Spurs, Wembanyama too tall of an order for short-handed Heat in 107-101 loss

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Oct 30, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SAN ANTONIO – At some point, you just need more.

Because against quality, even when playing at pace, the absence of the scoring of Norman Powell and Tyler Herro becomes too much to overcome.

The long and the short of the Miami Heat’s 107-101 loss Thursday night to the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center was the Spurs had 7-foot-5 Victor Wembanyama in the middle and the short-handed Heat lacked too much on the perimeter.

Against the Charlotte Hornets, the wing deficiency could be overcome, as the Heat showed Tuesday night at Kaseya Center in winning in the absences of Powell and Herro.

But against a Spurs team now off to a franchise-record 5-0 start, the challenge was far more stout ... and lengthy, with Wembanyama closing with 27 points and a season-high 18 rebounds.

The Heat hung tough early, when big man Bam Adebayo scored the majority of his 31 points, but even with 24 points from Andrew Wiggins and 18 from Simone Fontecchio, they could not overcome an uneven night from their bench.

A two-day break now follows before a back-to-back set on Sunday and Monday against the Lakers and then Clippers, on a trip that concludes Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets.

Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:

— 1. Game flow: The Spurs led 33-31 after a first quarter that saw the Heat commit seven turnovers, with San Antonio then taking a 59-58 advantage into the intermission.

Wayward shooting and turnovers then began to take their toll, with the Heat down 87-72 at the end of the third quarter, the Spurs fueled by a 13-0 run to end the period.

From that 15-point deficit and 14-point third quarter, the Heat staged a 17-1 run to open the fourth quarter and move ahead 89-88 with 7:25 to play, forcing a Spurs timeout.

But consecutive 3-pointers, the second by Wembanyama, staked the Spurs to a 96-91 lead with 4:57 to play, the Heat playing from behind the rest of the way.

— 2. For real: Adebayo as a spacing big man?

That proved to be the case early, as he drew Wembanyama to the perimeter with a pair of early 3-point conversions.

The first of those 3-pointers extended his career-best streak of games with at least one to 17, dating to last season.

Adebayo then went at and around Wembanyama for his next two baskets, before pausing for his third 3-pointer of the night, up to 17 points at the intermission.

Adebayo’s final points of the first half came on a driving windmill dunk against Wembanyama.

Adebayo later tied his career high with a fourth 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

— 3. Fontecchio factor: Fontecchio basically had a 3-for-all going on in the first half, opening 3 for 3 on 3-pointers and 3 for 3 from the line for his first 12 points.

His points proved pivotal, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. not the bench boost he had been in the previous three games, limited to just two first-half points.

For all the Heat bench had accomplished through the season’s first four games, this wasn’t one of those nights in the scoring column.

— 4. Right at him: The Heat did not shy away from Wembanyama, throwing plenty of twists at the 7-5 big man, including even daring to switch 6-foot Davion Mitchell onto him at times.

Spoelstra said at the morning shootaround he didn’t necessarily work up Wemby Rules, with only two meetings against the Spurs a season, but ample forethought clearly went into the matchup.

“What he’s earned for sure right now is the great player rules,” Spoelstra said.

Wembanyama nonetheless closed the first half one rebound shy of a double-double, with 14 points and nine rebounds ... and kept going from there.

— 5. Limited choice: The Heat had to go small at the close almost by default, with it not a good night for Kel’el Ware or Nikola Jovic.

Ware went scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting, at a -20 in his 21 minutes, although he did have seven rebounds.

Jovic closed 0 for 5 from the field with just one rebound in his nine minutes.