Jimmy Butler frustrated after Heat loss to Magic: ‘I think teams want to play us right now.’

The Heat hasn’t lost consecutive games yet this season. But it feels like Miami has hit a small bump in the road.

The Heat (25-10) fell to the Magic 105-85 on Friday at Amway Center, just one night after a home victory over the Raptors. Miami is 1-2 in its past three games, with both of the losses coming against teams with a losing record in the Wizards and Magic (16-19).

Two of the Heat’s three losses to losing teams this season have come during this three-game stretch. Miami is 11-3 against teams with a losing record.

“Each game is different,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Heat’s recent stretch. “We’re not going to overreact to the big scope of things. We just certainly have to be a lot more consistent.”

The Magic was in control for most of the game, with the Heat’s biggest lead of the night — a three-point edge — coming in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Orlando led by as many as 22 points.

Trailing by 18 with 8:57 remaining in the third quarter, the Heat used a 20-6 run to cut the deficit to four in just a five-minute span. But that’s the closest Miami would get, as the Heat was outscored 21-6 in the fourth quarter.

Terrence Ross led the Magic with 25 points, with the help of 6-of-10 shooting on threes.

Five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Magic ...

1. Jimmy Butler was not happy after the loss. And all of Butler’s frustration was directed at the Heat’s defense.

Miami allowed Orlando to score 105 points on 40.7 percent shooting from the field. Those numbers don’t seem too bad for the Heat’s defense, but it’s the way things have been trending that has Butler upset.

“Not offense,” Butler said of what has been going wrong for the Heat lately. “I don’t think that will ever be our weak point in any game. We got to guard. I don’t think there’s any other way to say it. We can’t come into a game thinking we deserve to win, we should win, we don’t have to play hard, we don’t have to guard. We should just come in no matter our opponent, no matter where we’re playing and do what the hell we’re supposed to do.”

The Heat owns the NBA’s 12th-best defensive rating this season, but posted the 22nd-best defensive rating for the month of December. Miami was still able to record an 11-4 record in December behind the NBA’s seventh-best offensive rating for the month.

“I think that whenever we’re making shots, we’re happy, we’re celebrating, we’re rah-rah,” Butler said. “That’s not who we are because we got to be able to rely on defense. I think UD says it the best, that’s some front-running [expletive] whenever you’re making shots and you get to celebrate and then you’re up and you go down there and you get a stop. I didn’t see no celebrating on our end tonight. I saw a lot of low energy, not doing what we’re supposed to be doing, frowns and not competing. That’s all because we didn’t make shots.”

Butler believes the only way the Heat can improve defensively is with a consistent mindset, whether it’s a practice day or game day.

“You got to do it one day at a time and you can’t take steps backwards,” he said. “We’ll play great defense one day at practice, one day in a game. And then just be like, ‘[Expletive] it. We won, we’re good.’ Nah, that’s not how it is. You got to continue to stack on good days. That’s what all the really good teams do. That’s what the teams that are at the top of the East and the top of the West, that’s what they do. It’s not like, ‘We’re going to have three good days and then we’re OK. We’ll have one bad day.’ No, we’re going to have as many good days as we can in a row. I think that’s what we need to get to.”

Even after Friday’s loss, the Heat still owns the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and the fourth-best record in the NBA.

“That means nothing,” Butler said of the Heat’s impressive record. “The way that this league goes, you can be 25-25 in no time.”

Butler went on to say: “We’re not soft. But right now, that’s how I would describe us ... right now. I would. I think teams want to play us right now.”

2. While the Heat’s defense has struggled recently, the offense was an issue Friday.

A night after holding the Raptors to 6-of-42 shooting (14.3 percent) on threes, the Heat struggled to make shots from deep with a 7-of-37 night from three-point range in Orlando.

The Magic outscored the Heat 39-21 on threes, which proved to be a big part of Friday’s outcome.

Miami hasn’t had many inefficient three-point shooting performances this season, as it entered with the league’s second-best team three-point shooting percentage at 38.3 percent.

But three-point shooting was just part of the problem for the Heat, which was held to 85 points on 37.5 percent shooting from the field.

Miami also finished well below their season average of 25 assists per game with 16 assists against the Magic. The Heat committed 18 turnovers.

“Before we even say anything about us, you have to absolutely give credit where it’s due to the Orlando Magic,” Spoelstra said. “They absolutely stifled us, choked us offensively. We didn’t help matters in terms of defensively, just a lot of mental errors and mistakes and weren’t flying around like we were certainly last night. But you have to credit them for their defensive game plan, their commitment to that, just getting us jammed up into tough shots, tough possessions.”

The Magic owns the NBA’s 10th-best defensive rating this season.

Butler led the Heat with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The rest of the Heat’s roster combined to shoot 33.8 percent from the field.

Miami’s offensive struggles peaked with a six-point fourth quarter on 3-of-19 shooting in Orlando. It marked the lowest scoring fourth quarter and the second-lowest scoring quarter in Heat history, and also the lowest scoring quarter of the season for any NBA team.

“Give credit to them,” Heat center Meyers Leonard said. “They’re a very good defensive team. Long, active and that’s [Magic coach Steve] Clifford. That’s what it is. We definitely turned the ball over too much. ... We just got to watch the film, understand our spacing and how we can execute better in the fourth quarter.”

The Heat’s offense has trended in the right direction for most of the season, but it has posted the league’s worst offensive rating over the past three games with 95.5 points per 100 possessions. Miami owns the NBA’s 12th-best offensive rating for the season.

3. The Heat’s power rotation has looked different recently. Kelly Olynyk’s minutes are down and Leonard’s minutes are up.

That trend continued Friday, with Olynyk playing 12 minutes and Leonard playing 27 minutes against the Magic. Over the past four games, Olynyk is averaging 6.3 minutes per game and Leonard is averaging 25.4 minutes per game.

For the season, Olynyk entered averaging 20.3 minutes, which would be the fewest amount of minutes he has averaged in a season since signing with the Heat in the summer of 2017. Leonard actually entered averaging less minutes than Olynyk for the season at 19.1.

But recently, minutes have certainly been trending in Leonard’s direction.

And forward James Johnson continues to remain out of the Heat’s rotation. He has not played in 18 consecutive games, with his last game action coming in the Heat’s Nov. 27 loss to the Rockets.

4. The back end of back-to-back sets continues to be a struggle for the Heat.

Miami started the season with a 0-4 record on the second night of back-to-backs, and is now 2-5 in these situations this season following Friday’s loss to Orlando. The loss also snapped the Heat’s short two-game winning streak on the back end of back-to-back sets.

In its five losses with zero days of rest, the Heat has been outscored by a total of 88 points.

“I would say we certainly didn’t have the same amount of pop as usual,” Leonard said after Friday’s loss in Orlando. “But back-to-backs are no excuse. We’re well-conditioned athletes, and that’s what we thrive on with this team. When you got guys who are playing heavy minutes, it can become difficult.”

Every team is at a disadvantage when playing on the second night of a back-to-back. But the Heat’s struggles are notable because half of its losses for the season have come in this no-rest situation.

5. The Heat continues to struggle against the Magic.

With Friday’s loss, Miami has now lost five of its past six meetings with Orlando. In its past 12 games against the Magic, the Heat is 3-9.

Even with the Magic nine games behind the Heat in the Eastern Conference standings, this trend continued in the teams’ first meeting of the season. The Heat and Magic face off three more times this season, with their next matchup coming on Jan. 27 in Miami.