Until they do.
This epic Heat collapse means something. You could see it on the face of Erik Spoelstra, who did his best to maintain the calm façade of a coach but couldn’t help but let some of that frustration and aggravation and confusion peek through as he spoke following Thursday’s loss.
You could see it and hear it in Chris Bosh, who looked defeated and sounded defiant.
What it actually means is yet to be determined. But there are very few games, wins or losses, that resonate like this.
Losing a 24-point, second-half lead to the Orlando Magic one game after losing a 15-point lead to the Knicks and three games after losing an 11-point lead to the Bulls — that more than stings. It burns. Bad.
It’s the type of loss that’s as much inexplicable as it is potentially damaging. It’s the type of loss that could also jolt a team in the right direction, if only because pride kicks in like it never has before.
But for one night — Thursday night — this loss doesn’t look or feel or sound like anything positive can come out of it.
Not after the Heat looked dominant for about 30 minutes of basketball only to look completely incapable for the next 18.
Not after watching LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, two players who had been tabbed as among the best “closers” the NBA has to offer, score only two points in the fourth quarter — both on Wade free throws in the final minute — while the game was slipping away for the entire period.
Not after the Magic dropped 16 threes on the Heat, while the Heat could respond with just three. Not after the Heat had a pair of open three-pointers that could’ve sent the game to overtime, including a wide-open attempt from James, but failed to come close with either one.
As it was happening, and immediately after it happened, it felt like this disaster can only signal bad things for a Heat team that was built for impossibly great things.
Take Bosh’s comments after it happened. He normally says all the right things, doesn’t cause a stir. If you were to seek the pulse of the Heat team at any time, Bosh probably wouldn’t be the first person you went to.
Until Thursday.
Thursday, his words said plenty about how this team is feeling after continuing a disturbing pattern. One that you didn’t think could get any worse than Sunday’s tank job against the Knicks.
“We’ve blown a lot of 20-point leads,” he said.
That statement alone is disturbing, because it’s funny just to hear but might be the most severely humorless statement he’s made all year.
“We just have to do it,” Bosh said. “Sometimes you get caught up in talking too much.”
Now, that last sentence probably had absolutely nothing to do with James tweeting Wednesday about how he’s “re-FOCUSED” for the stretch run. But when you lose a game like this, and emotions are so raw, it’s a thought that could cross the minds of anyone listening.
What’s worse is when the explanation for the collapse doesn’t exist.
Yes, the Magic nailed a ridiculous amount of threes, but how does that explain the Heat’s failure to score? Yes, the Magic paid much more attention to James and Wade, but what does it say about the Heat that no one else produced – again. Bosh was 5 of 15 shooting. Mario Chalmers, who might as well have just asked to be benched in favor of Mike Bibby, missed nine of 11. The entire bench scored 11 points, and that’s including three from Bibby, who actually played well considering the impossible circumstances he was thrown into.
“I don’t know what our breakdown was,” Bosh said. “But they just kept getting open shot after open shot.”
He didn’t know the problem, but he knows the solution. And it again sounds like it could be directed at his pair of superstar teammates. Again, it probably wasn’t directed at anyone in particular. But losses like this creates lines that might not even be there, and people tend to read between those imaginary lines.
“We have to keep being the aggressors instead of trying to change our mentality,” Bosh said.
James and Wade scored 47 impressive points in taking an 18-point first half lead. They scored 10 in the second half.
Does their mentality change with a big lead? Maybe. Maybe not. But losses like this will make even those two question that.
“We’re playing hard,” Wade said. “We don’t come out and take a 24-point lead if we’re not.”
Spoelstra stuck to the script, despite the obvious frustration in his face and the beads of sweat still on his face.
“This will eventually help us,” he said.
But it doesn’t feel anything like that. Not now. Not after this season-long process results in something like that.
“We’re going through these growing pains, and it sucks,” Wade said. “Of our 18 losses, I think 13, 14 of them we’ve had leads.
“It’s mind-boggling.”
This game meant something. Something awful? Yes. Something positive? Possibly, eventually, yes.
