Amid four-game skid, Heat looking to ‘figure it out’ and rediscover winning formula

Elite defense and the All-NBA version of Jimmy Butler has been at the center of the Miami Heat’s winning formula this season.

The Heat has allowed just 108.1 points per 100 possessions in wins, compared to 118.1 points allowed per 100 possessions in losses this season.

In wins this season, Butler has averaged 23.9 points, six rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 53 percent from the field, 49 percent from three-point range and generating 9.9 free-throw attempts per game.

In losses this season, Butler has averaged 19.3 points, five rebounds, 3.8 assists and one steal per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 36.8 percent on threes and generating 6.1 free-throw attempts per game.

In other words, standout defense and the best version of Butler might represent the Heat’s most accurate benchmarks for success.

The problem is both have been missing for most of the last week. As a result, the Heat fell to the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets, 100-88, on Wednesday night at Kaseya Center for its fourth straight loss with just one month left in the regular season.

“It’s not easy being on a four-game losing streak,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “Obviously, you want guys to keep that same intensity and I feel like we will have a breakthrough.”

The Heat hopes to find that breakthrough on the road, as it travels to Detroit to begin a four-game trip with back-to-back matchups against the Pistons on Friday (7 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) and Sunday. The Heat (35-30) sits in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and in play-in tournament territory with just one month left in the regular season.

While the Heat’s defense has allowed 113.8 points per 100 possessions during its four-game skid for a defensive rating that’s ranked 19th in the NBA during that stretch, defense wasn’t the main issue against the Nuggets on Wednesday. Miami actually limited Denver’s high-powered offense, which has averaged 114.8 points per game this season, to just 100 points.

But Butler was again quiet on Wednesday, closing the loss with a stat line of 15 point on 6-of-16 shooting from the field, five rebounds, two assists and zero steals in 36 minutes. He only attempted two free throws.

During this four-game skid, Butler has averaged just 18 points per game on 45.3 percent shooting from the field and 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) shooting on threes. He has also attempted just four three-throw attempts per game during this stretch, which is down from his season average of eight free-throw attempts per game.

With The Athletic’s Shams Charania reporting this week that the NBA’s Competition Committee recently met to discuss different ways to help defenses against the league-wide offensive explosion while also evaluating how to potentially allow more physicality, Spoelstra pointed to a change he’s noticed when asked about Butler’s recent dip in free-throw attempts.

“I think that’s an adjustment from the league,” Spoelstra said following Wednesday’s loss. “The staff has been talking about that. I didn’t receive a memo about it. But it’s clear that they’re calling it a little more like that. So hey, we have to make the adjustment and I think that’s a good adjustment. Go to score, not necessarily to draw fouls. Now Jimmy has a rugged game, so he’s not drawing fouls. He’s going to wherever the contact may be.

“From my vantage point, it looks like some of those are fouls. Certainly in the last three, four games, that those are typically fouls. But that’s not why we’re losing games.”

If this trend continues and more physicality is allowed for the rest of the season, Butler will need to make that adjustment on the fly.

“He’ll make the adjustment, whether he has to just go into shot-making mode,” Spoelstra said. “That might have to be the adjustment.”

There are also other concerning aspects behind the Heat’s four-game skid like second-half struggles, the play of Adebayo and season-long offensive issues.

Entering Thursday, the Heat has been outscored by an NBA-worst total of 41 points during the last four second halves. Miami has held a lead in each of those four second halves before allowing the opponent to go on a run and rally for the win.

“It’s the ability to sustain a high level of play,” Spoelstra said. “We showed that we can get to a high level of play. The competition will have something to say about that, we realize that. But the great teams can sustain it and also do it in the moments of truth.”

Adebayo added: “When they go on a run, how do we weather that storm. Instead of it being a 15-2 run, how do we make that eight, how do we make that six? That’s on us and this staff to figure that out.”

Adebayo turned in a quality effort in Wednesday’s loss to the Nuggets, but he’s still only averaging 13 points per game on 38.5 percent shooting from the field during this four-game skid. He’s also shooting just 11 of 22 (50 percent) from the foul line during that span.

Then there’s the Heat’s offense that’s 22nd out of 30 NBA teams in offensive rating this season, scoring 113.1 points per 100 possessions. Over the last four games, that number is down to just 106.9 points scored per 100 possessions.

“The sense of urgency is definitely at an all-time high. But also just staying composed,” Heat forward Caleb Martin said after the team’s fourth straight loss. “We got a lot of guys who have done a lot of winning in this locker room and on this staff. So they’ve been here before, they know how it goes and we follow their lead.”

The Heat needs to follow the lead of Butler and its defense to win games consistently. It’s a proven formula that has helped the Heat get to the NBA Finals in two of the last four seasons.

It’s a formula that also helped the Heat win 11 of 14 games just before this four-game losing streak. But it’s a formula that has since gone missing.

Injuries to two important Heat rotation players, Tyler Herro and Kevin Love, haven’t helped. Herro has missed nine straight games with a foot injury and Love has missed seven straight games with a heel injury.

“That’s just part of the game, you got to figure it out,” Martin said. “But I definitely want to figure it out now.”