Miami Heat Team Report - November 9

(Basketball News) - The woeful Miami Heat dropped to 0-6 on the season after suffering an 88-79 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday at American AirlinesArena.

Eddie Jones led the way with 21 points for the Heat, who have lost their first six games to start the season. Rookie Dwyane Wade added 19, while Udonis Haslem grabbed a team-high 11 boards.

The Heat jumped out to a 14-4 lead after a dunk by Wade in the early going, but Minnesota closed its deficit to 24-21 by the end of the first quarter.

Minnesota trailed by a point, 41-40, at halftime, but opened the third quarter with a 15-4 burst to take the lead. The Timberwolves led, 68-57, after three quarters.

The Minnesota lead grew to 19 points, 78-59, on a jumper by Latrell Sprewell with 7:20 left in the fourth quarter, but the Heat made a late run to make things interesting.

Wade made a pair of baskets to cut Minnesota’s lead to six with 1:47 left. However, Fred Hoiberg nailed a three-pointer to give the Timberwolves an 83-74 lead with 1:31 left and Kevin Garnett blocked a shot by Caron Butler to seal the win.

Butler made his first appearance of the season following left knee surgery, while Tyrone Hill played his first game with the Heat. Hill was signed on Friday and played just two scoreless minutes on Saturday.

Wade returned to the starting lineup after missing two games with a left hip pointer.

Miami is 0-6 for the first time since opening their inaugural season in 1988-89 with 17 straight losses.

Miami is off until Tuesday when it visits Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets.