Takeaways from Heat’s fourth straight loss, and why Adebayo believes a breakthrough is near

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 109-82 loss to the Denver Nuggets (11-7) on Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena, which extended the Heat’s (6-11) losing skid to four games:

Shorthanded Heat drops 4th straight, falls 5 games below .500 with ugly loss to Nuggets

Guard Avery Bradley made his return after a two-week absence, but the Heat still had to play with a very shorthanded roster against the Nuggets.

Bradley, who missed the previous eight games because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols after he tested positive for COVID-19, finished with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes in 18 minutes off the bench in his first game action since the Heat’s Jan. 9 road win over the Washington Wizards.

However, Miami took on Denver without key players like Jimmy Butler (health and safety protocols), Tyler Herro (neck spasms) and Goran Dragic (left groin strain).

Dragic’s groin strain surfaced for the first time on Tuesday’s injury report after scoring 21 points in 33 minutes in Monday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

“Our world is minute to minute, hour to hour and day to day. That’s where Goran is right now, as well,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Dragic’s injury.

Herro was ruled out for Wednesday’s contest just an hour before tip-off. His injury isn’t new, as he has now missed seven straight games because of the neck issue.

But Butler is moving closer to a return after clearing the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols on Monday, according to a league source, and has since been allowed to resume basketball activity. Butler, in casual clothes, watched Wednesday’s game from the Heat’s bench alongside teammates for the first time since he went out more than two weeks ago.

Butler, who missed his ninth consecutive game Wednesday, was a few days behind Bradley when it came to clearing protocols. That led to Bradley returning a few days ahead of Butler for Wednesday’s matchup against the Nuggets.

The timetable for Butler’s return to game action will depend on his conditioning after a few weeks away from the court. The Heat completes the back-to-back set with the second game of its six-game homestand on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Along with missing Butler, Herro and Dragic, Miami was without Moe Harkless (left thigh contusion), Meyers Leonard (left shoulder strain) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain) on Wednesday.

The Heat had 11 available players against the Nuggets: Precious Achiuwa, Bam Adebayo, Bradley, Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala, Kendrick Nunn, KZ Okpala, Kelly Olynyk, Duncan Robinson, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent.

“Look, the spirit of our group is great,” Spoelstra said. “That’s why I said it after the last game (Monday’s loss to the Nets), I love the way this group just keeps on coming back and not making excuses for anything. It was great to see the guys, everybody. Even though everybody wasn’t available, it’s just good to see our whole group together. Nobody feels good when we play like this, but the good thing about the NBA and the good thing about our schedule is we get to come back tomorrow night to get after it again.”

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As expected, the Heat’s offense really struggled without Butler, Dragic and Herro.

Things were really bad early, as Miami opened the game with 15 misses in its first 19 shot attempts. That includes an 0-of-13 start from three-point range.

The Heat finished the first quarter with just 12 points on 5-of-22 shooting (22.7 percent) from the field and 1-of-16 shooting (6.2 percent) on threes. It marked Miami’s lowest scoring quarter of the season.

By halftime, the Heat had just 33 points on 30.8 percent shooting from the field and 5-of-26 shooting (19.2 percent) from three-point range. It marked Miami’s second-lowest scoring half of the season.

The Heat’s offense was efficient in one quarter, though, scoring 32 points while shooting 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) from the field and 6 of 10 on threes in the third quarter. Nunn scored 10 of his 17 points in the period.

The Heat won the third quarter 32-16 to trim a 25-point halftime deficit to nine entering the fourth.

But Miami could not carry that efficiency into the final period, when it scored just 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting.

The Heat ended the loss with 82 points on 37.5 percent shooting from the field and 13-of-45 shooting on threes.

Without three of its primary ball handlers and attackers in Butler, Dragic and Herro, the Heat struggled to create clean looks and generate offense in the paint against a statistically below average Nuggets defense that entered with the NBA’s eighth-worst defensive rating.

Miami scored just 28 paint points in the loss. Denver shot just 14 of 43 on threes, but finished with 50 paint points to make up for its shooting struggles from outside.

The result: The Heat posted its second-worst single-game offensive rating of the season, scoring at a pace of 85.4 points per 100 possessions on Wednesday. The Heat has recorded three of its four worst single-game offensive ratings of the season in the last week.

“It’s unfortunate that we have guys out, but I still feel like we can make strides every single game,” Bradley said. “Tonight was not Heat basketball at all.”

The Heat has scored fewer than 90 points in two consecutive games and three of its past four games. Getting Butler, Dragic and/or Herro back would certainly help fix some of Miami’s offensive issues.

“None of us are ever going to give up. That’s not the culture,” Adebayo said. “We don’t give up. [Haslem] and them had a season where they won 15 games [in 2007-08]. We just have to keep fighting, man. We’re going to break through this barrier soon. We’re under a storm. The sun has to come out sometime. I’m positive. I’m always going to spread positive vibes. Our team is getting back, so I feel like that’s going to be better for us getting all the guys back together.”

How did Adebayo look after his big weekend in Brooklyn?

The Heat’s All-Star center was relatively quiet, compared to his recent performances, with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting, seven rebounds and six assists on Wednesday. He committed three turnovers against a Nuggets defense that sent extra defenders at him often.

“I’ve never had different coverages thrown at me,” Adebayo said. “This was my first time. I’d expect that after the performances I’ve had. I just have to do a better job as quarterback with the ball in my hand. Realizing what they’re doing so I can adjust and my teammates can adjust. We’ll figure this out.”

Adebayo averaged 33.5 points on 61.5 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and seven assists in the previous two games, both coming against the Nets at Barclays Center.

With so many rotation players out, Spoelstra was forced to use some lineups and combinations he had never used before Wednesday.

Miami opened the game with its 12th different starting lineup in its 17th game of the season: Nunn, Robinson, Okpala, Olynyk and Adebayo. That five-man group had not played together this season before starting Wednesday’s game.

The lineup’s first minutes together did not go great, as the Nuggets opened with a 22-9 lead before the Heat made its first substitution of the game. But it went better to begin the second half, as this five-man group outscored the Nuggets 19-7 in the first eight minutes of the third quarter.

In the second quarter, Spoelstra played Adebayo and Achiuwa for their first real minutes together. According to NBA tracking stats, Adebayo and Achiuwa had played together for a total of one minute over eight games before Wednesday.

The Heat outscored the Nuggets 14-13 during the six-minute stretch in the second quarter that Adebayo and Achiuwa shared the court.

The Heat played Wednesday without three of its most important players in Butler, Dragic and Herro, and it has fielded a thin roster for most of the season. But on Thursday, Miami’s opponent will also be shorthanded.

The Clippers have ruled out its superstar duo of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard for Thursday’s game against the Heat because of the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Guard Patrick Beverley (right knee soreness) will also miss the contest.

With Leonard and George out, TNT dropped Thursday’s game between the Clippers and Heat and replaced it with a matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.

Fox Sports Sun picked up Thursday’s Heat-Clippers game, which will now start at 8 p.m. instead of its previously scheduled time of 7 p.m.