REACTION: Miami Heat NBA Cup Run Over, LOSE Fourth Straight – Is a LINEUP CHANGE the Key to RECOVER?

REACTION: Miami Heat NBA Cup Run Over, LOSE Fourth Straight – Is a LINEUP CHANGE the Key to RECOVER?

Miami stit in the NBA Cup is over after getting dominated by the Magic. They’ve lost four straight and look worse than they have all season. Is it time for a lineup change? Oh, uh, is Ray Allen sitting on the bench? They can use some three-point shooting. [Music] You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. [Music] All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat, part of the Locked On podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your podcast app, thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Join the cookie gang. Become an everyday or that means subscribing, tuning in every day, Monday through Friday, signing up to the Lockdown Heat text line with the link in the show notes. Also exciting news here that we’re going to share in a second about a new initiative by the Locked on Podcast Network called the Everyday Dare Club. We’ll get more information on that as the show goes on. But first, today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Real GM radio. I’m here with David Rmill. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. recording this uh on Tuesday night after the Heat’s loss to the Orlando Magic. David, disappointing one, especially considering how this thing started. The Heat going up 15- nothing to start this game. Um but the start was very different than the rest of this game. I I would say the first five minutes very good, the other 43 not so good. David. Yeah, it was uh really unusual because they started off so well and we had just talked about it previewing the game without France Vagner, their their engine, and this is a team that has struggled trying to find their identity and it seemed like Miami was so prepared and so ready to take on the challenge of the Orlando Magic and they get off to that incredible start and then credit to the Magic because they just seem to lean into their identity. as a defensive team much more completely and Miami was totally thrown off. Uh Orlando playing at home and I know that’s a bit of a factor now more so than it has been in the past because Miami has had a little homec court advantage even while playing in Orlando in years past. That is no longer the case. I think uh Orlando was able to just play their brand of basketball much more effectively than Miami was. And and by that I mean again playing good defense, swarming, keeping guys away from the rim, being physical. And I think that last point was what really stood out to me is the the incredibly overt physicality of the Orlando Magic was not something Miami was prepared for. And in years past, especially, you know, over the most recent seasons, Miami would have embraced that sort of physicality. In fact, they might have been the ones who had set that tone. that was not the case. This is a team that’s perhaps a little bit more finesse than brute strength. And I think that’s, you know, led to some success early on in the season. But Orlando, they played a really, really strong style of basketball, particularly defensively. And then that led to some ridiculous offensive possessions, especially for Desmond Bane, who had 37 points and looked absolutely dominant and looked every bit like the player that they thought they were acquiring this off seasonason to help them get over the the the hump and become that kind of dominant team that a lot of people expected Orlando to be in preseason. So really ugly game for Miami. Um, you know, maybe maybe we’re being a little fatalistic here because the score reflects something else, but it felt a lot like the deficit was a lot bigger than the final score reflects. Um, I don’t know. From the point that Orlando just turned it around, it never really felt like Miami had an answer for him, nor could they have mounted any kind of response to what it was Orlando was trying to do. I mean, it was right. It did. It was kind of different after that. They go up 15 nothing and then after that I mean you could do the math. Final score of this one 117 to 108. You know take 15 points away from Miami. That’s basically what the game was for 43 minutes after that initial fiveminute burst to start the game. It wasn’t very close. This is a Orlando Magic team that has kind of punked the Heat. This Magic team is three and0 against the Heat right now. And all that physicality, all that stuff to your point that is what the Miami Heat used to paint on the court. That was all the Heat culture stuff. That was everything. Credit to Jamal Mosley. Over the last couple years, the Orlando Magic have come in. They have done away with that little brother mentality. And I think they get a lot of credit for that. And I know we’re locked on heat, but there’s the other team on the other side of here. And I I give more credit to the Magic in this game than I do anything else that is a good basketball team that after a rough start has refound themselves. They’re back up to fifth in defensive rating overall. They are playing with that level of physicality and force that made them special last year and frankly makes them special this year. even with Fran Vagner out that the Desmond Bane addition that gives them somebody that can be their best