With the Miami Heat in a massive slump as the team has lost seven of its last eight games, the coaching staff and the players are scrambling, looking for answers to turn this recent stretch around. After the Heat lost to the New York Knicks on Sunday night, 132-125, star Norman Powell spoke about what will be needed to return to the early success the team had.
How Miami has looked currently has been vastly different from how the squad was in their 14-7 start to the year, as the unit was once among the NBA's highest-scoring teams and emphasized a fast pace. While the team still has the league's fastest pace throughout the season, the Heat are 10th in that category and the 21st-ranked scoring team in December with 112.8 points per game.
Powell has been a huge highlight this season for Miami, averaging 24 points per game, which leads the team. As he said after the Knicks' loss, what they need to focus on is “keep the game working in our favor.”
“We got to extend the good things,” Powell said after scoring 22 points in the Knicks, according to video from HeatCulture on X, formerly Twitter. “It’s not even translating or doing something different. We have good stretches and runs, but like we got to learn and understand and see how we can extend those five, six, seven, eight, ten minutes into 24 minutes, into 36. We got to figure out how to continue to extend and keep the game working in our favor. I think that’s what coach means. He sees great things, but it only happens for a couple minutes throughout the course of games.”
Norman Powell says they need to be better on controlling the game when having a lead:
“We gotta figure out on how to continue to extend and keep the game working in our favor — I think that what coach means. He sees great things but only happens for a couple minutes…we need to… pic.twitter.com/xMb9Qyx24V
— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) December 22, 2025
Heat's Erik Spoelstra on the recent performances being “not enough”
While it was another disappointing outing for the Heat in the loss to New York, there was an improvement in how the offense played, scoring 125 points, but there were still a ton of opportunities left on the table. Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra would even speak about how the team's performance recently has been “not enough.”
“We’re not happy about the result,” Spoelstra said. “We’re not trying to just play well and lose at the end, we’re developing a competitive, collective will. Our guys care in the locker room, but it’s got to be another level. It’s not enough. It’s got to be more. This league is a savage league. It’s survival of the competitive toughest, and that’s where we’re going to get.”
This is the most annoyed I’ve seen Spo look during these bad stretch of games:
“We not talking about moral victories…we are developing a collective competitive will in these painful games…we’re not happy about the result…our guys care in the locker room but it’s gotta be… pic.twitter.com/wnQNenvqGX
— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) December 22, 2025
There were many times in the loss to the Knicks that Miami could've left their extended mark, but it wouldn't last the entire game.
“We need to figure out how to extend those into longer stretches. And that’s when we can start, when we have the lead, we can continue to build the lead,” Powell continued. “Obviously, teams are really good, and they’re going to go on their runs. But if we continue to work the game and find the shots and those moments, those swing moments, those skirmishes that [Spoelstra] likes to call, and we’re able to win those throughout the course of the games, then we’ll be able to start winning these games.”
The Heat are now 15-14, as the team tries to get back in the win column on Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors at home.
