SACRAMENTO, Calif._This is what attrition looks like.
With Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Meyers Leonard out of uniform with injuries.
And with Andre Iguodala, Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill yet to get in uniform after being acquired at the trade deadline a day earlier.
For the Miami Heat it added up to something as atypical as Friday night's rotation, a losing streak.
Dropping consecutive games for just the second time this season, the Heat fell 105-97 to the Sacramento Kings, to drop to 0-2 on this five-game trip that opened with Wednesday night's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Plagued by 20 turnovers and pestered by the Kings' 19-of-44 3-point shooting, the Heat now have another losing streak to add to the one last month against the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks.
Those losses also came on the road, with the Heat now 12-14 away from AmericanAirlines Arena.
Center Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 26 points.
Five degrees of Heat from Friday's game:
1. Threes again: After allowing 24 3-pointers in Wednesday's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center, the most allowed in franchise history, the Heat this time saw that Kings at 15 of 33 from beyond the arc after three periods.
The Kings then made their first three attempts of the fourth, to push to an 11-point lead.
Lacking much in the way of perimeter defenders, the Heat again had to rely on extended stretches of zone defense, which the Kings appeared to have well scouted.
It is why perimeter defenders such as Iguodala and Crowder were added, so the zone could go back to the change of pace intended.
2. They're back: Two games ago, in the home victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Heat set a franchise record with three turnovers.
That was up to a respectable nine in Wednesday night's loss to the Clippers.
But this time, in the lack of rotation continuity, there were 11 by the end of the first half, including four by Goran Dragic.
3. Leading man: With Butler out and Iguodala, Crowder and Hill arriving from Thursday's trade with the Memphis Grizzlies as spectators, Adebayo stepped into a leading man role.
At one point in the third period, he was up to 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting, that was followed by a breathtaking fourth-quarter dunk over a pair of Kings, so powerful that it even drew gasps from Kings fans. He turned the dunk into a 3-point play.
4. Shorthanded: Lacking the team's three newcomers, combined with the injury absences of Butler, Herro and Leonard, it left the Heat with 10 available players_with that group including Udonis Haslem, Chris Silva, KZ Okpala and Gabe Vincent.
So after Dragic entered, Okpala played as the Heat's second reserve, with Silva as the third. Gabe Vincent then was in at the start of the second period, as the fourth reserve in a unit that also included Okpala and Silva.
"This," coach Erik Spoelstra said going in, "presents an opportunity for some guys."
5. KZ's wild ride: Okpala's first NBA points came on a second-period layup, missing out on a 3-point play when he front-rimmed the free throw.
He then converted a 3-point play later in the period, off a steal that came when he was out of position in the team's zone defense. That had Dragic and Duncan Robinson both pulling him aside to discuss positioning.
Later in the second, Okpala scored in transition off a steal that came from his correct spot in the zone.
"I just want him to get as much experience as we can this year," Spoelstra said. "And that's practices, shootarounds, film sessions and games. I think he really needs 30 minutes a game every single night for an extended period of time. And whether that happens in Sioux Falls or us, I'm not going to discriminate. We'll come up with the best plan for him."
