Heat loses to Hawks on Haslem’s jersey-retirement night. Details and takeaways

Takeaways from the Heat’s 109-108 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night at Kaseya Center, ruining a night that the organization celebrated the retirement of Udonis Haslem’s jersey:

▪ For the third time this week, the Heat fell behind by double digits in the first half and played a choppy game offensively. And for the second time, it doomed them.

Dejounte Murray won it for the Hawks on a 27-foot transition three with two seconds left.

“It’s just shocking,” Erik Spoelstra said.

It was Miami’s second consecutive defeat against a sub .500 team -- following Wednesday’s lopsided loss in Toronto -- and this was particularly troubling because Atlanta (18-23) played without leading scorer Trae Young, who was ill.

“I’m sick we lost this game just because [Haslem] embodies winning,” Adebayo said. “He’s one of those people, truth be told, during the date when they told him when it was, he called me right away and was like: ‘Hey, man, the only thing that’s going to make me happy is if we get the win.’”

Seemingly positioned to take control of the game, the Heat instead stumbled through an insufferable offensive drought late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, a 7:45 stretch when it mustered only two points.

Then, after a Josh Richardson three and free throw put the Heat ahead five halfway through the fourth, the Heat soon lost the lead on a Bogdan Bogdanovic three and then went cold again.

An 8-0 Hawks run and two Saddiq Bey free throws pushed the Hawks’ lead to four with less than three minutes left.

But Jimmy Butler then unleashed a personal 5-0 run, with a dunk and a short jump and free throw to leave Miami up 103-102 with 1:54 left.

Bogdanovic fumbled an easy pass out of bounds, and a Adebayo jumper put the Heat ahead three with a minute left before two free throws by Clint Capela.

Herro hit a three very late in the shot clock to push Miami’s lead to 108-104 with 35 seconds left. And it looked like Miami would survive.

Not so fast.

Bogdanovic hit two free throws with 30 seconds left. And when Herro missed a difficult 13-footer with 8.2 seconds left, Murray got the long rebound, took several dribbles and hit the game-winning three in transition.

“He hit an extremely tough shot,” Spoelstra said. “Caleb [Martin] picked him up at midcourt and tried to level him off. I could have called a time out” before Herro’s miss. “There were four or five seconds left on the clock to get organized. That might look a little bit different if there are four less seconds. [Murray’s shot] might get rushed a little more.”

After a timeout with two seconds left, Miami couldn’t even get a shot off before time expired. Jimmy Butler got the in-bounds pass in the corner and passed to Martin, who couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.

“It’s one of those plays I thought there would be an advantage in that quarter and it didn’t play out that way,” Spoelstra said. “I wanted to see if he could get some space and get it over the top. It was a poor play call. I’m disappointed in my call on that. I had something else in mind.”

Butler said “I probably should have shot it, though, to be brutally honest. I guess I could have. I felt like I saw him take a step my way to come double, so I passed the ball to Caleb. I think I put him in a terrible position because I should be the one to take and make that shot.”

Herro finished the night with 25 points on 10 for 19 shooting.

Butler scored 25, hitting 8 for 10 shots from the field and 9 for 10 from the line.

And Adebayo had 21 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

But it wasn’t enough.

It was only the 11th game that Butler, Adebayo and Herro played together in 42 games this season.

Perhaps inspired by Haslem’s stirring halftime jersey retirement ceremony, the Heat played a forceful and spirited first few minutes of the third quarter, opening with an 11-2 run before going cold offensively.

Herro scored 10 points and Adebayo 8 in that third quarter before Miami went scoreless over the final 4:30 of the third quarter, then scored only two points in the first 3:15.

The Heat was coming off its ugliest loss of the season, a 121-97 drubbing in Toronto, a game in which Miami trailed by 35 at the half.

And Wednesday’s bad loss was followed by another one. The Heat missed the offensive efficiency of Jaime Jaquez Jr., who missed the game with a groin injury.

▪ The Heat moved point guard Kyle Lowry to the bench and used its 23rd different starting lineup in 42 games.

Martin started alongside Butler, Adebayo, Nikola Jovic and Herro, with ball-handling duties shared among several of them.

That group was outscored 15-13 to open the game and then outscored Atlanta by seven to start the third quarter.

Lowry, who started his first 35 appearances this season, played off the bench for the first time since last year’s NBA Finals.

“Spo wanted to see something different, wanted to have me come off the bench,” Spoelstra said. “Hopefully it was a one game thing for me and I can get back in the starting lineup and continue to do what I’ve done this year.”

Lowry had two points (1 for 4 shooting) and four assists in 24 minutes off the bench.

Spoelstra insisted there was no disciplinary issue with Lowry. “Having Kyle anchor that second unit when Jaime is out is important,” Spoelstra said.

▪ Thanks to Duncan Robinson and Herro, the Heat’s nightmarish three-point shooting week took a positive turn.

Miami shot 1 for 28 on threes in the first half this week against Brooklyn and Toronto and then opened 2 for 10 on threes against Atlanta.

Robinson then snapped the Heat out of its funk with four first half threes.

The Heat finished 38.7 percent on threes (12 for 31) after shooting 25.8 percent on threes in Monday’s win against Brooklyn (8 for 31) and then 21.4 percent on threes in Wednesday’s loss in Toronto (6 for 28).

▪ Murray, who has linked to the Heat in trade rumors, explained his Heat-centric Instagram post, then hit the game-winner.

On Instagram on Friday, Murray raised eyebrows by posting a photo of the Heat’s retired jerseys hanging from the Kaseya Center rafters.

Why did he do that?

“It’s respect for legends that have played this game the right way before,” Murray told The Miami Herald at his locker before Friday’s game. “That’s all it is.”

If the Hawks trade him, would the Heat appeal to him as a destination?

“I have no comment,” he said.

And that was that.

Murray is averaging 21.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game and shooting 47 percent from the field.

ESPN reported that Murray likely will be dealt before the Feb. 8 trade deadline. According to The Ringer, the Hawks want at least two first-round picks in return, and no team has been willing to do that.

Murray has another four years and $114 million remaining on his contract after this season, and it remains to be seen if Miami would be willing to take on that kind of money in a trade deadline deal.

Murray finished with 22 points, including the game winner, and 11 assists.

▪ The Heat’s long home run of home dominance against Southeastern Division teams ended.

Miami (24-18) entered having won 22 consecutive home games against Southeast Division opponents, the NBA’s longest ongoing streak and the longest in franchise history.

Miami ended up 12 wins away from matching Toronto’s record of 34 straight home divisional wins, set from 2015 through 2019.

The Heat had been the NBA’s only team that’s undefeated overall inside its own division this season. Miami is now 10-1 in those games.