MIAMI — This is what victory in the Giannis Antetokounmpo era should look like:
— A triple-double by the Miami Heat’s leading man.
— Defense played with great purpose.
— Enough 3-pointers to counter the opposition’s count.
And, still, not enough, with another loss that adds further doubt about the Heat’s Antetokounmpo-Bam Adebayo collaboration.
So make it 0-4 for Erik Spoelstra’s team, this time with a 113-109 loss Monday night to the Dallas Mavericks at Kaseya Center.
“It’s disappointing, for sure,” Spoelstra said. “This is not the start anybody wanted, but it’s happened. So we have to address what’s in front of us, and we need to continue to get more consistent with our game.”
Antetokounmpo did his part in trying to hold it together, with 29 points, a season-high 15 rebounds and 11 assists.
But even with Davion Mitchell adding 21 points, it wasn’t enough on a night Adebayo closed with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The Mavericks were led by Cooper Flagg’s 29 points and 11 assists, with Kyrie Irving adding 18 points.
“I can see and feel how much our guys want to play well,” Spoelstra said, “and it’s not happening. So we have to just manage that and show the fortitude just to continue to grind until we get a breakthrough.”
Five degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:
1. Game flow: The Heat led 27-23 after the first period. From there, the Heat moved ahead by 12 in the second period, their first double-digit lead of the season, only to see the Mavericks take a 53-52 lead into halftime.
The Heat then pushed back to a 10-point lead in the third, only to exit the period up 84-83.
As in Saturday night’s loss in Charlotte, N.C., it was then tied midway through the fourth quarter. Also in Saturday night’s loss, a late dagger upped the challenge, this time a Flagg 3-point play that put the Mavericks up 104-97 with 4:52 to play.
“I think we just let go of the rope,” Mitchell said. “I think we had them on their own.And we just kept letting them get easy looks.”
An Adebayo dunk, only his second basket of the night, drew the Heat within 106-103, before Flagg later countered with a 3-pointer for a 111-105 Dallas lead.
“That was probably our best stretch there right before they went to the zone,” Spoelstra said, “and they went to try to mitigate our driving game, and they had some success with it.”
Later, Adebayo’s third basket, on a tip-in, drew the Heat within 111-109.
Eventually, Dallas regained possession up two with 31 seconds to play after an errant Andrew Wiggins 3-point attempt.
Flagg then scored on a driving layup with 10 seconds to play, effectively ending it.
“Collectively, we’ll get together and continue to forge ahead,” Spoelstra said. “That’s all you can do right now. Nobody cares about what’s going on with our scores. The league isn’t going to bail us out. So it’s up to us to change it.”
2. Giannis’ night: Antetokounmpo ended the first half within two assists of his triple-double, with 12 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists at that stage.
He then completed the triple-double with an assist on a Mitchell 3-pointer with 8:19 to play in the third quarter.
Antetokounmpo became the 15th player in the Heat’s 39 seasons to record a triple-double, now with as many for the Heat as Goran Dragić, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Lamar Odom, Shaquille O’Neal, Billy Owens, Steve Smith and Rory Sparrow.
The Heat’s all-time leaders are Jimmy Butler (13), LeBron James (nine), Bam Adebayo (eight), Dwyane Wade (five), Hassan Whiteside (four) and Kyle Lowry (three).
The Heat’s most recent triple-double had been when Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists last January at Sacramento.
It was Antetokounmpo’ s first triple-double in more than a year, since April 11, 2025.
3. Rotation alteration: While Spoelstra remained with the same starting lineup for a fourth consecutive game, there was an adjustment to the rotation.
The first five remained Antetokounmpo, Adebayo, Mitchell, Wiggins and Klay Thompson.
But then after Bobby Portis Jr. and Pelle Larsson entered together first off the bench, Dru Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. followed together.
That had Smith, who had appeared in only one game for six minutes and did not play Saturday in Charlotte, playing ahead of Nikola Jovic.
As for Adebayo’s ongoing struggles, Spoelstra said, “I know his makeup and his resiliency. We’ll work together to find a way to get him aggressive and his spots where he’s good.”
4. 3-3-3-3: After the Heat shot 2 of 7 on 3-pointers in the opening period, they finally found their range at the start of the second, converting, in order, a Portis 3-pointer, a Portis 3-pointer, a Portis 3-pointer and a Smith 3-pointer, forcing Mavericks coach Dusty May to call timeout, with the 39-30 lead the Heat’s largest to that point of the season.
All four of those 3-pointers were assisted by Antetokounmpo, who hit one of his own in the first period.
5. Speaking of: Portis also played to his enforcer reputation later in the second period, after Antetokounmpo was taken down on his power move in the paint by Mavericks center Daniel Gafford.
Hardaway initially tried to separate the two, with Portis then walking in from the 3-point line and offering a two-hand shove to Gafford’s chest.
Video review ensued, with Gafford assessed a Flagrant 1 foul and Gafford and Portis assessed offsetting technical fouls.
It turned into a 3-point possession, with Antetokounmpo making one of his two free throws, the Heat retaining possession, and Wiggins scoring on a driving floater.
Later, a driving Antetokounmpo in the third quarter caught Gafford with a painful knee to the groin on a play Gafford was called for the foul, with Antetokounmpo turning it into a 3-point play.
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