4th Quarter Follies: Miami Heat’s Late-Game Struggles Threaten to Derail Season
The Miami Heat’s inability to close was once again their downfall Friday night in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics.
Heat center Bam Adebayo attributed the loss to the late shot selection.
“I feel like we’re getting the shots we want, they just not going in,” Adebayo said. “When you get good looks, you just gotta live with that. At the end of the day, it just is what it is. We just gotta figure out what we can do while we’re missing to also get stops.”
When asked about the fourth-quarter struggles, star guard Tyler Herro simply replied, “We just can’t score.” The Heat only scored 14 points on 25 percent shooting Friday night.
Game time: 8 p.m., FedExForum, Memphis, TN
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
Betting line: Heat +7.5, FanDuel
VITALS: The Heat and Celtics meet for the first of two regular season matchups. Both teams have split the season series (1-1) in the past three regular seasons. The Grizzlies won the last matchup 105-96, in Miami. The Heat previously faced the Grizzlies in the preseason, where the Heat won 114-109.
They are 30-25 all-time versus the Grizzlies during the regular season, including 17-11 in home games and 13-14 in road games. The Heat are coming off a loss to the defending champion Boston Celtics Friday.
PROJECTED HEAT STARTERS
G Tyler Herro
G Duncan Robinson
C Bam Adebayo
F Andrew Wiggins
F Jaime Jaquez Jr.