Heat Starring in Episode of 'Lost' With 5th Straight Defeat

CHICAGO -- Give Miami a road map. Give the Heat a compass. If you really want to splurge, how about a GPS?

"We've lost our way right now,'' said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Indeed Miami has. The team is somewhere in the middle of Siberia without a Coleman stone.

Wait a minute. The team is the Heat. Make that in the middle of the Gobi Desert with an empty canteen.

Miami lost its fifth straight game on Saturday night at the United Center, falling 95-91 to a Chicago team that was without center Joakim Noah, who has plantar fasciitis, and forward Tyrus Thomas, serving a one-game suspension. The dry spell also is seven of eight.

Spoelstra added he believes the Heat is lost "temporarily, and we will find our way again.'' But, while Spoelstra did vow not-exactly-spelled-out changes, there's not yet evidence he has been nicknamed "Nostradumus'' by his friends.

Simply put, no team with superstar Dwyane Wade coupled with a reasonable supporting cast should be 24-27. The Heat was 43-39 last season, and second-year forward Michael Beasley is contributing more.

"We should be much better. I'm not going to say we should be No. 1 in the East, but we should be a little better,'' said Wade, who might not be able to make up his mind between "much'' and "little'' but still isn't enthralled with the team's record. "We've had of games where we've let fall at home especially. We're three games (under .500) on our own reasons. We can't blame nobody. We can only blame ourselves.''

Miami's record should scare some Heat fans. Wade, who won a title ring in 2006 on a Heat roster that won't exactly go down in annals as "Murderer's Row,'' has talked about how winning is a key for his future.

Would too much losing lead Wade to bolt Miami? He was asked if he would be more likely to leave as a free agent next summer if the Heat finished with a losing mark.

"I've said at the beginning of the summer to me it's all about winning,'' Wade said. "So I can't go off what our record is at the end of the season is all about. What direction we're going in more so than anything. So when that time comes, you know, I'll look at it.''

Wade was asked if the Heat needs to play a more up-tempo style for Wade to avoid double teams in the halfcourt game. His answer was not exactly a ringing endorsement of Spoelstra's offense.

"It can be,'' said Wade, who said the Heat is "having too many lulls'' to win on the road. "But you got to have the personnel and be willing to do it. I don't know if coach wants us to do that. You got to have the confidence that guys are going to able to make the change on the go... We got to find a way also to mix it up too and stop being so, being the team that everybody knows exactly what we're going to do, and they just play us the same way.''

Spoelstra, who said the team is playing with "energy only in gaps and segments,'' said there "might be'' changes but didn't go into great specifics. He did mention changes being needed in the fourth quarter, which saw the Bulls outscore the Heat 26-22, and said he experimented Saturday with using veteran starters Jermaine O'Neal and Quentin Richardson more in the fourth.

"We will bounce back,'' Spoelstra said. "We'll find our way. That I'm confident of. We do need to have a mindset change and a recommitment. But I'm not going to absolutely overwhelmingly panic right now with these guys. We need to make some subtle alterations, more of it's with a mindset change and commitment.''

Perhaps Spoelstra will bring a motivational speaker to practice. He said he's not thinking of trades when it comes to changes.

"We have enough,'' Spoelstra said when asked if a deal is needed by the Feb. 18 trade deadline. "We had enough a month ago when we were playing well and grinding out some wins, and we're about ready to turn the corner. This happens in this league. You lose your way for a second.''

A second? When the clock turned midnight in the East on Saturday, the Heat had gone 697,860 seconds since the final buzzer of its last win Jan. 29 at Detroit.

During the stretch of seven losses in eight games, the Heat has had a rather tough schedule, with all but two games on the road. There have been losses to heavyweights Cleveland twice and Boston.

But there also have been defeats to teams the Heat must beat for playoff positioning, Toronto, Milwaukee twice and to a depleted Chicago outfit. During the five-game losing streak, Miami has been outscored by an unacceptable average of 10.4 points per game.

"I don't think we should be anywhere under .500,'' Beasley said of Miami's record.

"Right now, we definitely should not be in the position (the Heat is in),'' O'Neal said. "We feel like we should be better.''

O'Neal, 31, can't be blamed for Saturday's loss the way he turned back the clock by totaling 24 points, 16 rebondds, five assists and three blocks. As for Wade, he did have eight assists. But the rest of his game was pedestrian as he had 20 points on 7-of-21 shooting playing in his hometown.

The Heat now finds itself in a virtual tie with Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Wade was asked before the game about being on the cusp of falling out of the top eight.

"In the Eastern Conference, you'll see being on the cusp is a good thing because that means you're not out of it,'' Wade said. "It means you're not in it either.''

If you're a little hazy about what that means, that's not surprising. There's a lot of confusion going on with the Heat these days.

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter@christomasson