It was a bittersweet Friday for the Miami Heat as they celebrated the jersey retirement of long-time player Udonis Haslem, but the night ended with a brutal loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Stars Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler talked about the actual ceremony that saw the No. 40 being lifted up to the rafters to be immortalized for eternity.

Adebayo specifically had a guttural reaction to Miami dropping the game to Atlanta, saying to ClutchPoints that he is “sick” that the team lost the game. He credited the reason for his reaction because he said that Haslem “embodies winning” and is an “anomaly” with what he has accomplished.

“I'm sick we lost this game. Just because he embodies winning. He's one of those people, truth be told, during the day when they told him when it was, he called me right away and said only thing that are gonna make me happy is we get to win,” Adebayo said. “And you know, you take stuff like that to heart and you come up with this type of game and you lose on a special night like this, especially for a guy that's un-drafted, three championships with the same organization for 20 years. He's an anomaly. He's one of those people who they don't come around often because it's not a lot of opportunity in this league for guys like that. For him to have this moment I'm blessed to be a part of blessed that he's my OG but I'm really down we lost this game on this night.”

What led to the Heat's loss

Miami Heat stars Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo in front of the Kaseya Center.

Haslem has acted as a mentor for Adebayo since the latter was drafted in 2017 and the two have developed a close relationship, even going as far as the 43-year old passing the torch for the big-man to carry on the “Heat Culture.” It was an emotional halftime for the organization and Haslem himself as they raised the jersey, but there was still a second half to play.

The game came down to the final two minutes of the game that saw Miami go on a little run that started with five straight points from Butler which would propel Tyler Herro and Adebayo to make shots after. With under 10 seconds left after a Herro miss, Hawks star Dejounte Murray hit a three-point shot that would give them a one-point lead and eventually the win as Miami couldn't capitalize with two seconds left.

Haslem trying to coach Miami from court-side seat

While Haslem was the driving force of energy for Miami when he was on the bench and in uniform, he wasn't there this time around. However, he would be on the closest court-side seat near the bench where Adebayo said to ClutchPoints that he was trying to coach them throughout the homestretch of the game.

“100 percent, he can't help himself, it's who he is. He's always wanted to help people. Since day one, since I've met him, he's always wanted to be a person that helps somebody gets to the mountaintop. Get over that hump,” Adebayo said. “And like I said before, I'm blessed to have a captain like that in my life him and D-Wade, because they've taught me so much about this game. They shared so much love to me. And I can't honestly never repay them.”

Butler happy to see Haslem's number getting retired

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Along with Adebayo who had 21 points and nine rebounds, Butler led the team with 25 points in the loss and got the ball with the final two seconds of the game. He would then pass the ball to Caleb Martin instead of taking the shot which he said to the media after the game that he regrets that decision since he was the one to take that attempt.

Since he joined Miami in 2019, Butler has had a lot of time to befriend Haslem. After the loss, the star said to ClutchPoints how he is elated to see the number of Haslem be retired.

“I'm happy for him, everything he's done for this organization, for this city, for the game of basketball. He should be an inspiration to so many,” Butler said. “Just because people always count you out or view you lesser and you can be great if you embrace your role and be a star in that role. I think he's taught everybody something different, something special, which it is only right that number never be worn again here.”

The Heat are now 24-18 which puts them seventh in the Eastern Conference. They have dropped two straight games to losing teams as their next test is against the Orlando Magic on the road Sunday.