SAN ANTONIO _ Winning in San Antonio has been a near mission impossible for the Heat over the years.
Miami's misery continued Monday night despite a gutty collective defensive performance, a season-high 27 points from Dion Waiters and 23 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks from Hassan Whiteside.
Led by Kawhi Leonard's 22 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, the Spurs sent the Heat to a fifth consecutive loss for the first time since 2011 with a 94-90 victory at the AT&T Center.
Miami, which trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half, trimmed San Antonio's lead to 87-83 on a Whiteside hook shot with 1:56 remaining. But Tyler Johnson and Waiters missed Miami's next two shots before a Josh Richardson turnover with 26.5 seconds left basically sealed the Heat's fate.
Had Miami (2-7) had a better night at the free throw line it might have completed one of its best comeback victories in team history. The Heat, which came in as the second-worst free throw shooting team in the league at 68.5 percent, finished 12-of-21 from the stripe, shot 4-of-16 from 3-point range and 43.5 percent from the field for the game.
San Antonio (8-3) shot 40.2 percent from the field and turned it over a season-high 17 times.
Derrick Williams replaced 3-point specialist Luke Babbitt in the Heat's starting lineup at power forward.
Williams, who had played only three minutes in the Heat's first seven games before breaking out with 11 points, four rebounds and an assist over 20 minutes in Saturday's loss to the Jazz, finished with five points, one rebound and a steal in 15 minutes. Babbitt played seven minutes off the bench and didn't take a shot.
Asked Monday at shoot around if he was moving away from Babbitt in his rotation, coach Erik Spoelstra said: "I don't know if you can draw anything from last game because I was going for anything."
"Certain games may dictate different things particularly with Goran [Dragic] being out," Spoelstra continued. "We'll do whatever's necessary."
Spoelstra has been pushing for his team to play with a faster pace. Miami is averaging five fewer offensive possessions per game since the preseason. Williams started five preseason games for the Heat and averaged 9.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 24.6 minutes per game.
The starting unit Williams joined Monday played a little more than six minutes together in Saturday's loss to the Jazz and went 0-12 from the field and was outscored 15-0. They didn't fare much better together at the start of Monday's game, falling behind 17-10 and missing 10 of their first 15 shots while on the floor together.
The Spurs led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter before the Heat closed the period on a 7-0 run behind its bench. Miami, though, quickly fell behind by double digits early in the second quarter, trailed by as many as 18 points in the period and went into the half down 55-40.
Waiters finally trimmed San Antonio's lead to single digits at 71-62 on a layup early in the fourth. But the Heat never got any closer than four points the rest of the way.
