Even though the Miami Heat are coming off of a loss to the Phoenix Suns Friday night, 113-97, there was a bright side to the game in star big-man Bam Adebayo. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about Adebayo after the game and how stellar he was in aspects on and off the court according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“Bam was great tonight in every aspect,” Spoelstra said. “His competitive spirit, he was doing so many things defensively. We were trapping a lot there in the second half, he’s making those multiple efforts and he has to guard the rim for us and he has to rebound. And then offensively, basically we were running kind of every action through him.”
Adebayo's night started rough as he scored zero points in the first quarter, missing his first five shots. He would then score 17 points, just in the second quarter alone to get back on track.
The University of Kentucky product would finish with 28 points and 11 rebounds against the Suns. He was mostly matched up against Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic who historically has been a tough opponent for Adebayo, but that narrative has changed Friday night.
Spoelstra talks about Adebayo's leadership
Spoelstra cited the leadership of Adebayo as well being impressive in the game, despite the loss. The head coach said that aspect is something they can look at positively from the game and build off that for the rest of the season.
“And then his leadership was really good, too. His voice was great throughout the course of the game. That’s something that we can take away from this game.”
Adebayo also spoke after the game and talked about the team's performance. He said it felt like the game “slipped away” from Miami as soon as they were not hitting their shots as they got some great looks at the basket.
“I feel like it slipped away because we didn’t make shots,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “I feel like we were getting great shots, getting great looks. They just weren’t going in.”
While the Heat were not hitting much from the field as a whole, the Suns definitely were, especially from Grayson Allen who scored a game-high 31 points as he hit nine of his 14 shots from three-point range. Phoenix stars Devin Booker and Bradley Beal would also contribute with 20 and 25 points respectively as the third component in Kevin Durant was out.
Plan now for Miami to protect home-court
After the Suns loss, the Heat finally travel back to Miami to prepare for four straight home games starting Tuesday. After the brutal five-game roadtrip, the team will not practice Saturday and Sunday, but will likely have a session Monday before the game the following night. The plan for Adebayo is simple, “protect home court.”
“We’ve been on this road for a long time,” Adebayo said. “Going home, it’s time to protect home court. We need to do that.”
Miami is currently 9-6 at home which compared to the rest of the top 10 teams in the Eastern Conference, the nine wins is the least amount of home victories.
Their home-stand starts Tuesday as they face the 17-16 Houston Rockets. The Heat are currently 20-15 on the season, which puts them fifth in the Eastern Conference, though they have the same record as the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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