offensive player on any given night. They didn’t have that guy, right? It was either either France or Paulo and if it wasn’t one of them, there was nobody there to bail him out. And now Bane gives them that other other element. And then for the Heat, you know, I I do think that they really struggled against to your point, the physicality. They got outrebounded. The the Magic took more shots at the rim. I thought that defense really tightened up. I thought they shot obviously over their head. Nobody’s going to shoot 100% for a basketball game. Breaking news. But, um, you know, those were a lot of tough looks that the Heat were taking in that game. There were some open ones. We could nitpick here and there, right? There were definitely some open ones late in that game that might maybe they could have gotten back into this thing. Um, I thought they passed up some interesting looks. I I thought the shot selection wasn’t great in this game, but I give credit to that Orlando Magic defense for kind of uh uh putting a stop to this heat offense, right? And making them confused and making them second guess things. Yeah, I I texted you about this beforehand. I think for the first time all season they they look genuinely intimidated and I didn’t expect that from this particular group because they have played so much more aesthetically pleasing but effectively and also just with a renewed sense of energy and purpose. This was a lot like the team that we saw at the end of last year uh when they had zero purpose and zero identity and and no real clear picture of who was supposed to do what or when at any point in time. And and I to your point, I think credit to Orlando because they really went and just punched Miami in the mouth so completely that Miami was kind of just sitting there stunned and not really sure of what to do next. and and that led to a lot of makeable shots being missed like whether it was three-point shots from the corner that we’ve seen Norm Pal hit at such a high rate all season clanking off the rim or missing badly. Tyler Hero missing shots badly, like shooting air balls from six from three-point range, 0 for six, I think, on the night. Just really, really struggled offensively. Buddies at the rim, uh, close jumpers in the restricted area, you name it. Like it it felt like the equivalent to me is like in football, you know, hearing footsteps. Uh, it felt like they were hearing those footsteps all game long following that initial five-point burst, you know, or five minute burst. Yeah. No, that that’s well said. And it did feel that way, didn’t it? And and defensively, I thought they were whatever that version of hearing footsteps is defensively, I thought Desmond Bane put them in a tail spin, right? Yeah. They they had half a dozen miscommunications that are so uncharacteristic of an Eric Spolster team where they’re just botching switches, letting guys slip wide open to the rim. And it’s all because, you know, they tried DaVon Mitchell and Desmond Bane, they tried Drew Smith for a little while. They tried Andrew Wiggins down the stretch and they just didn’t really have an answer. Wiggins was probably their best guy, but Bane was just hitting everything, right? And and when that’s happening, I thought Miamiy’s defense overreacted to a lot of stuff. Uh you saw Goa Batad’s day get that open lob at the end there. You saw Wendell Carter Jr. slip to the basket uh open a couple different times and um it was just between those two things, between Orlando’s physical defense and between Desmond Bane just shooting fireballs the entire night. I the Heat just didn’t have an answer on either end. I thought defensively Eric Spolstra they caught the Amazon broadcast caught Eric Spolstra saying hey you guys aren’t playing hard enough to go to Vegas and that really stood out to me David because a it shows that this Heat team cares about the NBA cup cares about going to Las Vegas and all these things about this game counts to the regular season standings so it has a lot of different uh you know reasons why this would matter but I do think that this Heat team did care. I I might push back on you in that regard because you said it kind of felt like the end of last year when they were playing sort of this listless basketball. I didn’t I didn’t think it was a lack of care. Maybe it was a lack of effort. Spoke called him out for that. So, I’m not going to disagree with the coach, but um I don’t know. I also wonder like if if the Magic don’t shoot 47% from three, does all of a sudden it look just a little bit different? Right? Like Bane goes six for nine. Haliban Curo shoots 40% from three. He doesn’t usually do that. Wendell Carter Jr. made went two for three from three-point range. You got Jaylen Suggs shooting over his head from three-point range. Tristan Dilva making 50% of his threes. Like I just wonder if they don’t shoot that on fire. Does this game have a just different tenor to it? Maybe. Uh but you know Miami just didn’t get I think uh when we previewed the game uh you locked on Magic host Philip Rothman Reich he he talked about the fact that Orlando just doesn’t give up a lot of threes and that was certainly the case. Miami just went eight of 33 from the night and the few shots that they did get that weren’t being um that were wide open they just didn’t hit I mean eight of 33. How many of those three-point makes came in the first quarter? Yeah, most of them. Right. like and but but David, Orlando went 15 of 32. It’s not like they got up a bunch of them. They just made theirs. