The Miami Heat were up by 11 over Charlotte with 6:47 left on Monday. They led by 11 over Chicago going into the fourth quarter Saturday. They led 10 over New York midway through the fourth quarter on March 2.
All at home, too.
And all ended up as losses.
College basketball has March Madness. The Heat have March sadness. Blown leads are becoming commonplace for the Heat, who lost 105-102 to the Hornets on Monday night — yet another costly collapse. And now it’s a team simply searching for answers.
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“We went through too much this season to let go of the rope now,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said.
The Heat — who are 9-18 in their past 27 games, a stretch that started with Jimmy Butler III being oft-suspended before eventually traded to Golden State for Andrew Wiggins — have lost a league-high 11 times this season when leading after three quarters, already the third most in any season in franchise history.
And they’ve lost nine games after leading by at least 15 points, three of those coming in a nine-day span that ended Monday.
“In terms of our spirit, we’ll be fine,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We just have to forge ahead. You have to forge. Sometimes you get tested. Sometimes you get tested in a way that you don’t want to be tested in this league. And you can fold the tent, or you just keep on forging and forging and forging. And that’s what our group is going to do.”
The Heat are the first team to lose seven games after holding double-digit fourth-quarter leads since Memphis did it in 2018-19.
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“We’ve just got to find a way to get ourselves out of this hole,” guard Tyler Herro said. “This isn’t fun for anybody. It’s a tough time right now. But we’re staying with it. We’ll figure this out.”
This isn’t just a recent trend for Miami. Fourth quarters have been trouble all season. The Heat had a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter at Orlando on Dec. 21 and lost by seven — being outscored 37-8 in the final 12 minutes.
And there was another nine-day span of down-the-stretch disasters in February. The Heat were outscored 39-21 in the fourth quarter of a nine-point loss to Chicago on Feb. 4, 31-9 in a 16-point loss at Brooklyn on Feb. 7 and 32-8 in the fourth quarter of a loss at Oklahoma City on Feb. 12.
“We’ve got a very tough-minded group and that’s what we need right now,” Spoelstra said. “Even some veterans in the locker room, or a veteran coach like myself, you just realize how tough it is to win in this league. It really is. On any given night, it is a challenge. We just have to stay together and figure this out.”
This run of losses in March has even put playoff plans in serious peril. The Heat — who are ninth in the Eastern Conference — will almost certainly have to get through the play-in tournament just to have a chance at getting to the first round of the postseason, where NBA-leading Cleveland or reigning champion Boston probably will be waiting.
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“We just have to stay together and use this an opportunity, a growth opportunity to overcome something that sucks,” Spoelstra said. “We’re going to figure this out.”
The curtain is coming down on Hard Rock Cafe’s Bayside Marketplace location after more than three decades on the downtown waterfront.
The rock ’n’ roll themed restaurant will close its doors August 19 after its lease with the city came to an end and will not be renewed, the Hard Rock confirmed in an email to The Real Deal. A spokesperson for the Hard Rock did not immediately respond to why the lease was not renewed or disclose the square footage and seating capacity.
A spokesperson for the City of Miami-owned Bayside Marketplace said the space will be redeveloped for another concept. The next tenant was not disclosed.
New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation holds the ground lease for Bayside Marketplace. A representative for Ashkenazy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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In 2020, Ashkenazy filed an eviction lawsuit against the Hard Rock Cafe alleging over $300,000 in unpaid rent amid the pandemic. The case was dismissed with prejudice in 2022, court records show.
At the time, the lease required the restaurant to pay $500,000 in base rent annually plus a percentage of its sales, according to court records.
More than 100 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the closure, according to a WARN notice filed by the Hard Rock Cafe. The stand alone waterfront building includes a main dining room, mezzanine, patio areas and event spaces.
Founded in 1971, Hard Rock Cafe opened its Miami location in 1993. The restaurant is part of Hard Rock International, which has been owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida since its 2007 acquisition of the company and operates cafes, hotels, casinos and live entertainment venues worldwide, plus naming rights for the Miami Dolphins’ home stadium.
Bayside Marketplace was one of the hardest hit retail centers in South Florida during the pandemic. The Hooters there closed in 2021 and was taken over by sports bar Black Market Miami, the Miami Herald previously reported. Other retailers and restaurants that have closed include Sun & Sea Brazilian Bikinis, Bavaria Haus and Express, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2024.
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The waterfront retail and restaurant hub is heavily reliant on tourists. Margaritaville opened there in 2024, and popular fast-casual Mexican chain Coyo Taco opened this month. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Chili’s, Foot Locker and Victoria’s Secret are longtime tenants.
Downtown Miami’s retail market is showing signs of softening, according to Colliers. Retailers in the downtown submarket shed 44,430 square feet of space, and vacancy reached 6.3 percent. Developers remain bullish on the downtown core, with nearly 64,000 square feet of retail space under construction and asking rents averaging $52.50 per square foot.
