Erik Spoelstra hints at Heat's 'fearful' nature amid losing skid

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MIAMI – The Heat’s playoff push looks grim as the team has now dropped five games straight after the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night, 119-104. While it wasn’t another Heat collapse where they led by double-digits, it was still a gutting defeat as they are now seven games under .500.

Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra gave his thoughts on how the five-game skid could reveal the team’s “competitive character” and reveals when the group is at their “best.”

“Yeah, then, you just have to reveal your competitive character. We all have to reveal it at some point,” Spoelstra said. “You can say ‘This is too much,’ or you can use these adversities to try to find something better from it, you always have a choice about your approach, your attitude, your mentality, your mindset, our collective will, that ‘I can get stronger from this.’ I’m not concerned about that in this locker room, we were just outplayed tonight. This is probably the first time we haven’t gotten up to a good start in a while, and the Clippers had a lot to say about that.”

“It just takes a win. You can’t overwhelm yourself with everything,” Spoelstra continued. “You know, the schedule, who we’re playing, all that stuff. We’re at our best when we don’t fear anyone. ”

Erik Spoelstra after the game, how to not let the five-game skid impact their mental, ends with this:

"It just takes a win. You can't overwhelm yourself with everything. The schedule, who we're playing, all that stuff. We're at our best when we don't fear anyone." #HeatNationpic.twitter.com/C6IFcAu0WD

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) March 13, 2025

Tyler Herro led the way with 31 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, while Andrew Wiggins had 22 points, five assists, and three rebounds.

Here are three takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Clippers:

Heat with some life in the second quarter after a sloppy first period

To add on to the Heat’s stress, they came out sluggish against a Los Angeles team as at one point, the visitors shot 71.4 percent from the field, making 10 of 14 shots from the field. Looking at Miami, they shot 38.9 percent from the field and only made two of eight shots from beyond the arc.

With under four minutes left in the period, only Herro and Mitchell had scored points as the rest of the offense couldn’t find anything easy. Clippers star James Harden would have 11 points in the first period while going to the free throw line for eight attempts.

Miami would pick up the pace and intensity in the second period, putting up 30 points with 12 coming off seven Los Angeles’ turnovers. After a goose egg in the first quarter, Wiggins would turn it up a notch with eight points on three of four shooting from the field, as looking at it from the team, the Heat shot a much improved 54.5 percent from the field and five of nine from deep.

A huge spark in the game would be Pelle Larsson who made an outstanding hustle play to fight for the ball, leading to a Rozier three which made the Kaseya Center the loudest it’s been all game up until that point. While Larsson’s presence was felt, the other rookie in Ware struggled as his inexperience showed against Ivica Zubac.

Ware wasn’t the whole reason, but Miami would be outscored 30-22 in the paint, an aspect that needs to be turned around.

PELLE WITH THE HUSTLE
TERRY WITH THE 3 pic.twitter.com/93b92bA07L

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 13, 2025

An uninspired final frame for the Heat

With the Heat looking to make up for the wild finishes lately, a win against the Clippers could go a long way, especially after the painful losses suffered after losing double-digit leads. Though the third quarter saw Miami make more strides offensively, scoring 32 points, Los Angeles would stifle a ton of attempted runs and put up 35 points.

Zubac and Bogdan Bogdanovich combined for 21 in the period as the team shot 54.2 percent from the field and five of eight from deep while the Heat made 56.5 percent from the field and four of eight from three-point range. Continuing from his productive second quarter, Wiggins came out guns blazing, putting up 11 in the frame along with Herro who scored 12.

The fourth quarter became uninspired with the Heat ending the period with 20 points while Los Angeles closed the game out with 27. What was working offensively in the second and third quarter wasn’t present at all in the final frame. Miami had a prime opportunity to collect some wins at home, especially in this home stand, but have lost every game thus far with one left to go on Friday against the Boston Celtics.

Andrew Wiggins possibly coming into form for the Heat

If there is one player that can help turn around the season, it would be Heat star Andrew Wiggins who looks to be more aggressive. A positive step in the right direction was put on display in Wednesday’s loss to the Clippers as the aggressiveness was there in the first period, but wouldn’t score.

However, from the second quarter on, Wiggins was impressive in getting downhill and providing some shot creation when desperately needed, scoring 22 points on shooting nine of 17 from the field, though he was two of seven from deep. This assertiveness from Wiggins was teased by Erik Spoelstra before the contest, saying that as the former Golden State Warrior gets more comfortable with the team, he’ll get to the desired result.

"He hasn’t had like a large sample size with us," Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints. "You know, he knows what we need from him, what we want from him. He wants to provide that as well. He’ll be just fine. Takes a little bit of time just to feel comfortable in your settings, understand what your role is and, you know, be that kind of assertive guy."

Asked Erik Spoelstra about Wiggins wanting to be more aggressive and if that'll come as he gets more comfortable.

"He hasn't had a large sample size with us. He knows what we need from him, what we want from him. He'll he just fine…" #HeatNationpic.twitter.com/llKYaj4AyK

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) March 12, 2025

After the trade sending Jimmy Butler to Golden State, Herro and Adebayo need a solid third option if they want to compete and Wiggins fits the bill as he’s been productive, even leading to an All-Star nod in 2022. The Heat’s captain in Adebayo said that Wiggins could reach All-Star level once he gets comfortable.

However, there is little time remaining in the season as after another loss for Miami, they have lost 12 of their last 16 and 29-36 which puts them ninth in the Eastern Conference as they finish the home stand Friday against the Celtics.

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