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let’s let let’s put a pin in that for now cuz I I do want to talk about shooting overall kind of zoom out because uh this has been an issue for the Heat. Is there a way to fix it? Do they have to make a roster change? Like what happens? What do the Heat need to do to fix this thing? We’re going to talk about that next here on Locked on Heat. Today’s episode is brought to you by Mint Mobile. You know, there’s no reason to let big wireless drain your wallet, especially during the holidays. And right now, Mint Mobile is running their best deal of the year. All of their unlimited plans are 50% off. That means you can lock in three, six, or even 12 months of unlimited premium wireless for just $15 a month. It’s the easiest way to take your overpriced phone bill and give it the full Scrooge treatment. And what makes this even better is how simple Mint makes the switch. No contracts, no nonsense, just real savings and real quality service. 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Now take it up a level and go ad free. That’s right. Join the Everydayer Club today and get Locked on Heat with no interruptions, members only Discord access and more. All for just $5 a month or for $50 a year. Go to lockedheat.supcast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. We are really excited to be able to offer this premium service to our most loyal listeners, our real everydayers, the real cookie gang is going to want to sign up uh to this uh new service. Again, no interruptions, a membersonly discord uh where you can interact with the locked on heat community. Uh and a whole lot more to come. $5 a month or $50 a year. Just use the link in the show notes. Um, David, let’s talk about these shooting struggles because the Heat shot poorly during the three-game losing streak, now extended to a four-game losing streak. Um, I thought it would be better with Tyler Herro and Norm Powell back in the lineup. Turns out it’s not. They shot poorly from three-point range in this game outside of that first five minute spurt. This team just really struggled to make shots. Not only to get up shots, but they still struggled to make those shots. Like I said in the first segment, David, I thought they passed up some interesting ones. Maybe we could talk about that. But just the shooting struggles overall, are you concerned about it or is this just a teamwide slump that they’re going through? Are they just facing good defenses like Dallas and Orlando lately? What’s going on? I think it’s a little bit of both. I think it’s mostly just a slump and I think it’s also defense is kind of um keying in on what Miami was trying to do. They they’re denying them the rim a lot more and I think as such they’re able to close out on three-point shots a little bit more effectively because they know that that’s basically Miami’s only recourse. it’s, you know, very much at the rim or at the line. And so they’re trying to just keep Miami from getting those easy looks and challenging them in such a way that makes it very difficult for them to get going. And then, uh, tonight I think was a case where Miami missed a lot more wide openen shots than they may have in the past. So, uh, is it a concern? I don’t know. I he had asked me this yesterday, I would have said no, not a concern, but after seeing it tonight, I’m kind of like, yeah, maybe it is because it just doesn’t seem like Miami is going to get that boost. Like, we had talked about the start of the season being able to succeed the way they did, implement this brand of basketball, and it’s like, you know what, they’re doing this without Tyler Herro, and that hasn’t provided the boost that you would expect. Can I again I I feel like it’s just been and we talked about this also recently. It it’s not coincidental that the losses are happening at the same time as Tyler has returned to the lineup. But that doesn’t absolve him completely because I think he there were moments there late in the game where he he was playing no pun intended hero ball a little bit like taking some bad shots whether he thought he could just carry the team single-handedly. I don’t know what was going through his mind, but he rushed a couple of shots offensively at a point in time where maybe you needed to be a little bit more effective to even give the semblance of trying to mount a comeback. And he was doing the exact opposite. Like I think he chucked one from like 30 feet out and it’s like and there was no need for it. It wasn’t like the shot clock was expiring or anything like that. It was just like, you know what, I’m going to put the shot up as quickly as possible uh because I know I can hit the shot. Well, buddy, you didn’t. And uh you kind of I I I think it was just a little bit detrimental. And so I I the teamwide shooting slump I think is a factor, but I think teams are also playing them defensively a little bit more effectively than they did earlier this season. On the Tyler Hero point there, I it was weird, right? Because I I agree with you. There were times where he looked like he was trying to take over the game and win the game by himself. And then there were