Coming into this season, the Heat were seen as a team that came within a Jimmy Butler 3-pointer of a return to the Finals a season ago and could get back to that level if things broke their way.
Things have not broken their way.
The Heat have lost four straight and, at 32-29, have fallen into the play-in zone. Jimmy Butler is frustrated, as he said postgame Saturday, via Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald:
“I’m tired of losing,” forward Jimmy Butler said…
“I don’t think anybody in here wants to lose,” Butler said as he stood in front of his locker following Saturday’s loss in Charlotte. “We’ve got to figure this out very, very quickly.”
There are a few things that go into the Heat’s struggles on the season: Butler missing 15 games is part of that (although the team medical staff is driving part of that), Kyle Lowry‘s decline, the lack of secondary playmaking, and the lack of depth at the four (Kevin Love was bought out by the Cavaliers and is starting already for the Heat). Because of all this, the Heat have a bottom-five offense in the NBA this season (using NBA.com’s numbers).
However, the biggest issue of late is simply poor shooting, as Chiang points out.
During its current four-game skid, Miami has shot 40 of 139 (28.8 percent) from beyond the arc. That includes an alarming 15 of 59 (25.4 percent) shooting on wide open threes (when the closest defender is six or more feet away), according to NBA tracking stats.
Guys who typically make shots are not during this four-game stretch: Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson and Kevin Love are all shooting below 30% from the arc during this stretch (and Caleb Martin is at 30.8%). Simply making shots will help.
If Miami doesn’t find its groove on offense over the next month, they are going to be a lot more than a missed 3-pointer away from a return to the Finals.
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Jimmy Butler: ‘I’m tired of losing… We’ve got to figure this out’ originally appeared on NBCSports.com
