The Heat held on for the first quarter to make it competitive but the Nuggets never stopped making shots and took advantage of the Heat's lethargy to make it a blowout. After losing LeBron to a sprained ankle, dealing with the altitude, losing an hour because of time zones and not getting to bed until 4:00 AM, this game was going to be a challenge no matter what. Unfortunately, the Heat could not overcome all those factors and lost for the second time in a row since November 24th.
About the only positives that can be taken away was the increased playing time of Mike Miller (4 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) and Eddie House (15 points, most in garbage time, though he played only 17 minutes).
With Dwyane Wade scoring only 16 points and not his dominant self without LeBron, the Heat quickly fell behind by a large margin and had no answers for Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith, who consistently hit open jumpers and got to the basket unimpeded. The lone bright spot was Chris Bosh with a team leading 24 points and 6 rebounds but even he led the team in +/- with -26 points while on the floor.
The Heat have not won in Denver since January 29th, 2002. According to Sun Sports, NBA teams are only 1-35 when playing a back-to-back in Denver after playing in the West Coast the day before.
The bench scoring continues to worry, as is Zydrunas Ilgauskas' shooting touch which has abandoned him recently.
Is it time to panic? Hardly. The emotional loss against the LA Clippers and dealing with so many negatives against Denver is one thing, but their first highly anticipated matchup against the Chicago Bulls will be a dogfight and the Heat will have to come out with a completely different mindset to challenge them at home.
With the halfway mark of the season under their belt, the Heat's record of 30-11 tied the 1996-97 team, who also keep their record of 14 victories on the road with the loss to the Clippers.
