired Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter in the trade that was finalized Sunday night, but none of them were available to play Tuesday against the Heat.
The Heat also held an 11-point lead with 9:43 left in the fourth quarter.
But the Bulls went on to close the game on a big 34-14 run on their way to the comeback win, as another late-game collapse cost the Heat a win.
After totaling 103 points on 54.5 percent shooting from the field and 16 of 35 (45.7 percent) from three-point range through the first three quarters, the Heat went cold to score just 21 points on 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) from the field and 1-of-9 (11.1 percent) shooting on threes in the fourth quarter amid its late-game collapse.
The Heat lost despite turning in its second-highest first half of the season, scoring 70 points in the first two quarters behind 54.3 percent shooting from the field and 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) shooting from three-point range to take a 10-point lead into halftime.
The Heat’s defense was poor all night, as the Bulls finished the win with 133 points on 52.7 percent shooting from the field and 19-of-41 (46.3 percent) shooting from three-point range.
Four Bulls players (Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu) finished with more than 20 points.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored a team-high 23 points for the Heat.
Heat center Kel’el Ware celebrated his Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award with another standout performance. But it still ended in a loss.
Ware, who was named the NBA’s East Rookie of the Month on Tuesday afternoon for games played in January, closed Tuesday’s defeat with 17 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes.
Ware was impactful from the start, totaling 13 points and four rebounds in Tuesday’s first quarter.
Ware, who the Heat selected with the 15th overall in the 2024 Draft, is the sixth different Heat player in franchise history to earn the Rookie of the Month honor. That list also includes Caron Butler (2002-03 season), Michael Beasley (2008-09 season), Josh Richardson (2015-16 season), Kendrick Nunn (2019-20 season) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (2023-24 season).
“This has been a bigger jump,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Tuesday’s game when asked about Ware’s Rookie of the Month honor. “It doesn’t mean that all the jumps are going to be this dramatic. I think if you just stay steady to it …. Now this will be, I talked to him about, this will be another good adjustment for him. Dealing with everybody praising you. It’s a good thing. But then you have to manage success and have the same type of humility and work ethic that you had when nobody was paying attention to him.
“It’s a whole lot easier to do it at that point. But he’s been steady with his work, his approach, his coachability and you’re seeing the improvement from all of that and you like to see somebody get rewarded for that.”
The 20-year-old Ware logged double-digit minutes in just two of the Heat’s first 25 games this season. But he has since lifted himself into this season’s NBA Rookie of the Year conversation after receiving consistent playing time, as he has now played double-digit minutes in 23 consecutive games while starting in seven straight games.
Ware entered Tuesday’s contest against the Bulls averaging 12.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 56.2 percent from the field and 21 of 48 (43.8 percent) from three-point range in 17 games since the start of January.
Herro is among the NBA’s best three-point shooters, but he’s in the middle of a mini slump from behind the arc.
Herro entered Tuesday with the third most made threes in the NBA this season. He also held the fifth-best three-point percentage (39.4 percent) among the 12 players averaging nine or more three-point attempts per game this season behind only Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, Detroit’s Malik Beasley, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and Golden State’s Stephen Curry.
But after shooting 0 for 7 on threes in Saturday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs, Herro missed his first six three-point attempts on Tuesday before making making three straight threes and finishing the loss 3 of 11 from behind the arc.
Herro has shot just 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) on threes over the last two games.
How unusual is this for Herro?
Without a three-point make on Saturday, Herro’s streak of regular-season games with a made three-pointer ended at 79. It goes down as the longest such streak in Heat history and is tied for the 12th-longest such streak in NBA history.
But Herro still made an impact on Tuesday, finishing with 23 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
The Heat used veteran guard Alec Burks for the first time in two weeks.
Burks entered Tuesday with 25 appearances (all of the bench) through the Heat’s first 47 games this season. His playing time has fluctuated throughout the season and he came into Tuesday with five consecutive DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision).
But Burks received his first game action since Jan. 21 on Tuesday, entering with 2:01 left in the first quarter.
Burks finished Tuesday’s loss with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from deep, four rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes off the Heat’s bench.
After opening Tuesday’s contest with the starting lineup of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware for the fifth straight game, the Heat used a bench rotation of Terry Rozier, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic and Burks against the Bulls.
The only available Heat players who did not get into Tuesday’s game were Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Josh Christopher and Kevin Love.
As the NBA’s trade deadline looms, the Heat has another basketball game to play on Wednesday.
After Tuesday’s loss, the Heat took a flight to Philadelphia for Wednesday night’s game against the 76ers to complete its ninth back-to-back set of the season. 76ers star center Joel Embiid won’t play against the Heat after logging 36 minutes in his return from a knee injury on the front end of their back-to-back — a win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.
The Heat is 5-3 on the second night of back-to-backs this season.
All the while, the Heat continues to try to find a trade for disgruntled six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler as the deadline approaches. But a deal is far from guaranteed because of the challenges that the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement have created to limit player movement paired with Butler’s unique situation.