other times where I thought he was really passive earlier in the game where he would just and he’s been doing this since he got back. I just want him to have a quicker trigger on those pullup threes early in the clock and it just seems like he’s still uncomfortable in the offense of what do you mean I can just 3 seconds off the clock and I can just pull it pull up and shoot it? Yes, dude. That’s the whole thing that they’re doing now. And it’s it it it it’s really frustrating because you just know how effective he would be if he were to just let that thing rip. And and there’s just so many times where he won’t do it or if he wait he waits for the fly by. And look, sometimes it’s the right move, right? the guy flies by him and he gets a wide open layup or he gets fouled or whatever. Like you definitely want the other stuff at the rim, but there’s other times where it’s sometimes I’m like, dude, just let it go. And um I found myself kind of screaming that at the TV a lot in this one. And then to your point late in the game, then he’s kind of doing this other thing. And look, it’s hard to necessarily blame him, right? They weren’t really generating anything offensively. So it’s not exactly like he was taking away from anybody else, right? It’s not like Desmond Vay was on his team and he was shooting it instead of him. Um Sure. And in his first game back against Dallas, he did that and they won the game, right? Like it was just floater after floater. So he’s got the proof of concept of, hey, it’s fourth quarter. It’s my time. Let me try to take this thing home. Um, so I don’t know. I don’t know that he cost them the game in the fourth quarter because obviously they were already down at that point. Yeah. And that’s not what you’re saying, but I would He’s still clearly trying to find his way in this offense. Now, they did miss him for a lot of this losing streak so far. And I do wonder if I just I can’t help but think if Hero and Pal and Mitchell were all available that they wouldn’t have lost four games in a row. They certainly probably would have beaten at least Sacramento. But look, Dallas is awesome. They’re top five in defense. They played Orlando twice during this four-game losing streak. They’re top five in defense. Like these are good defenses in terms of the concern level as a team. The Heat have shot now 29.2% from three point point range during this four-game losing streak. They’re not that bad as of a shooting team. They’re going to shoot better than 29% from three. They’re My concern though, David, is that they’re only getting up 30 three-point attempts. Yeah. During this stretch, they got to shoot more in order to shoot out of this slump. And it’s not just, and that’s not just on Hero, he’s got to take them, but everybody else, it just feels like sometimes they’re passing up the shots. When they’re passing up the shots to get to the rim, I don’t have a problem with it. Go get to the rim. That’s still the better shot. It’s still the better shot, especially for this Heat team. It’s still the better shot, but they took 27 shots to the rim tonight. 33 mid-range shots, 33-pointers. Yeah, you can’t be taking as many That’s not right. That’s that backwards math that we’ve been talking about for the last couple years in Miami that they’ve largely gotten away from. It’s starting to feel like teams are starting to force them, excuse me, back into that mid-range area a little bit too much. Can I uh propose something a little rash there? And maybe I’m just a prisoner of the moment right now, but uh I think it’s time to bench Tyler. And I know it’s not going to happen and maybe I’m just like spitting in the wind here and and it doesn’t matter. And I I don’t want to feel overly reactionary, but I just think that Miami looks so much more effective when Khil was starting. And I think that should continue to be the case. And I think the twoman game between him and DaVon Mitchell needs to thrive. and where just isn’t playing enough minutes where he’s he’s been relegated to being non-impactful. He went from being potential fringe all-star candidate to like is he still on the roster? Is something wrong with him? Could he possibly be hurt because he played what 12 minutes tonight? And maybe maybe he wasn’t particularly good in those 12 minutes, but he seems to be the type of player that needs to establish a rhythm early and kind of get that momentum going before he can uh just really lean into being impactful. And he’s just not getting that opportunity. It really isn’t like and I think you can with with Simone Feekio having forgotten how to hit a three-point shot and Haime not really being a legitimate three-point threat anyway. You kind of need to balance it out a little bit. You’re not getting any three-point shooting off the bench. Miami’s bench was horrific tonight. And look, they didn’t play much with the exception of, you know, 24 minutes from Himez in which he scored 10 points. Those were okay. Defensively, he gave up a heck of a lot and it looked like he was being abused pretty wildly. Drew Smith gave a nice little spark here. Khalil didn’t really play much. Feeko was a nonfactor. Like they weren’t getting anything. And I should mention, of course, unfortunately, Pella Larson sustaining an injury. Him doing his usual things out there and then uh rolling his ankle pretty bad. I I I don’t want