The Miami Heat have hit rock bottom. There is only 1 way to fix it

The Miami Heat have hit rock bottom. Their 105-102 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night marked a new low in a season full of disappointments.

It was their fourth straight defeat and fifth loss in six games, dropping them further down the Eastern Conference standings.

This wasn’t just any old loss. The Heat blew a 17-point lead to the Hornets, a team that hadn’t won a single division game all season. Miami had chances to pull it out late, but Bam Adebayo’s airballed three-pointer and Tyler Herro’s missed game-tying attempt sealed their fate.

The Heat look lost. They’ve forgotten how to win. There’s a lack of continuity, a lack of understanding, maybe even a lack of faith in one another. The effort is there, but it wanes as games progress. This feels more psychological than anything else.

Remember when the Heat were challenging the Cavaliers just a week ago? That feels like ancient history now. Every game seems to present a new opportunity for Miami to underperform in increasingly spectacular fashion. They’re finding innovative ways to lose and new lows.

The Heat have hit rock bottom.

The joy is gone from this team. They look like a group of guys clocking in for a job they hate. There’s an emotional fatigue weighing on them, likely stemming from the Jimmy Butler drama earlier this season. That trauma has set in, and it’s unclear if they’ll be able to shake it off this year.

Coach Erik Spoelstra is trying to stay positive, preaching about sticking together and overcoming adversity. But at this point, it feels like empty words. The Heat are the NBA’s George Costanza – no matter what they do, it’s destined to end poorly.

So, what’s next for Miami? Embracing the tank? Can Kevin Durant or another star save them this summer? Whatever path they choose, one thing is clear – this team needs an emotional reset. They need to rediscover the joy of playing basketball together.

The Heat have lost their identity. Once known for outperforming expectations and overcoming adversity, they now expect to lose. It’s a stunning fall for a proud franchise. As they forge ahead, the only thing left to do is play out the string and hope for better days ahead. The 2024-25 season can’t end soon enough.

‘He’s got it’: An oral history of the NBA’s COVID-19 shutdown — and how it changed sports forever

NBA COMMISSIONER ADAM SILVER entered the Barclays Center in Brooklyn before the hometown Nets hosted the Detroit Pistons. It was Chinese Cultural Night. The Nets players wore warm-up shirts honoring the Lunar New Year, and the starting lineups were announced in Chinese. Traditional Lion Dancers were scattered throughout the arena. On the main concourse, fans could have their names written in custom Chinese calligraphy and enjoy nian gao desserts, also known as Chinese New Year rice cake.

Before the game, Silver stepped into the Diamond Lounge, a private room inside the arena, where a small reception recognizing local Chinese Americans, namely business leaders, was being held. The small space was crowded, with close to 50 attendees.

At the bar, Silver spotted a familiar face, Dr. David Ho, a renowned virologist who had consulted with the NBA in the early 1990s when Magic Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV. It was Ho’s second Nets game at Barclays Center, and he had been personally invited by Nets owner Joe Tsai.

Ho — a professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and the founding director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center — immediately recognized Silver. They greeted each other with pleasantries, but very quickly, with COVID-19 dominating the headlines, Silver broached a question.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Silver asked.

It was Jan. 29, 2020, a few weeks after first hearing about a virus spreading through China from colleagues in the league offices there, and six days after deciding to close those offices as a precaution.

Ho had first heard of the virus around Christmas 2019 from specialists in China with whom he had worked when he served as an adviser to the Chinese and Hong Kong governments during the SARS outbreak in 2002. During that time, Ho had traveled to China and Hong Kong.