The Heat (20-18) fell 109-98 to the Los Angeles Clippers (21-17) after they deflated in the second half of the game and broke their streak of three consecutive victories on Monday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, in the penultimate six games of their West Coast tour.
In the first half, the Miami team had started full steam, but that pace could not keep it in the second part of the match. The Heat also sliced a 32-point performance and 11 rebounds from Tyler Herro.
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Interestingly, both teams entered the board on an equal footing they were in seventh place in their respective conferences (east and west) with a 20-17 mark each.
The Heat could close their tour with a winning record (so far it goes up 3-2) if they beat the Lakers on Wednesday (10 p.m. TV: SUN. Radio: WQAM 560, WAQI 710 AM in Spanish) at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
For the Clippers on Monday, it was an emotional commitment. They wanted to give their hobby a triumph as a relief to the immense tragedy experienced in that area with the fires. So far there are more than 24 dead, thousands of structures collapsed in an area of 37,000 acres, and 180,000 people with an evacuation order.
The Clippers’ game against Charlotte, scheduled for the previous Saturday, was postponed and it was feared that the match against the Heat would also be postponed, but in the end, it could be played.
On Monday night the best for the Heat were, in addition to Herro, Kelel Ware with 19 units and 13 rebounds, Terry Rozier III with 11, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. with 10.
The Clippers included Norman Powell with 29 points and James Harden with 26 and 11 assists. Ivica Zubac seconded them with 21 cartons and 20 rebounds.
The Heat ripped off packed. Kevin Love (3), Herro, Haywood Highsmith, and Nikola Jovic were close with the triples and kept the Clippers at bay.
Love, who barely played his second game since December, dictated a chair in each action and the visiting team was able to finish the first quarter with a 35-28 lead, having taken up to 13 points apart.
In the second quarter, Miami couldn’t take advantage of the Clippers’s shot failures to take a wide lead that would serve as a mattress for the end.
In the first half, the Los Angeles ensemble barely hit four of its 18 triple attempts, while the Heat had scored eight of 28 after the first quarter was more precise.
Herro stood out consistently, and in the absence of the suspended leader Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, who was injured, took the lead.
The young escort is the only Heat player to have been present in the 38 games his team has in this campaign.
Adebayo, who had also played in all matches, missed the first on Monday night due to the injury he suffered in the clash against Portland as a result of a fall.
However, the visitors were able to stay ahead and led the first half 48-43.
When the game resumed, the fight became very even. Those at home started pushing. They continued to fail in the shooting, but that was also due to the Heat’s close marking.
Sometimes they managed to break as when Harden hit a triple and approached the Clippers 59-56 in the middle of the third quarter.
Then with another three-point shot from Harden tied for 59 the Clippers then went up 62-59 with an unresponsive 11-point run.
At that point, a necessary basket of the Heat allowed to approach 62-61 and stopped the bleeding for an instant.
The Miami club’s effort didn’t last long. Nor did he help the fact that Harden was unstoppable, as before the end of the third period he scored a triple and a basket on the sound of the chicharra for the Clippers to go up 79-68, in their biggest advantage of the game.
That third quarter was devastating for the Heat because the game was decided there.
In the fourth and final term, the home team intelligently controlled the actions and kept the difference until the end.
Meanwhile, the Butler star served on Monday the penultimate of seven games of the suspension imposed on him by the Heat for conduct to the detriment of the team.