to play a podcast doctor here, but it did not look great. So hopefully he’s going to be okay. But Miamiy’s bench needs a spark. Fonteo can’t shoot. Nobody else in that uh second unit can shoot. Um I wouldn’t want to have Wear shooting three-pointers when he’s much more effective being a lob threat and and being able to catch things at the rim and and impact winning by rebounding and being the kind of player he was just a few weeks ago. Doesn’t feel like that long ago. And now all of a sudden he’s like barely playing. And and so to me, I think you need to make a change. And maybe this is too reactionary, but I think it kind of kills two birds with one stone where you bring Tyler off the bench. Have him run those units. You can play off Haime. It’s not a necess I don’t think they the two of them could play together. I think it’s it’s a different style of attack there with Hime just going at the rim and and Tyler looking for a shot, especially on the perimeter. And I think you bring Khalilla in as a starter and he can be much more effective in in whatever minutes he gets it and he’ll earn it because I think we saw him flourish not that long ago and then he was coming off the bench and Spo was praising him for embracing that change. Well, guess what? I guess it’s it only goes so far and right now he looks like he’s I don’t think he’s in the doghouse. I just don’t think he’s playing being played. It’s almost like he’s forgotten he’s there. And it’s like, hey man, you do have a 7 foot weapon on the bench here that was pretty good just a few weeks ago and maybe you need to give him another opportunity. So he did play 25 minutes, 22 minutes, and 29 minutes in the three games prior to this and the Heat lost those three games. So it’s not as if Kell has been buried. He was a minus 15 in his 12 minutes tonight. I didn’t I don’t know. I didn’t watch any Kar minutes tonight and been like, “Yeah, that guy’s got to be on the court more.” I I thought he was pretty abused by those Magic Bigmen in this game. I didn’t think he was much of a factor on the boards. He wasn’t really doing anything defensively, but I do think the overall question about whether or not the Heat need to make a change to the starting lineup and if they need to utilize Kell with Bam more often, that to me is interesting and maybe we explore that more in the next segment when we get to our listener questions. We’ll talk about that, plus whether or not the Heat need to make a roster move between now uh and the trade deadline. NBA trade season, the unofficial start of it starts uh next week, so it’s a good time to talk about it. We’ll do all that next. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. 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Can pick a game, tap a section, have your tickets locked in within minutes. No confusion, no haunting for fine print. You get what you pay for and you know exactly what you’re pay for because there’s no hidden fees. So take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, every concert or event with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA, you get $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, but again, download the app, make an account, use the code locked on NBA, you get $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. That’s game time. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks again for making Lockdown Heat your first listen. Let’s go to the text line. You can get texts from us and submit questions for the postgame shows at the link in the show notes or text 7869987029. This question comes from Andrew who writes in honestly felt like nobody could get anything going tonight and also that we underutilized Kell wear. I think he could have been a spark to stretch the floor. Also feel like they could have used his defense. Am I crazy? Just continuing our conversation about Kell from the last segment. David, they did start Kell the last time they played the Magic um last week and he was a minus 18 in 22 minutes. I think this is a tough matchup for him and maybe because he was so ineffective in the last one, that’s the reason why they bench him in this one, but I do want to see more of the Bamware minutes. And I know it’s hard because you don’t have another center on the roster, so you kind of always have to stagger them. Yovic isn’t playing. And that’s really the the the problem here is that when you don’t have a third big, you always have to stagger the two that you got. And that’s really, I think, what the Heat are running into here. But then I look at the shooting problems with this team. If Simone Fenteo doesn’t have it going, even on a night where Tyler Hero and Norm Powell are fine from three-point range, it still feels like this team doesn’t have enough shooting. And I just wonder when when they get cap space to sign somebody to a pro-rated minimum later this month, do they look for the third big or do they look for somebody that can shoot the ball? I think their preference would be to go for the big to be honest with you because it just more a little more versatility. Mhm. Uh, strangely enough, I I think you can do different things at different lineups and you you don’t feel like you’re using the your big resources a little bit too quickly or at the same time and put you perhaps in a potential deficit. So, I think that’s the approach