The Miami Heat were up by 11 over Charlotte with 6:47 left on Monday. They led by 11 over Chicago going into the fourth quarter Saturday. They led 10 over New York midway through the fourth quarter on March 2.

All at home, too.

And all ended up as losses.

College basketball has March Madness. The Heat have March sadness. Blown leads are becoming commonplace for the Heat, who lost 105-102 to the Hornets on Monday night -- yet another costly collapse. And now it's a team simply searching for answers.

"We went through too much this season to let go of the rope now," Heat captain Bam Adebayo said.

The Heat -- who are 9-18 in their past 27 games, a stretch that started with Jimmy Butler III being oft-suspended before eventually traded to Golden State for Andrew Wiggins -- have lost a league-high 11 times this season when leading after three quarters, already the third most in any season in franchise history.

And they've lost nine games after leading by at least 15 points, three of those coming in a nine-day span that ended Monday.

"In terms of our spirit, we'll be fine," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We just have to forge ahead. You have to forge. Sometimes you get tested. Sometimes you get tested in a way that you don't want to be tested in this league. And you can fold the tent, or you just keep on forging and forging and forging. And that's what our group is going to do."

The Heat are the first team to lose seven games after holding double-digit fourth-quarter leads since Memphis did it in 2018-19.

"We've just got to find a way to get ourselves out of this hole," guard Tyler Herro said. "This isn't fun for anybody. It's a tough time right now. But we're staying with it. We'll figure this out."

This isn't just a recent trend for Miami. Fourth quarters have been trouble all season. The Heat had a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter at Orlando on Dec. 21 and lost by seven -- being outscored 37-8 in the final 12 minutes.

And there was another nine-day span of down-the-stretch disasters in February. The Heat were outscored 39-21 in the fourth quarter of a nine-point loss to Chicago on Feb. 4, 31-9 in a 16-point loss at Brooklyn on Feb. 7 and 32-8 in the fourth quarter of a loss at Oklahoma City on Feb. 12.

"We've got a very tough-minded group and that's what we need right now," Spoelstra said. "Even some veterans in the locker room, or a veteran coach like myself, you just realize how tough it is to win in this league. It really is. On any given night, it is a challenge. We just have to stay together and figure this out."

This run of losses in March has even put playoff plans in serious peril. The Heat -- who are ninth in the Eastern Conference -- will almost certainly have to get through the play-in tournament just to have a chance at getting to the first round of the postseason, where NBA-leading Cleveland or reigning champion Boston probably will be waiting.

"We just have to stay together and use this an opportunity, a growth opportunity to overcome something that sucks," Spoelstra said. "We're going to figure this out."