MIAMI – As the Miami Heat lost in a heartbreaker to the New York Knicks in overtime, 116-112, it was once again another game where the team led by double-digits and blew it. Though the Heat were short-handed without Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Andrew Wiggins, the team led for a majority of the game until the Knicks came roaring back, which garnered the attention of Bam Adebayo.

Miami's captain had an impressive game, finishing with 30 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. The team led by as many as 19 points and played well in every aspect compared to their opponents, but New York would explode with their offensive talent as Adebayo gave the demand to his group.

“I would say we played 24 minutes of great basketball, and then it kind of dwindles from there,” Adebayo said. “We got to be able to play 48 minutes of great basketball, not just 24, 36, not even just 40. Because we're not a type of team where we can just rely on offense to just get the dub. We've got to get stops; we've got to do the harder things because we're not that type of team.”

One of the frustrating aspects for fans was their performance in the paint as at halftime, Miami outscored New York 40-20, but ended up losing the battle 58-56. Adebayo said to ClutchPoints “that was the deciding factor of the game.”

“We just didn’t get in the paint enough, and obviously, that was the deciding factor in the game. It was right there again,” Adebayo said.

Heat's Bam Adebayo on what ‘stings' about loss to Knicks

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) drives to the basket against New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby (8) during overtime at Kaseya Center.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Heat's fatal flaw had been blowing double-digit leads, where, after the loss to the Knicks, that makes 15 total, which is second in the league behind the Utah Jazz. While the loss was undoubtedly frustrating, Miami has a game Monday night as Adebayo spoke about the balance of having short-term memory but also learning from their mistakes.

“Got a game tomorrow night,” Adebayo said. “That's about as short-term memory as possible you can get to, you know. It just stings when his is like our 10th game being up double digits and losing. So for us, it's when are we going to hold the fort to have a 10-point lead go to 20 and win by 20.”

Miami ended up shooting 53.6 percent from the field and 31.4 percent from three-point range as they had an immense amount of opportunities down the stretch to close out another quality win.

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The team's lone All-Star, Tyler Herro, finished with 22 points on 8-for-24 shooting from the field, 2 of 11 from deep, with seven assists as he mentioned after the game how the Knicks “made more plays down the stretch” than the Heat.

“Think they just made more plays down the stretch than us,” Herro said. “It was a back-and-forth game, two competitive teams going at it.”

Erik Spoelstra not focusing on Heat blowing double-digit leads

While the two games prior gave the Heat a lot of faith in themselves, the team now is back to reality as they look to write their wrongs and redeem themselves as a home-heavy remainder of the schedule remains.

The narrative of Miami blowing double-digit leads is prominent, but Spoelstra, after the game, more focuses on the deficiencies towards the end where they had a four-point lead with around a minute left in regulation.

“I don't care about that. You can't expect to blow teams out,” Spoelstra said. “You know, there were a couple swing moments in the fourth quarter where we could have extended the lead. It didn't happen. That's NBA basketball. At the end of the day, we're up four with a minute and change,” Spoelstra said. “But that's probably where my mind is the most.

“All the other plays, that's part of the game. You know, they're a good team. You know, they made runs. We made a run back, and I thought we handled it well enough to get that four-point lead. We just were not able to finish it off.”

At any rate, the team is now 28-31, which puts them seventh in the Eastern Conference as the Heat take on the Washington Wizards on Monday in the second game of the back-to-back.