for any kind of roster building moves. I I I don’t know. I I Why not play Yovic today? Like that’s the other option, right? just let him just let him work through it and and but they know that he’s not the backup five. So I don’t I don’t know like could he have been any worse out there than anybody else? He’s not like he’s guarding Desmond Bane. I think Betaza would have been drawn out to the three-point line to try and guard Nico or Nico would have been able to lead a a couple fast break opportunities. This could have been the boosted conference he needs. like it seems like the style the way that the game was managed and and I’m not I don’t want to knock spo the way the game was managed felt to me reminiscent of last year where it’s like well you we’ve got all these players on the bench but you know we’re not going to really do that we’re not going to go to that we’re going to stick to what we know best and that’s a small ball lineup we’re basically essentially three players off the bench after Pella gets hurt um I don’t know man like again was a minus 16. Ko was -15. Pello was – 9. Simone was – 7. Drew was – 9. The bench didn’t have it tonight. I don’t think the answer was more bench in this game. Different bench. Different bench. Not more. Where you going? You’re going Kasparus, Yakonis, and Kashad Johnson and Nico. You think that’s going to win you the game in this one? I mean, maybe. I maybe. I don’t know. The argument to just explore it in in the in the second half. Was anything else working? Like to me, I I think you you you want to create your advantage by leaning into what you do best, but watching that game, I mean, I I hadn’t considered it when you mentioned it, but you’re right. If you take away that 15-point burst to start the game, Miami basically lost by 30 points. That’s that’s pretty crap. Bench that gave this game away. I mean, Matt Orlando starters were pretty much outscored in this game. Miami starters were a positive in this game. So, I think there are some bench pro questions with this team for sure. Um, but you got to balance it out a little bit better, find ways of staggering those minutes a little bit more effectively and maybe utilizing different combinations. That’s the coaching staff and I thought they had enough time over the last couple of days to prepare for Orlando and that was not the case. They did switch up the rotations a bit. The first bench unit that really started to give stuff away, it was Kell, Haime, Pella, Simone all out there. I think with Norm Powell for a lot of those minutes and um that bench that that unit basically just didn’t have it. And so I I I kind of want to see Pal back out there with DaVon Mitchell and with and Tyler with Drew Smith a little bit more. Drew Smith only got eight minutes because Pella got hurt. Um so I I agree with you. I think that they need to reshuffle things a little bit. I’m not sure the rotation they landed on was the right one. Um let’s go quickly through a few more of these. Adam writes in, uh how has this team slumped so badly over the last four games? Shooting was the big thing. I think defensively they got to work on stuff, but I really just want to see what the defense looks like when teams aren’t shooting as hot against them. I I do think some of this stuff is just shooting variance things that you and I actually called out I think in our Thanksgiving episode where it’s like, “Hey, it’s only a matter of time before the shooting flips and right away it flipped.” So, I guess blame us for that. I don’t know. Um, no, but but I mean, how much of it is just teams getting hot or Miami’s defense just kind of like scrambling and not being able to close out the way that they they should be on those possessions? So, uh, I I think it boils down to Miami’s defense just being a little bit more shaky than we had anticipated. And that I think you can tie to the return of Tyler Hero, too. Again, not single-handedly on him, but it’s just it almost feels like this kind of domino effect where reinserting him into the lineup has just kind of triggered everything else. It’s Norm has looked worse. The rotations have changed. Everybody think everything has just kind of fallen apart all at the same time. And it I hate to tie it to Tyler, but that’s it seems like that’s the catalyst for everything else going wrong here. And it’s unfortunate because I don’t think it’s necessarily on him, but it has kind of coincided with his return. It’s probably a conversation we need to have in a bigger podcast when we have more time to to get into it. Yeah. Um you can’t ignore the facts. To your point, I still think that the for this team to hit the ceiling, they have to work through whatever growing pain this is, right? Tyler didn’t go through training camp. There was no preseason. He’s learning this offense on the fly. That took everybody a really long time to figure out. Yeah. Um, and it does like for them to do what they want to do potentially this season, the ceiling is still with Tyler Herro maximized. I don’t think there’s any and you got to figure out how to get that as quickly as possible. Uh, Malachi writes in, “This heat team looks terrible right now. Four straight losses. What needs to change? Is Giannis or John Morant is is trading for one of them the answer? Or how can we turn this around?” Uh, yeah. Adding Giannis to this team