While the Miami Heat lost to the Phoenix Suns Friday night, it finally concludes the team's brutal five-game road trip in the West Coast. Now, the team comes back home where they will play the next 13 of 18 games inside the Kaseya Center starting Tuesday where they will play four in Miami.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is aware of the games ahead and calls it a “very important week for us.” However, he is focusing on the initial task at hand which is to rest up and “get guys healthy” according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“We understand the four games, who we’re playing and it will be a very important week for us,” Spoelstra said. “But first things first, we need to get home, get some rest, get guys healthy and see where we are Monday morning.”
Adebayo's plan for the team going into the home-stand is simple. The Heat have to “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.”
Spoelstra says team won't make excuses for injuries
In terms of the home-stand and the matchups upcoming for the Heat, they will face the Houston Rockets starting Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Orlando Magic and the Charlotte Hornets. The team still has a major issue being the injury problem that has plagued team since the beginning of the season, really, since last season. However, you won't see Spoelstra making excuses about it per Chiang.
“Nobody cares if we have guys out and we’re not making any excuses for it,” Spoelstra said after the Suns loss. “Our injuries have been, in my mind, minor ones where guys haven’t been out for an extended period of time.”
The Heat are still missing key players such as Miami star Jimmy Butler who is dealing with a toe injury, Haywood Highsmith who is in concussion protocol, and Caleb Martin with an ankle injury. As Spoelstra has said that the team is not making any excuses because of injuries, big-man Bam Adebayo doubles down on his head coach's thought process.
“Spo is never going to lower himself to blame guys being out on why he’s not winning,” Adebayo said. “That’s just not Spo. You got 15 guys on the roster for a reason and I feel like Spo tries to maximize all 15 guys.”
Adebayo talks about valuing every player you have
The mindset is straight-forward for Adebayo in terms of playing under-manned. They still need to have a winning mentality that “makes you value” every player on the team.
“How I articulate it is basically just because we got guys out doesn’t mean we can’t get a win,” Adebayo said to The Miami Herald. “It makes you value all 17 guys, it makes you value everybody who’s on the roster because you need to have all 17 guys believing that. Even though somebody is out, you can still win.”
Adebayo goes back to the Heat's miraculous playoff run from last season where injuries struck the team hard as they landed in the eighth seed, but still found a way into the NBA Finals. He uses the specific example of a starter missing time like Tyler Herro who had a hand injury that made him miss most of the postseason run.
“That’s when you get in those moments of truth like a playoff series when a starter might go out like we had last year. Tyler goes out, but we still keep the same mentality and go to the Finals. It just makes everybody believe that obviously we can trust one another, but believe in one another as well, one through 17.”
Even with the injuries, the Heat are 20-15 which puts them fifth in the Eastern Conference. While they won't practice Saturday and Sunday, they will likely practice Monday before they face the Rockets the following night.
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