Heat Beat: Nobody's perfect

MIAMI – I guess that 82-0 season won't happen for the Heat, huh?

Okay, so Miami was snapped back to reality a bit in an ugly second half last night against the Rockets.  Houston showed us why, while off to a good start, the Heat will have road bumps along the way in this season of change.

The Heat continued to show great ball movement and flexibility in playing a tight game against the undefeated Rockets.  That is, until the final seven minutes of the game.

Miami's inability to defend the three-point line was evident again. 

They simply couldn't get to the open man, and that's to be expected with so many new parts and injuries. 

The difference for the Heat on this night was the offense got stagnant down the stretch.  Shots weren't dropping, and the end result was a 17-point loss. 

Hey, those will happen, but now it's time to learn from it.

Erik Spoesltra is working with what he can with key components like Chris Anderson, Udonis Haslem and Danny Granger all out, and Josh McRoberts still limited to about 10 minutes a game.

That's no excuse.  It's just reality. 

And the reality is losses like Tuesday night will happen, but the Heat must take this game and learn. 

The defense must and, quite frankly, will get better.   It's something the coach will continue to stress.

Miami has a quick turnaround with a game in Charlotte on Wednesday night.  How they respond will tell us a lot more about this team than those awful final minutes against Houston.