would make them better. I think that would be a potential answer there. John, yeah, Nicole Joic isn’t available, then you know what? And you could try to pride Giannis out of Milwaukee. I say, yeah, if we can’t get Jokic or Shay, I would settle for Giannis. I’m okay with that. Uh, I think making that kind of move might help. Jonah writes, Jonah writes, “And what counters do we even have? This team only works when it goes from defense to offense. As soon as the opposing team starts scoring, we also lose our offensive advantage by running ahead, running out ahead of them.” It’s a great call, right? Like, this team needs defensively to be better. Um, it is a defense. It is a team that’s fueled by its defense and also by rebounding. They’ve cleaned up the rebounding quite a bit. They’re still going to get out rebounded by teams like Orlando, but that’s always they didn’t get killed on the boards tonight, which is always the goal against a bigger team like the Magic, but um they need to force more stops to fuel their offense because uh the broadcast had this stat and I thought it was a really good one. They had like nine fast break points in the first quarter. They didn’t score another fast break point until midway through the third quarter. They got to figure out ways and and I don’t know what the counter is, but they can’t you got to get stops. It’s like you have to get stops to win in the NBA, but in order to get into their offense, do they have something else that they can get to in order to get into their offense? And maybe the answer is figuring out ways to play when it’s a little bit more slowed down, incorporating more pick and roll. Like, at the end of the day, you just got to get points on the board. I don’t care how you do it. Yeah. I um just thrown off here because I I think that things just fell apart very quickly there. And I I don’t know for uh I don’t know how much of a factor the the rebounding is, but the defense has been really poor. Uh the switches were bad. It just didn’t seem like Miami had the personnel to counter too many blowbyss. Yeah. Like Bane was feasting on uh Norm Powell being out there on the perimeter, but he also seemed to take it personally uh against DaVon Mitchell whenever he was matched up. And I think Suggs even had a couple possessions against Mitchell where maybe seemed to get just get right past him. Uh I think Bam held his own defensively, but other than that, it it just it felt like it was off. They’re a little unders sized on the perimeter. Maybe this is helping your point about making a lineup switch here. I mean, when it’s hero pal Mitchell, as good as Mitchell is, you could shoot over them, right? Yeah. Especially against a big team like Orlando. and the MA and like I said, the Heat over the last three games, they’ve tried going big against the Magic, it didn’t work. They tried going with their smaller ball lineup, it didn’t work. Um, so I don’t really know what the answer is, but when it’s Mitchell, Hero, Powell out there, you’re just undized. And I thought especially down the stretch of this game, it was really rough for Tyler Hero defensively in this one. Not just when he was being targeted, but especially when he was being targeted. But there were some rough moments there. and they they are working so hard to pre- switch when Tyler Heriro is out there that if you’re timing it right as the opposing offense, you can get them in a scramble and that is something that I think has hurt them since Tyler Herro got back cuz even as Pal isn’t a strong defender but he’s okay. They’re not they’re not going to the point of pre-switching with him where when Hero’s out there and the other team’s trying to get him in a mismatch and now you’re being forced to pre-witch and all that stuff. It just it you’re putting so much more attention on that than other things that I do think it hurts this defense overall. Yeah. Billy writes in, I felt like after the hot start from deep, the cup run would be a good indicator as to where they stand in the East and I think fourth is a fair placement. Good enough to be excited, not good enough to come out of the East without Giannis. Um, I just want to take talk about this. I was kind of jazzed up for this NBA Cup thing, David. I got to be honest with you. You know, I’m a skeptic of the NBA Cup, but I was going to be all in if the Heat were going to Las Vegas this weekend. And I got to tell you, man, I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed that we don’t get to cover a game uh with the Heat playing in Vegas for for something to play for like in the NBA Cup. I I can’t believe it, but I I kind of did get sucked in and as soon as they sucked me in, they pushed me out. Yeah. Uh I I am equally disappointed there because I I think it just they looked like a team that didn’t care. And when and we had just recently talked about how Miamiy’s new identity was one that really gave a damn about the regular season and played with the kind of effort and purpose that they had been missing so often over the last few years. And you know what? Maybe I spoke too soon because uh that’s not what I saw at all today against Orlando. Maybe it was just a matchup problem. Maybe Orlando’s just the kind of dean that will challenge this Miami iteration a little bit more effectively than other teams will. But to come at the heels of a