After coming off one of the best wins of the season that featured a new starting lineup Heat fans were begging to see, the Miami Heat were quickly sent back to reality. With Tyler Herro missing his first game due to a groin injury, Miami could not sustain their hot start and ultimately ended up losing in embarrassing fashion to the Portland Trail Blazers 116-107 Tuesday night at Kaseya Center.Terry Rozier’s nightmare season continues
As we cross the half point of the season, it’s fair to say that Terry Rozier has been a major disappointment. Rozier’s inconsistencies have hurt the Heat’s offense, and his defense is not strong enough to justify keeping him on the court when shots aren’t falling.In this instance, I really wanted to see Rozier put together another strong performance and build off his performance on Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs where he scored 20 points and shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range. With Jimmy Butler not playing at his best due to being unhappy along with Herro being out, the stage was set perfectly for Rozier to have a green light and be aggressive.
Unfortunately, Rozier could not buy a basket, resulting in an abysmal nine-point performance on 4-for-13 shooting with one 3-pointer made on six attempts. And with the Heat falling down by more than 20 points, Erik Spoelstra decided to yank most of the starters from the game, including Rozier, who only logged 22 minutes.
With first round picks becoming super valuable when it comes to executing trades, it’s a tough pill to swallow knowing that Miami gave up a first-round pick for Rozier knowing how the season has been going so far.
But at the time, given how Rozier was playing with the Charlotte Hornets and the price to get key contributors with players such as Jae Crowder going for five second rounds picks two seasons ago, it would have been reasonable during that moment to say Rozier would have costed at least one first-round pick.
There is still plenty of basketball left, and Heat Nation wants to see Rozier turn back into the player that earned him the nickname “Scary Terry.” But at the same time, Rozier needs produce on the court to show he can still be an offensive threat, and performances like this make a lot of people lose faith in Rozier regaining form.
