MIAMI – No blown early lead or botched late lead this time for the Miami Heat.

Such tend not to be factors when your only lead is 2-0.

This time, simply not good enough, even when given the advantage of the Los Angeles Clippers sitting out Kawhi Leonard on the second night of a back-to-back set.

Defenseless for extended stretches and unable to find offense beyond the scoring of Tyler Herro and Andrew Wiggins, the Heat’s losing streak now stands at a season-worst five after Wednesday night’s 119-104 loss at Kaseya Center.

And it’s not as if it gets any easier, with the Boston Celtics visiting on Friday night in what could close out an 0-5 Heat homestand ... with a pair of road games then to immediately follow against the Memphis Grizzlies and New York Knicks.

Now buried in the play-in standings, at 29-36 the Heat already have matched last season’s loss total, with 17 games remaining.

Herro led the Heat with 31 points, with Wiggins adding 22, but with Bam Adebayo scoring only six, albeit also with seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

The Clippers, who also played in the injury absence of Norman Powell, got 30 points from Bogdan Bogdanović, 26 from Ivica Zubac and 24 from James Harden.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s game:

— Closing time: The Clippers led 30-20 at the end of the first period, 57-52 at halftime and 92-84 going into the fourth.

As the Heat defense continued to struggle, the Clippers then moved to a 13-point lead with 8:41 to play.

That had Heat coach Erik Spoelstra declining to buy time with his leading men, with Herro, Wiggins and Adebayo all in the game with 8:10 to play.

The deficit nonetheless moved to 109-92 with 6:34 remaining.

— Ware benched: Haywood Highsmith opened the second half with the starters, with Kel’el Ware benched at the start of a second half for the second time in eight games, also benched at the start of the second half of the Feb. 28 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

The 7-foot rookie selected at No. 15 last June out of Indiana struggled against the size of Charlotte’s Mark Williams in Sunday’s loss to the Clippers and again struggled in the first half Wednesday against the bulk of Zubac, who was up to 15 points by the intermission.

Ware did not enter in the second half until 4:27 remained in the third period, closing with four points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

— Bench boost: Having offered limited production in Monday night’s loss to the Hornets the Heat bench was up to 21 points by halftime, including three 3-pointers from Duncan Robinson.

The second unit was particularly energized by rookie guard Pelle Larsson, who along with Terry Rozier were the only Heat players with positive plus/minus ratings in the first half.

Larsson then played as the Heat substitute off the bench in the second half, converting a 3-pointer on his first attempt of the third period.

Robinson closed with 15 points, converting five 3-pointers.

— Herro v. Harden: Herro held his own in the matchup scoring guards, up to 24 points through three periods, all of it needed with Adebayo with just four points to that stage.

Unlike Harden, Herro was largely true with his stroke, while Harden compensated with his trips to the foul line.

Both of the shooting guards also capably filled out the balance of the box score, with Herro adding seven assists and six rebounds and with Harden adding 11 assists and eight rebounds.

— Lue out; Shaw in: With Clippers coach Tyronn Lue sidelined by a back issue, former Heat guard Brian Shaw stepped up from his role as assistant coach.

Shaw, 58, played for the Heat from 1992 to ’94, going on to win three NBA championships playing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He has a 56-85 record as an NBA coach, all with the Denver Nuggets, from 2013-15, with Wednesday night’s result counting against Lue’s record.

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