This, even by the low standards of this Heat season, was an abomination.

The temptation is to suggest things can't possibly get any worse for the NBA's worst team -- disregard Chicago's poorer record, because the Bulls, after all, did win a head-to-head confrontation last month -- but that would be an unreasonable assumption. Because after what happened Tuesday night in the AmericanAirlines Arena, there's no telling to what hellacious depth these Heat might descend.

Utah beat Miami, and the punishment was every bit as wicked as the 95-56 score indicates.

"There's not a lot of passion with this team," Heat coach Pat Riley said, adding "They're passionate after the fact."

But the Heat were more subdued than incensed after this loss in which the quarter-by-quarter breakdown (and breakdown is absolutely the proper word) was 20-12, 47-23 and 70-41.

Miami was done early in the second quarter, and anyone who remains unconvinced the Heat are done for the season after the latest debacle is delusional. Forget the possibility of any recovery that might allow the Heat to challenge for an Eastern Conference playoff spot. Miami's goal now should be to avoid becoming a laughingstock.

If it isn't already too late, that is.

Heat, once tough, now 'deplorable'

Riley pointed to three statistical categories in which Miami lost to Utah, and used them as exhibits to criticize his team's "effort" as "deplorable" from beginning to end. The Jazz held a 59-30 rebounding edge, a 40-14 advantage in inside scoring and a 16-5 bulge in fast-break points.

"There's not much growth here," Riley said. "Improvement is minuscule. And skill erosion is starting to take place."

More than that, though, is the growing sense Miami has lost -- to use Riley's description -- its "incredible pride in the culture of the Heat."

Translation: Miami, for whatever happened to it throughout playoff disappointments and subsequent roster make overs, always has been a tough out . . . a tough beat . . . a street tough.

"Down-and-dirty" and "die-hard," Riley said.

Now, though, there are too many "independent contractors . . . playing for themselves" for Riley's taste. He doubts everybody he brought in -- and the fault for this is at Riley's feet for bad personnel calls in charge of player procurement as team president -- is willing to play to Miami's old purpose of nasty competitiveness.

That means Brian Grant and Eddie Jones, most specifically, who came to the Heat last season to be primary cogs and have failed to provide what Miami needs.

On the subject of a lack of passion?

Grant didn't even refute Riley's statement.

"There's some truth to that," Grant said. "I think there's passion, but it gets blotted out for whatever reason."

Now, it's the 5-18 Heat who have been blotted out.

Miami starting to show its age

And where does Miami go from here?

The average of of the Heat's starting lineup against Utah was 31.2 years, which in the NBA is ancient. It required the appearance of the Jazz as a Miami opponent to reveal just how old Miami's starting group -- Alonzo Mourning, Jim Jackson, Rod Strickland, Grant and Jones -- really is. The Jazz, you see, feature 39-year-old John Stockton and 38-year-old Karl Malone in their starting lineup, and both of those players are considerably beyond 35-year-old Heat elder Strickland when it comes to counting candles on cakes.

And yet . . .

. . . the average age of the Jazz starting lineup was 29.6 years.

That's correct.

Utah, despite the presence of Stockton and Malone as starters, was younger than the Heat.

How is such a thing possible? Easy. Two of Utah's other three starters included 20-year-old DeShawn Stevenson and 23-year-old Jarron Collins, and even the third one -- 28-year-old Donyell Marshall -- was younger than the Heat's youngest starter, who was the 29-year-old Grant.

The point is it seems Utah at least is preparing for a future beyond Stockton and Malone while Miami, without a player the stature of either Jazz superstar, seems unprepared for the present let alone anything beyond it.

Jackson, who in his eighth game with the Heat provides the newest eye to the team's travails, quickly has become aware of a lack of "continuity" on the court.

"Losing perpetuates so many negative things," said Jackson, who has known almost nothing but losing at his many stops around the league. "It's not going to be easy to get out of it. Once it starts to happen, it's difficult mentally to understand what's going on. Every game becomes bigger than it really is."

The Heat never have scored fewer points in franchise history than they did against the Jazz.

They never have shot as badly (27.7 percent) from the field.

Only five times have they lost by greater margins.

And things might yet worsen.