The Miami Heat had a disappointing start to a five-game road trip, and coach Erik Spoelstra is extremely worried about the second game of the trek.
That’s because the Heat had all kinds of difficulties earlier this season against Sacramento. Miami gets a chance to avenge that setback when it visits the Kings on Tuesday night on the second end of a back-to-back.
Sacramento led by as many as 28 points on Dec. 6 when it produced a 127-111 win in Miami for its third straight victory in the series.
Zach LaVine established season highs of 42 points and eight 3-pointers for the Kings.
Now the Heat are catching the Kings on a seven-game homestand in which Sacramento has started 4-1.
Making matters worse is that Sacramento was off Monday while the Heat lost 135-112 to the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.
“This is a disappointing loss but we don’t have time to dwell on it,” Spoelstra said after the game. “As much as we’d like to go over all the different things we could have done better, we have to go to (Sacramento) and get ready for a battle.
“The last time we played them, they commanded the entire game. It was on their terms. We were on our heels. LaVine had a monster game. We have to bring a much better effort than we did (against Golden State).”
Miami was outscored 65-46 in the second half by the Warriors. Overall, the Heat shot just 39.4% and were 13 of 45 from 3-point range while also committing 19 turnovers.
“You have to credit their defense,” Spoelstra said. “For sure, it was active. … Our decision-making was not great and they made us pay for that. It wasn’t just the turnovers but some of it was shot selection too.”
Norman Powell scored 21 points and Andrew Wiggins added 18 for Miami, which has lost six of its past nine games.
Wiggins could feel the difference in the team’s first-half play and the second.
“We didn’t have our energy,” Wiggins said of the final 24 minutes. “You could tell they wanted to win more.”
The Kings had a four-game winning streak snapped Sunday when they fell 117-110 to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Malik Monk made five 3-pointers and scored 23 points off the bench. He was disappointed that the Trail Blazers played harder than the Kings.
“Our energy level didn’t match theirs,” Monk said. “They were on a back-to-back, so we should have played harder than them. That’s where we went wrong.”
Star big man Domantas Sabonis had just eight points to go with eight rebounds in his second contest since missing 27 in a row due to a knee injury. He played 20 minutes.
Sacramento coach Doug Christie went with a two-big lineup for most of Sabonis’ time on the court. Rookies Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell were the players sharing the floor with the three-time All-Star.
“The one thing you do on both ends of the court is rebound, and I like to rebound,” Christie said. “I like to rebound with two hands. I like to be physical, and also the ability to protect the paint. The ability to, and we’re still working on that, but the ability for the pick-and-roll to happen, and a big is rolling to a big. There’s gravity in that.”
LaVine had 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting against Portland. Veteran Russell Westbrook scored 23 points and added seven assists.
