Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo recently cited two issues that have plagued the team.
“We have defensive lapses, lack of communication and it’s been happening game after game,” Adebayo said.
After falling to the New York Knicks — who are riding a six-game winning streak, the longest active streak of any team in the Eastern Conference — the Heat have now lost their last six games. Miami has allowed its opponents to score 105 points or more in every game during the team’s losing streak.
Notably, the Heat allowed the Boston Celtics to score 143 points on Jan. 25. Boston shot 63.7 percent from the field and 55.0 percent from deep as a team in a game the team won by 33 points.
Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics from a scoring standpoint, as in 32 minutes of action, the 25-year-old ended up with a team-high 26 points on 15 shots from the field.
More recently, the Knicks dropped 125 points on the Heat on Saturday. New York guard Jalen Brunson scored 32 points to go along with five rebounds and eight assists while shooting 12-of-22 from the floor and 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
The Heat currently own the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference at 24-22 and are two games back of the Indiana Pacers for the No. 6 seed in the conference.
Miami’s next chance to rectify its defensive woes of late and snap its losing streak will come when the Heat take on the Phoenix Suns at home on Jan. 29. The Suns have arguably been playing as well as any team in the league over the past few weeks. They were just recently on a seven-game winning streak, but their streak was snapped when they lost to Pascal Siakam and the Pacers on Friday.
Phoenix also has three of the NBA’s better offensive players on its roster in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
The Heat’s upcoming game against the Suns projects to be a great test for the team. A win against a very talented Suns team could go a long way toward helping Miami get back on track.