But it doesn’t get much more painful than this. So it might be a while before that wears off entirely and we get the actual answer to that last question.
This epic Heat collapse means something. You could see it on the face of Erik Spoelstra, who did his best to maintain the calm façade of a coach but couldn’t help but let some of that frustration and aggravation and confusion peek through as he spoke following Thursday’s loss.
You could see it and hear it in Chris Bosh, who looked defeated and sounded defiant.
What it actually means is yet to be determined. But there are very few games, wins or losses, that resonate like this.
It’s the type of loss that’s as much inexplicable as it is potentially damaging. It’s the type of loss that could also jolt a team in the right direction, if only because pride kicks in like it never has before.
But for one night — Thursday night — this loss doesn’t look or feel or sound like anything positive can come out of it.
Not after the Heat looked dominant for about 30 minutes of basketball only to look completely incapable for the next 18.
Not after watching LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, two players who had been tabbed as among the best “closers” the NBA has to offer, score only two points in the fourth quarter — both on Wade free throws in the final minute — while the game was slipping away for the entire period.
Not after the Magic dropped 16 threes on the Heat, while the Heat could respond with just three. Not after the Heat had a pair of open three-pointers that could’ve sent the game to overtime, including a wide-open attempt from James, but failed to come close with either one.
As it was happening, and immediately after it happened, it felt like this disaster can only signal bad things for a Heat team that was built for impossibly great things.
Take Bosh’s comments after it happened. He normally says all the right things, doesn’t cause a stir. If you were to seek the pulse of the Heat team at any time, Bosh probably wouldn’t be the first person you went to.
Until Thursday.
Thursday, his words said plenty about how this team is feeling after continuing a disturbing pattern. One that you didn’t think could get any worse than Sunday’s tank job against the Knicks.
“We’ve blown a lot of 20-point leads,” he said.
That statement alone is disturbing, because it’s funny just to hear but might be the most severely humorless statement he’s made all year.
“We just have to do it,” Bosh said. “Sometimes you get caught up in talking too much.”
Now, that last sentence probably had absolutely nothing to do with James tweeting Wednesday about how he’s “re-FOCUSED” for the stretch run. But when you lose a game like this, and emotions are so raw, it’s a thought that could cross the minds of anyone listening.
What’s worse is when the explanation for the collapse doesn’t exist.
Yes, the Magic nailed a ridiculous amount of threes, but how does that explain the Heat’s failure to score? Yes, the Magic paid much more attention to James and Wade, but what does it say about the Heat that no one else produced – again. Bosh was 5 of 15 shooting. Mario Chalmers, who might as well have just asked to be benched in favor of Mike Bibby, missed nine of 11. The entire bench scored 11 points, and that’s including three from Bibby, who actually played well considering the impossible circumstances he was thrown into.
“I don’t know what our breakdown was,” Bosh said. “But they just kept getting open shot after open shot.”
He didn’t know the problem, but he knows the solution. And it again sounds like it could be directed at his pair of superstar teammates. Again, it probably wasn’t directed at anyone in particular. But losses like this creates lines that might not even be there, and people tend to read between those imaginary lines.
“We have to keep being the aggressors instead of trying to change our mentality,” Bosh said.
James and Wade scored 47 impressive points in taking an 18-point first half lead. They scored 10 in the second half.
Does their mentality change with a big lead? Maybe. Maybe not. But losses like this will make even those two question that.
“We’re playing hard,” Wade said. “We don’t come out and take a 24-point lead if we’re not.”
Spoelstra stuck to the script, despite the obvious frustration in his face and the beads of sweat still on his face.
“This will eventually help us,” he said.
But it doesn’t feel anything like that. Not now. Not after this season-long process results in something like that.
“We’re going through these growing pains, and it sucks,” Wade said. “Of our 18 losses, I think 13, 14 of them we’ve had leads.
“It’s mind-boggling.”
This game meant something. Something awful? Yes. Something positive? Possibly, eventually, yes.
But it doesn’t get much more painful than this. So it might be a while before that wears off entirely and we get the actual answer to that last question.
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