The Phoenix Suns are still the team pushing the hardest to land Butler ahead of Thursday’s deadline and also seemingly appear to be Butler’s preferred trade destination, according to league sources. The Golden State Warriors have also emerged as a potential trade destination for Butler.
The Heat is expected to be in New York for Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, making the short trip from Philadelphia to New York on Thursday morning.
The Heat lost despite turning in its second-highest first half of the season, scoring 70 points in the first two quarters behind 54.3 percent shooting from the field and 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) shooting from three-point range to take a 10-point lead into halftime.
The Heat’s defense was poor all night, as the Bulls finished the win with 133 points on 52.7 percent shooting from the field and 19-of-41 (46.3 percent) shooting from three-point range.
Four Bulls players (Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu) finished with more than 20 points.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored a team-high 23 points for the Heat.
Heat center Kel’el Ware celebrated his Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award with another standout performance. But it still ended in a loss.
Ware, who was named the NBA’s East Rookie of the Month on Tuesday afternoon for games played in January, closed Tuesday’s defeat with 17 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes.
Ware was impactful from the start, totaling 13 points and four rebounds in Tuesday’s first quarter.
Ware, who the Heat selected with the 15th overall in the 2024 Draft, is the sixth different Heat player in franchise history to earn the Rookie of the Month honor. That list also includes Caron Butler (2002-03 season), Michael Beasley (2008-09 season), Josh Richardson (2015-16 season), Kendrick Nunn (2019-20 season) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (2023-24 season).
“This has been a bigger jump,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Tuesday’s game when asked about Ware’s Rookie of the Month honor. “It doesn’t mean that all the jumps are going to be this dramatic. I think if you just stay steady to it …. Now this will be, I talked to him about, this will be another good adjustment for him. Dealing with everybody praising you. It’s a good thing. But then you have to manage success and have the same type of humility and work ethic that you had when nobody was paying attention to him.
“It’s a whole lot easier to do it at that point. But he’s been steady with his work, his approach, his coachability and you’re seeing the improvement from all of that and you like to see somebody get rewarded for that.”
The 20-year-old Ware logged double-digit minutes in just two of the Heat’s first 25 games this season. But he has since lifted himself into this season’s NBA Rookie of the Year conversation after receiving consistent playing time, as he has now played double-digit minutes in 23 consecutive games while starting in seven straight games.
Ware entered Tuesday’s contest against the Bulls averaging 12.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 56.2 percent from the field and 21 of 48 (43.8 percent) from three-point range in 17 games since the start of January.
Herro is among the NBA’s best three-point shooters, but he’s in the middle of a mini slump from behind the arc.
Herro entered Tuesday with the third most made threes in the NBA this season. He also held the fifth-best three-point percentage (39.4 percent) among the 12 players averaging nine or more three-point attempts per game this season behind only Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, Detroit’s Malik Beasley, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and Golden State’s Stephen Curry.
But after shooting 0 for 7 on threes in Saturday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs, Herro missed his first six three-point attempts on Tuesday before making making three straight threes and finishing the loss 3 of 11 from behind the arc.
Herro has shot just 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) on threes over the last two games.
How unusual is this for Herro?
Without a three-point make on Saturday, Herro’s streak of regular-season games with a made three-pointer ended at 79. It goes down as the longest such streak in Heat history and is tied for the 12th-longest such streak in NBA history.
But Herro still made an impact on Tuesday, finishing with 23 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
The Heat used veteran guard Alec Burks for the first time in two weeks.
Burks entered Tuesday with 25 appearances (all of the bench) through the Heat’s first 47 games this season. His playing time has fluctuated throughout the season and he came into Tuesday with five consecutive DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision).
But Burks received his first game action since Jan. 21 on Tuesday, entering with 2:01 left in the first quarter.
Burks finished Tuesday’s loss with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from deep, four rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes off the Heat’s bench.
After opening Tuesday’s contest with the starting lineup of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware for the fifth straight game, the Heat used a bench rotation of Terry Rozier, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic and Burks against the Bulls.
The only available Heat players who did not get into Tuesday’s game were Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Josh Christopher and Kevin Love.
As the NBA’s trade deadline looms, the Heat has another basketball game to play on Wednesday.
After Tuesday’s loss, the Heat took a flight to Philadelphia for Wednesday night’s game against the 76ers to complete its ninth back-to-back set of the season. 76ers star center Joel Embiid won’t play against the Heat after logging 36 minutes in his return from a knee injury on the front end of their back-to-back — a win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.
The Heat is 5-3 on the second night of back-to-backs this season.
All the while, the Heat continues to try to find a trade for disgruntled six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler as the deadline approaches. But a deal is far from guaranteed because of the challenges that the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement have created to limit player movement paired with Butler’s unique situation.
The Phoenix Suns are still the team pushing the hardest to land Butler ahead of Thursday’s deadline and also seemingly appear to be Butler’s preferred trade destination, according to league sources. The Golden State Warriors have also emerged as a potential trade destination for Butler.
The Heat is expected to be in New York for Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, making the short trip from Philadelphia to New York on Thursday morning.