From the depths of defeat in Houston, Heat have to rise to the tall order of Wemby, Spurs
MIAMI — At arguably one of the team’s lowest points of the season, up next for the Miami Heat is the tallest order on the home schedule. Staggered by Amen Thompson’s last-second winning follow-up basket in Saturday night’s 123-122 road loss to the Houston Rockets , up next for Erik Spoelstra’s team is the challenge of versatile 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama on Monday night at Kaseya Center. As in the MVP candidate who closed with 27 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots when the Heat lost 107-101 Oct.
30 at Frost Bank Center. For now, the Heat’s focus largely is inward, amid a four-game losing streak that has dropped them from No. 6 in the Eastern Conference (and above the play-in bracket) to No.
9 (and to the depths of the play-in bracket, which would require two wins without a loss simply to advance to the first round). That has Spoelstra again doing his best to turn a negative into something positive. “This is,” Spoelstra said, “when you say you have to develop some grit, you have to go through it, you have to go through it when there are consequences and when you feel these kind of emotions and when you feel like every possession does matter.
“And part of the grit is you have to go through some pain. So we’re going through a little bit of pain right now, and that’s going to steel us. It’s going to make us better.
” The pain actually is quite real, with Norman Powell (calf), Andrew Wiggins (toe) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (hip) all missing Saturday night’s game . So a loss to the 43-27 Rockets, with the ante upped against the 53-18 Spurs, a team that has won 20 of its last 22, now with the league’s second-best record.