It was a bittersweet Friday for the Miami Heat as they lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 109-108, without Trae Young on the night they retired the jersey of long-time captain Udonis Haslem. The game came down to the final two seconds of the game where Miami was down one point and the ball went into the hands of star Jimmy Butler, but he elected to pass it out to Caleb Martin who couldn't get a shot off in time.
To provide a little more context, Butler was running towards the right corner to retrieve the ball, had the quick thinking to see an open man, but Martin hesitated and ran out of time. While it was an open shot and the blame could be put on Martin, Butler took accountability in his press conference to the media after saying he should have shot the ball.
“I probably should have shot it, though, to be brutally honest, I guess I could have,” Butler said. “Felt like I saw him take a step my way to come double, so I passed the ball to Caleb. I think I put him in a terrible position because I should be the one to take and make that shot.”
Erik Spoelstra regrets the play-call he made
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra regrets the play-call that decided the game's fate at the end as he mentioned to the media following the loss. He even calls it a “poor play call” and one that he is disappointed in himself for making.
“It’s one of those plays when I'm going through it in my head, I thought there would be an advantage in that quarter and it didn’t play out that way,” Spoelstra said. “I wanted to see if he could get some space and get it over the top. It was a poor play call. I’m disappointed in my call on that. I had something else in mind.”
Butler led the team with 25 points and was a key reason for the team getting back into the game after the Hawks went on a 8-0 run to put them up four points with less than three minutes left. The 34-year old star would score five straight points which propelled the likes of fellow teammates Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo to score.
Atlanta's Dejounte Murray and his clutch shot against Miami
At this point, the Heat would be up two which called for a key bucket by the Hawks. Without Young, Dejounte Murray was the featured player for Atlanta and hit a confident and clutch three-point shot to put them up one on Miami which led to the sloppy final possession.
It is a bit ironic as Murray has been rumored to be in trade talks with the Heat being one of the teams mentioned. Spoelstra called the shot he made “extremely tough” to the media after the loss to the second straight losing team.
“He hit an extremely tough shot,” Spoelstra said. “Caleb [Martin] picked him up at midcourt and tried to level him off. I could have called a time out” before Herro’s miss. “There were four or five seconds left on the clock to get organized. That might look a little bit different if there are four less seconds. [Murray’s shot] might get rushed a little more.”
Murray caught the notice of Butler who said that Murray is a really good player and is a former all-star for a reason. Murray scored a team-high 22 points and recorded 11 assists.
“I feel like he was always putting pressure on the rim, getting to the cup. He was making all the right plays. And he was just being a stellar point guard man,” Butler said. “He's a hell of a player. He's been that way for a very long time. And he was a major key in them winning tonight.”
The Heat are now 24-18 which puts them seventh in the Eastern Conference. Subsequently, they have dropped two straight games to losing teams as their next test is against the Orlando Magic on the road Sunday.
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