Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat lays up a shot against Donovan Clingan #23 of the Portland Trail Blazers during the first half at Moda Center on January 22, 2026 in Portland.
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Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 127-110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers (23-22) on Thursday night at Moda Center to drop to 1-2 on its five-game West Coast trip. The Heat (23-22) continues the trip on Saturday against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center:
The Heat simply couldn’t match the Trail Blazers’ three-point shooting, falling to 9-15 in its last 24 games after a strong 14-7 start to the season.
Three-point shooting is far from a strength for the Trail Blazers, which entered Thursday shooting an NBA-worst 33.8 percent from three-point range this season.
But the Trail Blazers got hot from behind the arc on Thursday, shooting 20 of 50 (40 percent) from three-point range to outscore the Heat 60-27 from deep. Miami shot just 9 of 45 (20 percent) on threes.
The Trail Blazers led for most of the first half, pulling ahead by as many as 10 points before entering halftime with a 64-63 advantage over the Heat.
Portland was able to build that narrow halftime lead behind a 33-15 advantage from three-point range. The Trail Blazers shot an efficient 11 of 27 (40.7 percent) from behind the arc and the Heat shot just 5 of 24 (20.8 percent) on threes in the first half.
Te three-point deficit proved to be too much to overcome, as the Trail Blazers kept making threes and the Heat kept missing them in a lopsided third quarter.
After the Heat took a two-point lead just 51 seconds into the second half, the Trail Blazers responded with a big 23-4 run to break open the game and pull ahead by 17 points less than five minutes later.
The Trail Blazers built its lead up to 21 points in the third quarter before the Heat closed the period on a 12-2 run to enter the fourth quarter in an 11-point hole.
By the end of the third quarter, the Trail Blazers had already outscored the Heat 51-18 from three-point range.
The Heat pulled within seven points with 7:21 left in the fourth quarter, but that’s the closest it would get.
The Trail Blazers went on to turn a one-point halftime lead into a 17-point victory behind a 24-point second half from guard Shaedon Sharpe. Portland outscored Miami 63-47 in the second half.
Sharpe, who scored just three points in the first half, totaled a team-high 27 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 shooting on threes to go with seven rebounds and three assists for the Trail Blazers.
Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija was also on his way to a big night with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 18 minutes on Thursday before leaving the contest early in the third quarter with a back injury and never returning.
The Heat was led by captain and center Bam Adebayo, who finished with a game-high 32 points on 13-of-24 shooting from the field, 1-of-7 shooting on threes and 5-of-5 shooting from the foul line, 10 rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block.
The problem is no other Heat player reached the 20-point mark on Thursday.
The Heat took advantage of one of the Trail Blazers’ biggest weaknesses, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the three-point deficit.
The Trail Blazers entered Thursday averaging a league-high 16.8 turnovers per game and allowing opponents to score a league-high 21 points per game off those turnovers this season.
Those turnover issues made an appearance on Thursday, as the Heat outscored the Trail Blazers 30-20 in points off turnovers. Portland committed 20 turnovers.
But the Heat still lost by double digits.
The Heat fell to 5-1 this season when scoring 30 or more points off its opponent turnovers.
The Heat’s season-long injury issues remain an issue.
The Heat was again without a chunk of its rotation on Thursday, missing two starters in guards Davion Mitchell (left shoulder contusion) and Tyler Herro (right costochondral injury to the ribs), and one of its top reserves in center Kel’el Ware (right hamstring strain).
Mitchell missed the contest with a lingering lefy shoulder injury he initially suffered while trying to run through a screen during the Heat’s Jan. 13 win over the Phoenix Suns. He went on to miss the next two games with the left sholder issue before re-aggravating the injury during Tuesday’s win over the Sacramento Kings.
So, Thursday marked the third game Mitchell has missed because of the shoulder contusion.
“He’s built like a tank,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Mitchell before Thursday’s contest. “That was kind of just a different, unfortunate collision. But he’s responding. He’s not able to go tonight, but we’ll continue to treat him.”
