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There is not a whole lot of excitement from the Miami Heat as they lost to the under manned Memphis Grizzlies inside the Kaseya Center, 105-96. Bright spots would be hard to come by in the contest, but if there was one, it was the performance of star big-man Bam Adebayo.
Despite having a down offensive performance with 15 points, he collected 15 rebounds, recorded six assists, and had a career-high six blocks on the game. Adebayo has always been an elite defender that can cover one through five, but his strengths always came from aspects that don't show up on the box score like the way his presence alters opponent's shots. While people always criticized at his block numbers, those select few are silent after Wednesday.
Even with the dominant performance, Adebayo can care less about getting six blocks in a game which he has not done before. When asked by ClutchPoints if he cares about getting that many deflections in a loss like this, the 29-year old center was in agreement.
“Nah, I want the W,” Adebayo said. “I feel like I can get six blocks again, I just want the W.”
Asked Bam Adebayo if it matters to him that he got a career-high six blocks, but it was in a brutal loss.
“I want the W, I feel like I’ll get six blocks again…” #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/nS7WtZDnH0
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) January 25, 2024
Spoelstra praises the way Adebayo played defensively in brutal loss
It was a stressful game for Grizzlies big-man Jaren Jackson Jr. who received the brunt of Adebayo's defense as he was blocked a few times and finished with 15 points, making five of his 21 shot attempts. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra says that Jackson is a “tough cover” and praised Adebayo for his defensive fortitude even in an ugly game.
“That's a really tough cover. And I think that's part of Bam's greatness is a game that's really uneven and where nobody was in a good offensive rhythm that he could still have a stellar defensive impact and he really did. Jackson has a way of, of getting into his spots and drawing fouls, and Bam, I thought was technically superb. And then also finishing the play,” Spoelstra said. “I haven't seen anybody really guard Jackson like that. He has great touch around the rim and knows how to draw contact and Bam was able to keep that mental toughness to be able to do that and also when Jackson was out of the game he was anchoring our defense for large portions of the game and it's just a shame we couldn't turn those kind of defensive performances into one of those ugly wins that we really like.”
Asked Miami Heat HC Erik Spoelstra about Bam Adebayo and his career high six blocks.
“It’s a really tough cover. I think that’s a part of Bam’s greatness where the game was uneven and no one was in an offensive rhythm and he can still have a defensive impact.” #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/zZCYpnQrGD
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) January 25, 2024
Adebayo talks about what gets the Heat into “trouble”
Besides Adebayo's aforementioned down night scoring-wise, it was a frustrating game in general for the Heat offense once again as they were unable to score 100 total points which now makes it five of the last seven contests that has happened. There is one thing to score that little, it is another to not defend well to keep the opposing team at bay. The big-man feels like the team is trying to play the “right way,” but that is getting them into “trouble.”
“I feel like we’re all trying to play the right way and that sometimes gets us in trouble. Passing up shots… it's all a lot of things that go into it. But it's one of those… it's that funky time of the year but like everybody's really just trying to buy into what coach is saying and that gets us in trouble sometimes,” Adebayo said in his postgame presser.
Bam Adebayo talks about the loss to the Grizzlies.
“I feel like we’re all trying to play the right way and that sometimes gets us in trouble…” #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/k2iMXSi2j6
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) January 25, 2024
Spoelstra says Heat are in that “funky” part of the season
The Heat are playing their worst basketball at the moment and one could argue the loss Wednesday was the worst of the season as Memphis is depleted tremendously. Spoelstra said that Miami is one of those “period of time in an NBA season that's funky.”
“Right now it's just one of these periods of time in an NBA season that's funky. I can't even explain it. You know, that's basically what I told the group. There's a lot of just uncharacteristic plays offensively. I thought like, again, we did a lot of good things offensively and then it would lead to a missed shot,” Spoelstra said. “It's just going to take some fortitude. It's okay to have a grind in this business where things are not necessarily going your way and you just have to stay with it, and you develop that collective toughness. Nobody's happy or comfortable with this. And I know a lot of guys are trying to do the right thing offensively. I see it. I don't want the group to get frustrated with that, because a breakthrough is right around the corner.”
