How disappointing the loss to Dallas represents a harsh reality for Miami

With Miami Heat is one of the leading teams in the leagueThe Dallas Mavericks shut down their high-powered offense, winning 118-108 on Wednesday night. Despite that The Heat is without star Norman Powellit was still a missed opportunity for the team, a phrase that would ring around the locker room after the loss.

Miami and Dallas had met once before Wednesday’s loss, which resulted in a 106-102 win, and while that ended on a positive note, it is two games tied for the team’s lowest score by a rushing team. Speaking of which, the loss also marked the Heat’s slowest pace of the season, recording 100 possessions in 48 minutes.

What led to a down night for Miami was the Mavericks clogging up all the passing lanes, which “stuck” space for the team to use its strengths in attack, as a head coach Erik Spoelstra he said. Overall, his team shot 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from three-point range.

“It’s not just us missing shots,” Spoelstra said, according to the Miami Herald. “In the first half, our spacing was a little congested. Against such a good defense, especially on the rim, they do a great job of protecting the rim.”

“If your spacing isn’t right, you’re going to run into each other,” Spoelstra continued. “It took us a while to match the spacing because we had good shots in the first half, but we ran into each other. Then it started to clear up a little bit, and then we missed some open looks. But Dallas is a very good defensive team, so you have to give them credit.”

Tyler Herro about what the Heat have to do when the shots aren’t falling

As it is The Heat was coming through destroying the Los Angeles Clippers last Monday, the team returned to reality in Dallas, as the opponents no doubt got a huge boost from not only the rookies Cooper Flaggbut a star Anthony Davis. The veteran big man had 17 points and 17 rebounds, while Flagg had 22 points, but their combined defensive effort wore down Miami, especially Tyler Arrow, who despite 20 points in the first half was held scoreless in the second half.

“We’ve got to get into transition a little bit more, get the ball out, play faster,” Hero said. “Dallas did a good job of keeping us off the three-point line, making things difficult. We were getting the looks we wanted. … We can still win games when the shots aren’t falling. It’s not all about offense. We’ve got to find ways to win when things aren’t going our way.”

As Herro mentioned, Miami won games when they played “out of the mud,” as some on the team say, making this loss a missed opportunity.

“I felt like it was a missed opportunity for us to be able to enjoy winning a game where we didn’t make shots,” Spoelstra said. “But through three quarters, there was more discouragement from our missed shots which affected our concentration level and our defensive resolve.

Either way, Miami falls to 14-8, and its next chance to bounce back comes Friday night against the Orlando Magic.