MIAMI — In the charcuterie of a Miami Heat season that has included plenty of spoiled cheese and rancid meats, Erik Spoelstra’s team might have taken unappetizing to a new level Wednesday night.
Desperate for a solid start of a six-game homestand, and gifted with the injury absence of Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, the Heat offered one of their least-palatable efforts of the season, a 119-96 loss at Miami-Dade Arena that made it five defeats in their last six games.
Offering both sluggish offense and impotent defense, the Heat allowed the 76ers to bounce back from their two-point home loss Monday night to the Heat.
With the loss, the Heat moved closer to a postseason play-in reality, possibly even as a road team, as the New York Knicks, Friday’s opponent at Miami-Dade Arena, continued to distance themselves in the Eastern Conference.
While the Heat got 20 points and eight rebounds from center Bam Adebayo and 16 points from Jimmy Butler, they ultimately were no match for the 76ers’ perimeter play of Tyrese Maxey and James Harden.
Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday’s game:
1. Closing time: The Heat led 38-34 at the end of the opening period but then trailed 71-53 at halftime. After closing within 11 in the third period, the Heat went into the fourth down 96-77.
From there, it got worse, with Spoelstra down to his final two timeouts after calling time with his team down 25 with 10:08 to play, and then burning another of those timeouts with the Heat down 106-83 with 7:27 to play.
2. Bad news: Everything that is and has been bad about the Heat’s offense manifested in the second quarter, when the Heat shot 5 of 19 from the field and 1 of 8 on 3-pointers.
Lacking true point guard play in the absence of Kyle Lowry, the Heat had three assists and five turnovers in the quarter, with Butler without even a shot in his 7:28 in the quarter.
It again was another struggle for fill-in starting point guard Gabe Vincent, who closed 2 of 11 from the field and 0 for 7 on 3-pointers.
3. Threes again: When the Heat opened 4 of 8 on 3-pointers, there was a sense of picking up where they left off with Monday night’s 15 of 37 3-point shooting in Philadelphia.
Instead, from that 4-of-8 start, the Heat then missed their next 13 attempts from beyond the arc.
Going in, Spoelstra said, “For the most part this year, we’ve gotten good, clean looks from three. . . . I like a lot of the shots we’ve gotten. We just have to continue to build more consistency to our attacks.”
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The Heat closed 7 of 28 from beyond the arc, compared to the 76ers’ 15 of 39.
4. Herro’s struggles: It might not be the same as baseball sluggers throwing off their swing during Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby, but Heat guard Tyler Herro remains off since exiting in the first round of the 3-point contest during All-Star Weekend.
In his four appearances since the All-Star break, Herro has shot 5 of 15, 10 of 23, 3 of 13 and then Wednesday night’s 4 of 15.
5. No Embiid: Embiid was ruled out less than an hour before the game, due to a sore left foot.
Wednesday’s game opened a back-to-back set for the 76ers that concludes Thursday night in Dallas.
That had the 76ers opening with former Heat forward P.J. Tucker at center, in a small-ball opening unit. Tucker closed with five points and three rebounds in 19 minutes.
Embiid had gone for 27 points and 12 rebounds in Monday’s matchup against the Heat.
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