MIAMI — Now warming up in the bullpen . . . Wayne Ellington?

No, for the moment the Man with the Golden Arm remains solely an Erik Spoelstra assistant coach. But the way the Miami Heat have been shooting 3-pointers lately, it has the feel of a time for desperate measures, with the former Heat specialist already in the building (and still only 38).

During the four-game losing streak that will remain intact until they return to action Monday night, the Heat are shooting .292 on 3-pointers, second worst in the NBA to the Cavaliers’ .281 over that span, and are attempting only 30 per game, sixth fewest in the league.

All of that in the direct wake of a 24-of-46 night from beyond the arc in a Dec. 1 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Since then?

– 11 of 37 in a 10-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

– 7 of 19 in a one-point loss to the Orlando Magic.

– 9 of 31 in a 16-point loss to the Sacramento Kings.

– 8 of 33 in Monday night’s 117-108 loss to the Orlando Magic that knocked them out of the NBA Cup.

Prior to this four-game slide, the Heat stood at .383 from beyond the arc, fifth best in the NBA, on 36.2 3-point attempts per game.

So the shots stopped falling, as the shots stopped.

“Just a handful of games ago we had 24 threes,” Spoelstra said. “It’ll be another game where we have 20-plus threes, soon. We have that kind of firepower, but we don’t want to just rely on that to be able to win games.

“We want to be able to defend at a high level and, more importantly, defend in the moments of truth, in the competitive moments of truth. that you are able to collectively get stops that put you in a position to win a game.”

Which is all well and good, but when the shots are falling, it makes it easier to settle back into that defense. And when the shots are falling at three points at a time, it makes it easier to offset opposing two-point baskets.

So stop the threes and stop the Heat?

It’s a concern inside the locker room.

“They’re doing a great job scouting how we play our offense,” guard Norman Powell said of the schemes the Heat are now facing. “They’re up higher. They’re two, three steps up above the three. They’re denying passing lanes.

“They’re trying to make us play, one, in the halfcourt, and then, two, inside the line. So we’ve just got to be better, collectively,  and really working offense like we were at the beginning of the season.”

What worked in October and November is being chilled in December, with more winter reality potentially ahead.

“We’re on everybody’s scouting report and how we want to play the pace and they’re trying to slow us down,” Powell said. “So we’ve got to do our jobs better to make it easier for everybody else, so individually we can all be better in how we navigate the offense, attack, kick outs, and not take so many tough two-pointers once we get into the paint.”

Curiously, the slide has come amid the return of guard Tyler Herro from September ankle surgery, although he has been out for two of the games in the current four-game slide.

“Teams are denying us and making us go one-on-one a little bit,” Herro said of the lack of quality 3-point looks. “It’s just about us making the right plays once we get into the paint. Obviously we can get in there, but once we get in there, that’s when we got to try to make the right plays so we can generate enough threes and also generate enough open looks.”

For now, amid this five-day break, the enduring memory will be Tuesday night’s 8 of 33 in Orlando, when Powell was 4 of 12 from beyond the arc, Herro 0 for 6 and 3-point specialist Simone Fontecchio 0 for 3.

“We got quite a few good ones; there were some tough ones, took probably two or three in that fourth,” Spoelstra said. “But there were a bunch. Norm had three in a row that were wide open. I’ll take all of those. Davion (Mitchell) had a wide open one.

“But you can’t live and die with your defense if you’re making threes or not. That’s not how we’re built. We have to build this competitive toughness to be able to find a different way to win. Three-point shooting will go up and down. We have great shooters on our team.”