Miami Heat forward Bam Adebayo criticized his team's performance after another tough loss against the shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. He pointed out that they have to do a better job on the defensive end, especially after failing to capitalize on the absences of both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the game.
“We gotta take pride in defense,” Adebayo said via the Miami Herald. “I feel like defense wins games for the most part. I feel like if we would have played Miami Heat culture defense, we would have won.”
The 23-year-old big man also admitted that his team didn't get to pose a threat against a Clippers side that was merely bannered by their secondary unit.
“They got whatever they wanted on the offensive end, were in the right spots on defense rebounding the basketball,” Butler said. “It was a tough one. I’m not going to say we let one get away. We didn’t deserve to win.”
On Monday, Leonard was ruled out for a left leg contusion while George continues to nurse his right toe injury. Another contributor in Nicolas Batum is currently dealing with a head concussion while Patrick Beverley opted to rest in the second game of a back-to-back.
Nonetheless, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue had enough men on his roster to fill in the absences of his starters. Marcus Morris answered the call and broke out with 32 points while Lou Williams registered a double-double of 18 points and 10 assists. Four of their teammates also scored in double digits to contribute to the squad's winning effort.
On the other side, Jimmy Butler's triple-double output of 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists still went down the drain as his team couldn't contain the production of the Clippers' bench mob. The Heat ultimately succumbed to a 125-118 defeat to drop down to an 11-16 overall record.
Miami will certainly have to execute on both ends of the floor in its coming games if the team wants to turn things around. Bam Adebayo and the Heat will aim to get a win when they visit another skidding team in the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 17.
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