The Miami Worldcenter has been a major recent driver of much of that retail development and leasing.
Total inventory square footage for the downtown area is more than 3.4 million square feet.
Read more
Bayside Marketplace sues to evict Bubba Gump, Hard Rock Cafe and three other tenants
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Take a look at the new Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami
SkyRise Miami developer settles lawsuit with theme park company over $1M refund
Bayside Marketplace is planning another high-rise entertainment venue with a view
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A man is facing new charges connected to the fatal shooting of a teenager in 2019.
Warren Pollock, 25, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Rodney Hinds Jr.
According to police, surveillance video captured Pollock shooting into a car parked at the Shell gas station on the corner of Northwest 183rd Street and Eighth Avenue back on Saturday, October 26 of 2019 just before 1 a.m.
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Authorities said new evidence led detectives to Pollock, who was already in custody for an unrelated murder case.
He remains behind bars at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail on no bond.
🏠 News From Your Neighborhood
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David Dwork
David Dwork joined the WPLG Local 10 News team in August 2019. Born and raised in Miami-Dade County, David has covered South Florida sports since 2007.
It was the blockbuster deal of the NBA offseason: After years of will-he/won’t-he, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been traded to Miami.
It also feels like the first domino of what will be some other big moves — including possibly a Jaylen Brown bidding war and trade. At NBC, we’ve explained the Antetokounmpo trade, named its winners and losers, and broken down how it will impact fantasy teams. Still, the fallout from this trade just keeps coming. Here are some other notes and analysis surrounding Antetokounmpo’s move to Miami.
Jaylen Brown bidding war?
Boston tried to say, “We weren’t shopping Brown, it was only because this was Giannis Antetokounmpo.” Except a few years back, they said the same thing when Brown was rumored to be part of a trade offer for Kevin Durant. From Brown’s perspective, you don’t want to be the person in the relationship where your partner is always looking around for an upgrade.
Other teams are expecting Boston to make Brown available, and there could be a bidding war, something articulated well by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the network’s “Get Up.”
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“What I expect to happenis a bidding war for Jaylen Brown. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality, that it wouldn’t be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes and that there would be a Jaylen Brown market. And now we’re going to watch that. I think it’ll take time to play out.”
If Brown becomes available, look for Houston and Atlanta to be at the front of the line for him, with a number of other teams — Portland has said it’s interested — in the mix. The challenge will be matching his salary, which is $57.1 million next season and totals about $183 million over the next three years. Brown is coming off his best season as a pro, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.
Boston kept young players out
Why did Milwaukee ultimately choose the Miami offer over Boston? In part because, while Brown would have been the best individual player the Bucks could have gotten in return, they wanted more — specifically a young player like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez, and Boston would not put them in the offer, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
Boston’s final offer was Brown and two unprotected first-round picks. Milwaukee preferred Miami’s offer… or at least one key person did.
Bucks co-owner Haslam pushed for Miami trade
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam also owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns — a team that dealt with a trade demand from future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett. Then came the Antetokounmpo saga with the Bucks.
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That led Haslam to push for the “certainty” of the Miami offer because he didn’t want to see Brown come to Milwaukee and force his way out in a couple of years, something Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports reported right after the trade went down.
Report: Haslam a ‘driving force’ in Giannis trade
Mike Florio looks at Jimmy Haslam’s reported role in the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and analyzes Haslam’s involvement as owner of the Cleveland Browns.
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That was a concern of others in the Milwaukee front office, reports Sam Amick and Eric Nehm at The Athletic, who add there had been signs in recent weeks that Brown didn’t really want to land in Milwaukee.
Herro happy
Brown may not have wanted to go to Milwaukee, but Tyler Herro — who is a Milwaukee native — is excited to go home in the trade, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Sources: Tyler Herro is thrilled about a fresh start and playing for his hometown team the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro always envisioned returning home at some point during his NBA career.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 23, 2026
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Except Herro may not be staying in Milwaukee—there are multiple reports that the Bucks are listening to offers to trade him again. At the front of that line may be Detroit, which is looking for shooting and secondary ball-handling to pair with Cade Cunningham, and Herro fits that bill.
Is Anthony Edwards next?
Once one superstar is traded, the insatiable NBA trade rumor machine starts looking for the next star who might be on the move.
Is it about to be Anthony Edwards’ turn in the spotlight? ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said on the latest Hoop Collective Podcast, “The NBA vultures are swirling around Ant in anticipation of him potentially becoming the next superstar who’s available in the trade market.” Multiple reports in recent years have said Edwards has been frustrated with the team building in Minnesota, dating back to when it traded away Karl-Anthony Towns to save money.
This is not happening fast. Minnesota has no intention of trading Edwards right now, and he still has three fully guaranteed years at $156.9 million left on this contract. There is no pressure to move him, and Edwards would deny he is even thinking about leaving.
That said, teams file these kinds of things away and just wait.
