From the depths of defeat in Houston, Heat have to rise to the tall order of Wemby, Spurs
· Yahoo Sports
MIAMI — At arguably one of the team’s lowest points of the season, up next for the Miami Heat is the tallest order on the home schedule.
Staggered by Amen Thompson’s last-second winning follow-up basket in Saturday night’s 123-122 road loss to the Houston Rockets, up next for Erik Spoelstra’s team is the challenge of versatile 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama on Monday night at Kaseya Center.
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As in the MVP candidate who closed with 27 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots when the Heat lost 107-101 Oct. 30 at Frost Bank Center.
For now, the Heat’s focus largely is inward, amid a four-game losing streak that has dropped them from No. 6 in the Eastern Conference (and above the play-in bracket) to No. 9 (and to the depths of the play-in bracket, which would require two wins without a loss simply to advance to the first round).
That has Spoelstra again doing his best to turn a negative into something positive.
“This is,” Spoelstra said, “when you say you have to develop some grit, you have to go through it, you have to go through it when there are consequences and when you feel these kind of emotions and when you feel like every possession does matter.
“And part of the grit is you have to go through some pain. So we’re going through a little bit of pain right now, and that’s going to steel us. It’s going to make us better.”
The pain actually is quite real, with Norman Powell (calf), Andrew Wiggins (toe) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (hip) all missing Saturday night’s game.
So a loss to the 43-27 Rockets, with the ante upped against the 53-18 Spurs, a team that has won 20 of its last 22, now with the league’s second-best record.
“We’ll focus,” Spoelstra said, “on getting ready for a tough opponent on Monday.”
With the schedule hardly letting up thereafter for the 38-33 Heat, with road games on Wednesday and Friday nights against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Even with the recent struggles, the Heat head into their final 11 games both one game from No. 6 and one game from No. 10, with it now that fine of a line.
“I mean, we’re fighting,” center Bam Adebayo said. “We know what we’re trying to get out of.”
As in the play-in.
As in how much of a sting it was to see Thompson, the Sun Sentinel’s 5A-1A 2021 Player of the Year for his time at Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest, swoop in for the game-deciding basket on Saturday night at Toyota Center.
“Those games are devastating,” Adebayo said, “but we still have a chance. We’ve got (11) games left. It doesn’t get easier from this point. We’ve got to keep fighting.”
Before Thompson’s basket, it had appeared as if the Heat were going to steal one,
With 8.6 seconds to play and up three, the Rockets intentionally fouled Adebayo, who then converted both free throws to draw the Heat within 121-120, as he completed his scoring on his 32-point, 21-rebound night, his first career 30-20 game.
Then, on the ensuing Rockets inbounds pass, Heat guard Davion Mitchell was credited with a steal on a Houston turnover that turned into a Simone Fontecchio basket, when Rockets center Alperen Sengun was called for goaltending. That put the Heat up 122-121.
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Off a timeout with 5.4 seconds to play, the Rockets went to Kevin Durant for a 17-foot jumper that was well defended by Adebayo . . . only to see Thompson sneak in for his game-winning putback with two-tenths of a second to play, with the clock expiring as the ball went through the net.
‘Obviously, it hurts,” Fontecchio said of the sting, “We’ve just got to think about the next one.”
As in the tall order of Wemby and the Spurs, in their lone visit of the season.
“You’ve just got to reset, rest as much as you can, rest your mind too, and be ready for the next one,” Fontecchio said. “It ain’t easy, but we know what we’ve got to do.
“We set our goal, and we just want to do it. It’s just about to collect all the energy we’ve got and be ready for another effort on Monday, collectively.”