MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Monday night’s 115-111 loss to the Utah Jazz:
– The upshot of the past week, be it the lack of selling off contacts at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline or Erik Spoelstra’s daily pregame words of hope, has been about living in the moment.
– Playing for the moment.
– The focus on the W.
– Doesn’t matter if you disagree, because that is who they are.
– But if they are that, then why not a commensurate personnel approach?
– Namely a personnel approach that maximizes those chances of victory?
– With this one a fitting example of that argument.
– Just 1:35 into the second half, Kel’e Ware was on the bench with his fourth foul.
– So Nikola Jovic entered in his place, in the midst of another miserable outing.
– There basically wasn’t another option in the power rotation to enter alongside Bam Adebayo.
– Even though there has been an open roster spot the entire season.
– Even though there has been space below the luxury tax to make such a move since last month.
– Even though the Heat are days away from having enough space under the tax to add two players.
– Yes, the focus was books in order for the trading deadline.
– Now, a pathway to depth in cases such as Monday night.
– When one power player is on the bench and another likely should be.
– From there, Ware’s fifth foul just 17 seconds into the fourth quarter.
– And then done for the night with his fifth foul with 10:55 to play.
– In the big picture, no real difference in the race to another play-in.
– But if you are going to say that every game matters.
– If you are going to commit to living in each game moment.
– If the W trumps all.
– Then why not maximize those opportunities?
– So Ware sat with foul trouble.
– Jovic struggled.
– And no Plan D for Erik Spoelstra.
– What a strange night, indeed.
– The Heat doesn’t have much left in the way of room for error.
– But they did have room at the inn.
– And instead choose a vacancy.
– All adding up to a loss.
– With Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson and still Tyler Herro out, the Heat opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Ware, Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Simone Fontecchio.
– It was Ware’s first start since Jan. 6
– And the Heat’s 19th starting lineup of the season.
– The Jazz opened with a lineup of Jusuf Nurkić, Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Isaiah Collier and Ace Bailey.
– With their big lineup, the Heat moved to zone even before the first timeout.
– And played plenty throughout.
– Kasparas Jakucionis and Jaime Jaquez Jr. entered together off the Heat bench.
– Nikola Jovic and Dru Smith then followed together.
– With Myron Gardner making it 10 deep, with the rare full five-man reserve unit.
– The game completed the 13th of the Heat’s league-high 17 back-to-back sets this season.
– Spoelstra offered little clarity pregame when it came to Herro’s ongoing absence with his rib issue.
– “I don’t have a timeline,” Spoelstra said, “but I can tell you he is making progress and he’s doing what he needs to do behind the scenes. And we’ll just continue to treat him.”
– Of the dual-big lineups with Adebayo and Ware, Spoelstra said it is an ongoing process to find something with stability.
– “Just something that we have to continue to work on,” he said. “It wasn’t productive for us, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get to it. And I think they’re both in a different place right now for different reasons.”
– He added, “And then moving forward, we’ll just have to see. We’re trying to develop some lineups that work. We want some consistency there. And we want to maximize the rotation as much as possible.”
– Asked pregame of the Jazz’s acquisition last week of Jackson from the Grizzlies, Spoelstra said, “This is what you have to really respect about this league. There’s a bunch of different ways to try to attempt to win. And so they’re going with a massive-sized front line. And, you respect that. He’s a heck of a talent.”
– He added, “I think that’s a rock-solid move.”