The defense is slipping, the offense is spotty, and the Heat are sliding.

"For some reason, we've lost that focus that it takes to beat the top teams," said Haslem, Miami's starting power forward and one of the team's captains. "Now we've got to get that back."

Getting that done quickly might be a good idea.

Miami (27-24) closes its pre-All-Star slate in Chicago on Thursday, then returns to work next week on a 30-game push that will decide the Heat's playoff fate. It's a brutal schedule the rest of the way, with 17 matchups against probable playoff teams and seven against the Eastern Conference's elite: Boston, Cleveland and Orlando.

"We have to simply get back to our identity," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We've lost sight of who we were early in the season and what got us our success, and that was to be absolutely committed and disruptive on the defensive end. ... Right now, it's way too easy."

Miami has only allowed teams to shoot 47.5 percent or better from the field 13 times this season, with eight of those games happening in the last month. The Nuggets shot 75 percent in the first quarter on Tuesday, built a quick 32-20 lead and never trailed again, although Miami did close within four before getting outscored 23-10 in the final minutes.

"We're not a veteran team that's been through it, so this is going to be part of the learning process," Spoelstra said. "We have to regroup and grab ahold of this right now and understand what makes us successful."

All hope is not lost in Miami, of course.

No matter what happens in Chicago on Thursday - "a very important game," Spoelstra said - the Heat will be, at worst, two games over .500. They're thickly in the East playoff hunt, with home-court advantage in the opening round still a viable possibility, and are light years removed from the debacle that led to an NBA-worst 15 wins last season.

Plus, Dwyane Wade is still putting up the best numbers of his career and, even though Miami's record doesn't rank among the NBA elite, still figures to be in the MVP conversation at season's end.

"We need to re-establish our identity and get back to the roots of it," Spoelstra said.

Wade agreed, noting that the urgency must start from tip-off.

Miami has lost 10 of its last 11 games when trailing after the first 12 minutes, with two home clunkers in there, like falling behind Boston 29-10 on Jan. 21 and then the Denver mess on Tuesday night.

"It's got to change," Wade said. "It's something that we were good at, knowing to come out early and establish how the game's going to be and be in a dogfight the rest of the game. Those are the kind of games that we have won this season. I don't know what it is, but we've got to get back to coming out early."

Or else, Miami's season could slip away late.