The Miami Heat attempted to rally late Saturday night against the Washington Wizards, but the damage was already done.
Being self-inflicted turnovers, second-half shooting droughts and an inability to stop John Wall at pivotal moments, the Heat lost 116-110 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Miami (5-7) has now lost five of its last seven games.
While there were some highlights — primarily Rodney McGruder’s career-high 22 points — Miami was also marred in a slew of problems.
There were turnovers, 19 of them to be exact.
There was foul trouble. Seven of Miami’s eight main players who took the court finished with at least four fouls.
And there was sloppy defense at the end of halves. The Heat saw a 10-point second-quarter lead shrink to 3 at halftime when the Wizards (3-9) went on a 13-6 run over 2:47.
Miami held a two-point lead heading into the fourth quarter before Washington put together an 8-2 run in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to take a 92-86 lead that eventually grew to as many as 17 points after a Jeff Green alley oop dunk with 3:13 left to play.
The Heat went just 8-for-20 in the fourth quarter.
The Wizards? They went 10-for-17 in the final 12 minutes. Wall led the way with 28 points and nine assists, while Green chipped in 19 points. Austin Rivers and Bradley Beal each scored 18.
Josh Richardson scored a team-high 24 points and was one of five Heat players in double figures. The others: McGruder, Wayne Ellington (16), Tyler Johnson (12) and Hassan Whiteside (15), who had a double-double with 14 rebounds..
Noticeably absent from the scoring: Goran Dragic. The Heat’s starting point guard, who returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with a right knee injury, was held scoreless and missed all seven of his shots from the field in 21 minutes of action. He did not play in the fourth quarter.
Dwyane Wade missed his third consecutive game following the birth of his daughter.