The Miami Heat have won two in a row as they beat the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday on the tail-end of the back-to-back, 116-104. Despite the Spurs only winning 10 games on the season, it's a tall task literally and figuratively, when you have to plan for a player like rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama as star Bam Adebayo and Erik Spoelstra spoke after the game about the challenge.

Adebayo was Wembanyama's primary defender and kept him at bay for the most part to where he didn't have an impact that led them to the upset win. The French-born player finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds, and one block, but the key statistic was no offensive boards, which is usually a strength as he averages over two a game.

The Heat's lone All-Star spoke after the game about Wembanyama and had nothing but high praise for the 20-yer old Spurs rookie. Adebayo said to ClutchPoints that “he has the right mindset” and the “right coach” in all-time great Gregg Popovich to lead him in the right direction.

“He's gonna be great in this league. He has the right coach around him, he has the right mindset,” Adebayo said. “He wants to win, you can see it in the way he plays, he passes the ball, he does the little things and he's Seven Four doing stuff like that. So I think he'll be great in this league.”

Spoelstra credits Adebayo being “steadying influence” for Heat

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and star Bam Adebayo in front of the Kaseya Center.

The University of Kentucky product had another exceptional game as he finished with 20 points, five rebounds, and finished with a +17 on his +/-, showing the big impact he had on the contest. The Heat head coach in Spoelstra talked about how Adebayo was the “steadying influence throughout all of the game” while also talking about Wembanyama and saying he is “crazy.”

“The steadying influence throughout all of the game was Bam,” Spoelstra said. “Wemben…Wemby…I can't say his name correctly, but that guy is crazy. With how talented and big he is I thought both Bam and K-Love both did a very good job positionally. And then on the glass they really helped us out on that end.”

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Wednesday night's victory served as a “get right” game for the Heat after they're still trying to recover from a seven-game skid from several games ago. They are now seeming to be on a roll and turning a corner which Adebayo said that a “positive mindset” is what's helping them at the moment.

“I think we just really rallied around each other,” Adebayo said. “Just being positive, I feel like it's helping us in a big way just coming to work happy, positive mindset. Everybody willing to sacrifice and it's been helping us.”

Spoelstra admiring Gregg Popovich

Spoelstra and Popovich have been two head coaches that are familiar with one another as friends off the court, but arguable rivals off the court as both duked it out in back-to-back NBA Finals in 2013 and 2014 where each got one championship over the other. Since then, it has been a long-lasting friendship as the Miami head coach said he has “admired” Popovich “for a long time.”

“I've admired him for a long time. And it's really just a show of respect for him and I actually don't want to take too much of his time now because I know all the guys that are waiting behind me,” Spoelstra said. “Everybody else respects him so much that I'm sure he goes through the whole line. And so a lot of it's just acknowledging and showing respect.”

The Heat are hot, but it doesn't get any easier as they end the four-game home stand against the Boston Celtics on Sunday. Miami is now 28-24 on the season which puts them seventh in the Eastern Conference.