four-point, I’m sorry, a three-game losing streak with something additional on the line. Miami needed this one. They needed to prove something. Orlando had an excuse baked in. Hey man, we’re without France. You know, Apollo is still working his way back. They had a reason to give up and they didn’t. Miami did. And I think that really I don’t know that they gave up though. Like they fought in the end. They tried to climb back in it. They were a talero missed three-pointer for making it a four-point game late. Giving up feels harsh maybe, but they just it did not feel like they were the same kind of they had no swagger to them, no kind of confidence. I don’t know. At one point Desmond Bane just clapping his hands. It did feel like at one earlier in the year they would have taken that 15-point lead and turned it into a 30-point lead, right? like we talked about that all the time about how different that felt and this did feel a lot like last year where hey cool you’re up 15 but by the end of this game it’ll be a clutch time game and anything goes but um last two texts here they’re sort of they’re not really related but we can make them related. William writes in these guys still have the same problem every year they go stretches of not being able to score. This team just lacks actual talent. The fairy tale of the start of the season is over. We need to trade. We need to trade this team can’t hide the fact that they suck. Andrew writes in, “Is there anything positive to look at after this game?” David, here’s where I am. I don’t think the Heat are as good as they were to start the year. I don’t think that they are as bad as they’ve been during this four game stretch. I think they are uh better than this. Maybe not not as dominant as they looked through the first uh part of the season, but I do think they are better than this. The shooting will eventually tilt back the other way. things will normalize a little bit and we’ll get a little bit of a better read on this heat team. Too fair. Way too fair a statement there. Like I need you to be more of a hot take on that, you know. I’m kidding. No, I agree with you. I truth is somewhere in the middle. Not hot enough. Fair enough. Uh I I think it’s a fair assessment and I think it’s I think it’s right on too. Um so I don’t know. I I think a lot of people are hearing buzz about Moran, hearing buzz about Giannis and nothing’s going to be finalized anytime soon. I don’t I don’t I don’t anticipate like I if anything Orlando making the push that they have of late and Miami kind of regressing a little bit like is Milwaukee truly out of it at this point? Like I mean is any team in the Eastern Conference other than Washington like truly done? Well, because Giannis is out for another two or three weeks. So they might actually be done. But to your point, they’re not going to make a decision until Giannis comes back, right? Like so um or at least till tail end of it. So, uh, the Heat can’t rely on a Giannis trade to write the ship. Uh, but look, we also knew that they didn’t have a Giannis on the roster, and you kind of need those guys in the NBA, but I do think that things can get better for that for them. Uh, going forward, they’ll break the four-game losing streak at some point. I think the shooting will normalize. Uh, we’ll get a better uh assessment of what this team is. But that’ll do it for us today. This has been Locked on Heat, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Make sure you are subscribed so you can get all the latest episodes. Find us on Twitter and Instagram, Locked on Heat. Did Locked on Heat make your Spotify wrapped? Prove it on social media to secure a free month of our brand new Everydayer Club. Just tag our national locked on podcast network account on any social platform and we’ll drop you a code. Be one of the first to join the Everydayer Club to get your favorite show ad free and exclusive access to the membersonly Discord channel. For those for those of you on video, we send you the first ever 247 National NBA YouTube channel on audio. Make sure you check out your second listen, Locked on NBA Game Night and Locked on NBA Daily.

Miami Heat’s NBA Cup dreams vanish after a commanding Orlando Magic victory—has their early-season magic run out?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil break down Miami’s four-game losing streak, spotlighting Tyler Herro’s struggles, the team’s lack of physicality, and concerns about three-point shooting. With Desmond Bane shining for Orlando and Kel’el Ware’s diminished role raising questions, the Heat face a strategic crossroads. Is a lineup shakeup, such as benching Herro, the solution to revive their offense?

Key topics include Miami’s defensive miscommunications, Erik Spoelstra’s coaching adjustments, and the urgent need for roster moves before the trade deadline. Trade speculation swirls as listeners ask about potential star acquisitions like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Ja Morant. As Miami’s identity wavers and bench production falters, the hosts debate fixes for inconsistent shooting and outline what must change for the Heat to rebound in the Eastern Conference race.

0:00 — Heat’s NBA Cup Collapse & Lineup Issues
10:16 — Shooting Struggles Deep Dive
22:01 — Trade & Rotation Solutions + Listener Mailbag

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