The Miami Heat's offensive struggles in their Game 5 loss against the Boston Celtics has many people blaming the defeat on Miami's lingering injuries. Most notably, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry have dealt with various ailments which likely led to their underwhelming performances in Game 5. Nonetheless, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra does not want to hear any excuses.
“No, look, we are not going to make any kind of deflection, or any kind of excuse,” Spoelstra declared. “Boston beat us tonight. And let's be clear about that. There's guys who are far from 100 percent on both sides. That's why this is just intense competition. It's playoff basketball.”
Erik Spoelstra continued by discussing the Heat's effort despite their brutal offensive performance.
“You know, even as poorly as we played offensively, we still were able to compete defensively and hold them under 100. For the most part this season when we have been able to keep teams under 100 we have been extremely successful.”
The Heat shot around 31 percent from the field and around 15 percent from three-point range in the game. Jimmy Butler scored just 13 points on 4-18 shooting. Miami's starting backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Max Strus combined to go 0-15. Bam Adebayo was the lone bright spot, as he led the Heat with 18 points on 8-15 shooting from the field.
But Adebayo needed help. And despite some open looks, Miami was unable to consistently find the bottom of the net.
But credit should be given to Spoelstra for not making excuses. The Heat coach could have easily blamed the loss on injuries. But he owned up and admitted that Boston simply took care of business.
Spoelstra and Miami will try to bounce back in Boston in a win or go home Game 6 affair.
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