Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 102-98 loss to the Houston Rockets (46-25) on Friday night at Kaseya Center to fall to 0-2 on its five-game homestand and drop its 10th straight game. The Heat (29-41) continues its stretch at home on Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets:

The Heat’s fourth-quarter struggles, losing skid and misery continues

The Heat has now lost 10 straight games for just the eighth time in the franchise’s 37 seasons. This 10-game skid is the Heat’s longest losing streak since dropping 11 consecutive games from Jan. 29, 2008 through Feb. 23, 2008.

The Heat and Rockets played a competitive first half that included 11 lead changes and seven ties. But after falling behind by one point with 3:09 left in the second quarter, the Heat closed the first half on a 12-3 run to take an eight-point lead into halftime.

The Heat even extended its lead up to 11 points early in the third quarter, but the Rockets closed the period on a 24-15 run to cut the deficit to two entering the fourth quarter.

Then the Heat’s concerning fourth-quarter struggles continued.

After Bam Adebayo made a jumper to push the Heat’s lead to four in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, the Rockets went on a 18-4 run to flip the script and pull ahead by 10 points with 6:35 to play.

The Heat, which has now lost nine of the 10 fourth quarters during its skid, lost Friday’s fourth quarter 24-18 on its way to the four-point loss.

The Heat has been outscored by 60 points in the fourth quarter during its 10-game losing streak.

The game was decided in the fourth quarter, but the Heat lost the game in the margins as the Rockets closed the win with a 23-8 edge in second-chance points and 24-15 edge in points off turnovers. Houston did that by outrebounding Miami 14-5 on the offensive glass and taking advantage of sloppy play from the Heat that led to 21 turnovers.

These advantages helped the Rockets overcome their dismal 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) shooting from the foul line.

After Friday’s defeat, the Heat has now blown a double-digit lead in an NBA-high 20 losses this season. The Heat has also now blown 18 fourth-quarter leads in losses this season, which is tied for the most such collapses in the league.

Fred VanVleet led the Rockets with a game-high 37 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field and 9-of-11 shooting on threes. He scored 25 points in the second half.

The Heat now stands 12 games below the .500 mark for the first time since Jan. 30, 2017 when it was 18-30 during the 2016-17 season.

Wiggins made his return and played well, but it didn’t matter.

Wiggins was back in the mix on Friday after missing the previous two games with a left lower leg contusion, finishing with a team-high 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting on threes and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line while playing in his usual starting role with the Heat.

Wiggins caught fire in the second quarter, totaling 20 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting on threes and 6-of-7 shooting from the foul line in the period.

But Wiggins scored just eight points on five field-goal attempts in the second half. Wiggins was also limited to 29 minutes, as the Heat managed his workload in his return from injury.

It marked the 12th game that Wiggins has played with the Heat since the Golden State Warriors dealt him to Miami in the Jimmy Butler trade on Feb. 6. But he has already missed eight games due to injury or illness since joining the Heat.

The Heat is just 2-10 in the games Wiggins has played in since the trade.

With Wiggins back, the only Heat players unavailable for Friday’s game were Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League).

The Rockets were without N’Faly Dante (G League), Jack McVeigh (G League), David Roddy (G League) and Reed Sheppard (right thumb fracture).

Wiggins was hot, but the Heat’s leading duo was relatively quiet.

After combining for 59 points in Wednesday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro combined for just 24 points in Friday’s defeat.

Adebayo finished with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting from three-point range and 2-of-3 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds and six assists in 37 minutes.

Herro ended the night with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field, 0-of-1 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, four assists and six turnovers in 39 minutes.

With Wiggins back, the Heat went with another new starting lineup.

The Heat opened Friday’s game with a starting group of Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Wiggins, Kel’el Ware and Adebayo. It’s the first time that this lineup has started a game, marking the 23rd different starting unit that the Heat has used this season.

In fact, this lineup has yet to play together before starting Friday’s contest.

But after starting against the Rockets and playing the first 6:59 of the first quarter, Jaquez didn’t re-enter the game in the first half.

That substitution pattern continued in the second half, as Jaquez played the first 7:39 of the third quarter before being subbed out and not re-entering for the rest of the contest.

Jaquez finished Friday’s loss with four points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field, two rebounds, two assists and two turnovers in 15 minutes. The Heat was outscored by eight points in his limited playing time.

The Heat continues to rotate through different starting groups because of injuries and poor play, using six different starting lineups in the last six games and 11 different starting lineups in the last 13 games.

The Heat used Davion Mitchell, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, Alec Burks and Kevin Love to complete its 10-man rotation against the Rockets.

Kyle Anderson, Pelle Larsson and Terry Rozier get into Friday’s game despite being available for the Heat.

While the Heat’s losing skid continued, another streak ended.

Friday’s result snapped the Heat’s nine-game winning streak over the Rockets.

It marked the Heat’s first loss to the Rockets since Nov. 27, 2019 in Houston. It also marked the Heat’s first home loss to the Rockets Feb. 7, 2018.

Meanwhile, the Rockets have already clinched their first winning season since the 2019-20 season. Houston has now won night straight games and is in second place in the Western Conference.

This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM.