In a close battle, the Miami Heat drop one to the Portland Trail Blazers 110-107

It went down to the final shot, but Miami winds up coming up short.

The Miami Heat end up losing in heart breaking fashion to the visiting Portland Trail Blazers, 110 to 107, on Monday night. Leading 81 to 73 entering the 4th quarter, Miami could not hold off Damian Lillard and his Blazers squad. Max Strus ended up tying the game with a huge three pointer in the last seconds, but Josh Hart responded with a clutch three himself giving Portland the lead at the end of regulation. Even though Miami came up short, there were some positives and negatives for the team.

First let’s start off with the positives, there were seven players with double figures last night:

It showed some versatility in the Miami rotation, as it was a pretty even spread of points throughout the roster. Gabe Vincent was on fire to start the game, hitting 3 three’s alone in the first quarter. Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson were also filling it up early from downtown.

Bam Adebayo was an efficient 8/14 from the field, and got some nice buckets right in his wheelhouse to drop. Kyle Lowry was also getting to all his spots and it looked like he definitely was getting into a nice groove. The game was coming so naturally to him, it was really nice to watch.

The only problem, which will now lead to the negatives of the game, is that with Lowry going and getting into a nice flow he did not take as many shots as he should have. Only 5/8 from the field, with him being so efficient it would have been nice to see him take more attempts. Jimmy Butler showed a bit of rust from sitting the last two games and struggled with 5/14 shooting from the field. The hot starts from both Duncan Robinson and Gabe Vincent also slowed down heavily in the second half.

There wasn’t that consistent scorer to go to when it mattered most in the game. Miami’s defense clearly needs some work as well. To give up an eight-point lead heading into the 4th quarter really hurts. Miami was even up 104-102 with 52.9 seconds left. The guys had this game in the bag, and they let it get too close for comfort until it was too late. Miami just could not get stops in the 4th when they really needed to.

To lose in the final seconds on a Josh Hart three is just complete pain. It could end up being one of, if not the toughest, loss of the year. Not because they lost by double digits and let the game get out of hand, but because Miami was right there. They had this game, but just couldn’t get the job done down the stretch.

The Heat have a chance to bounce back against the 3-8 Charlotte Hornets on Thursday. Hopefully Tyler Herro, who’s offense would have been much needed when the team went stagnant in the second half, could be available from his ankle injury.