Heat Notes: Play-In Tournament, Lowry, Zeller, Love

The Heat can’t afford a repeat of Tuesday’s performance when they face the Bulls on Friday with their season on the line, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami got off to a lethargic start and trailed by 24 points in the first half against the Hawks before staging a late rally that fell short.

That also means doing a better job on the backboards after the Heat got pushed around by Atlanta. The Hawks held a 22-6 advantage in offensive rebounds, which resulted in a 26-6 edge in second-chance points. Seventeen of those offensive boards came on three-point shots as Miami posted its sixth-worst statistical rebounding night of the season.

“It was at one point like a comedy of errors,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Deflections, missed balls through our hands. Even when we had block outs with two guys there, they ended up with the ball.”

There’s more from Miami:

• A bright spot for the Heat was the performance of Kyle Lowry, who has played well since returning last month from a bout with soreness in his left knee, notes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The 37-year-old point guard seemed to benefit from being sidelined for five weeks while he rested the knee. “We did a good job of kind of managing the minutes over the last month,” he said. “We understood what time of the year (it is). I wanted to be ready and going and firing.” Lowry came off the bench Tuesday to score 33 points, his highest total since joining the Heat, along with five assists and no turnovers.
• Miami’s top two late-season signings were both ineffective in limited playing time Tuesday, observes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Cody Zeller and Kevin Love combined for less than seven total minutes as their lack of athleticism made them a bad matchup for the Hawks.
• At age 34, Love isn’t thinking about the end of his NBA career, per Wes Goldberg of The Ringer. Love’s main reason for negotiating a buyout with Cleveland was that he wasn’t playing and he believed he could still contribute to a successful team. “I don’t know if I’ll make it to 20 (seasons), but I’ve always had my eyes on that,” said Love, who is in his 15th year.