Call it the Miami Heat's X-file.
Why is it the team plays well enough to stay in games through three quarters but can't do enough in the fourth quarter to win?
"I think it's one of those interesting phenomena that you can't explain," forward LaPhonso Ellis said.
When searching for an answer to the inexplicable, the simplest one may be the most sensible. And in basketball, the simple answer to every team's problem is poor shooting.
During Miami's five-game losing streak, the team's longest such streak since 1996, the Heat are shooting 28 percent in the fourth quarter and have been outscored by a combined 28 points. In the team's two wins, the Heat shot 47 percent in the fourth.
Heat coach Pat Riley said the shooting woes in the fourth quarters usually stem from different issues each game.
"The other night (against Charlotte) it was make or miss, that's what it was," Riley said. "We missed 10 shots in a row. Seven of them were makable shots. Sometimes it comes down to a make or miss thing, not an execution thing. If we made two or three shots, we probably could have staved off Charlotte's 15-6 run.