Meanwhile, Ware returned to Miami on Thursday for further treatment on his strained hamstring and will miss the rest of the Heat’s West Coast trip that has two games remaining on Saturday against the Jazz and Sunday against the Suns.
“To do more work around the clock at the arena, instead of trying to cram it in on the plane,” Spoelstra said of the team’s decision to send Ware back to Miami. “But we’re optimistic about it.”
Ware played in Monday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors to begin the trip, but has now been sidelined for two straight games and will ultimately end up missing four straight games by the end of the trip. Ware, 21, played in each of the Heat’s first 43 games of the season before this hamstring injury.
“I don’t think it’ll be a long-term thing, but I don’t have a specific timeline on it,” Spoelstra continued on Ware. “We’ll just wait until we get back to Miami. He and [Heat senior director of rehabilitation] Jeff Ruiz have already started the process. We had a good day today. They’ll work the next few days, and we expect there to be some progress.”
Herro sat out his fourth straight game because of a rib injury. He did not travel with the team and is expected to miss the entire five-game trip.
Thursday marked the 34th game that Herro has missed through the Heat’s first 45 games this season because of various injuries. He missed the first 17 games of the season due to offseason ankle surgery, 13 games because of a toe contusion and now at least four games because of a rib issue.
Along with missing Herro, Mitchell and Ware, the Heat was without Vlad Goldin (G League), Terry Rozier (not with team) and Jahmir Young (G League) on Thursday.
The Trail Blazers were missing Scoot Henderson (hamstring tear), Damian Lillard (Achilles tendon injury management), Kris Murray (lumbar strain), Matisse Thybulle (right knee tendinopathy) and Blake Wesley (right foot fracture) against the Heat.
Those injuries led to Heat rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis making the third start of his NBA career, but it was a night for him.
The 19-year-old Jakucionis started Thursday’s contest alongside Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson, Andrew Wiggins and Bam Adebayo. It marked the second game that this lineup has started for the Heat this season.
Jakucionis didn’t play much, though, recording three points on 1-of-2 shooting from three-point range and three assists in 11 minutes on Thursday. He only played the opening stint of each half.
Jakucionis struggled on the defensive end against the Trail Blazers’ aggressive driving offense, as the Heat was outscored by 18 points in his limited minutes.
But after playing only 53.7 seconds in the NBA through the Heat’s first 26 games of the season prior to this 18-game span, Jakucionis has now played in 18 of the Heat’s last 19 games in large part because of the team’s injury issues.
Without Ware, forward Nikola Jovic again filled in as the Heat’s backup center when Adebayo was on the bench. But Jovic’s minutes weren’t positive.
The 6-foot-10 and 205-pound Jovic, who usually played as a forward, played as the Heat’s backup center for the second straight game with Ware out.
Jovic struggled, finishing with five points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field, 1-of-7 shooting on threes and 0-of-2 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes. The Heat was outscored by seven points with Jovic on the court.
There was especially painful sequence for Jovic in the third quarter, when he airballed a three-pointer, committed a turnover in the backcourt after grabbing a rebound and then fouled Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant on a three-point attempt in a span of 64 seconds.
Jovic played as part of a Heat bench rotation that also included Jaime Jaquez Jr., Dru Smith, Myron Gardner and Simone Fontecchio on Thursday.
With Adebayo and Ware the only centers on the Heat’s current standard roster, Jovic is forced to play as a center with Ware sidelined. Forward Keshad Johnson has also played as a fill-in center when needed this season, but Johnson didn’t play on Thursday despite being in uniform.
Miami has another center signed to a two-way contract in undrafted rookie Vlad Goldin, but he’s currently playing with the Heat’s G League affiliate. When asked whether Goldin will rejoin the Heat while Ware is out to provide some frontcourt depth, Spoelstra was non-commital.
“I don’t know,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll see.”
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Anthony Chiang
Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.
