While the Miami Heat won their regular season opener against the Detroit Pistons, they barely just squeaked by them with a score of 103-102. It came down to the final possession as the Pistons, who didn't have a starter over the age of 22, couldn't convert.
The Heat's very own Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke after the grueling contest to talk about their performance, if they were disappointed it was close, and consistently playing tough games.
Jimmy Butler and the Heat “love” to play close games
Even though he missed the whole preseason, Butler had a solid performance and a double-double as he scored 19 points and collected 13 rebounds. For Butler, he said that the team likes to cause drama and play close games since they thrive in that type of atmosphere.
“That's how we like to play, we like to play close games,” Butler said. “We've done that every year that I've been here it seems like, but a win is a win as Spo would tell you, as I would tell you, as everybody in the locker room would tell you. We're undefeated.”
Butler made six shots out of his 18 attempts in his first game since the NBA Finals last season. There's no doubt that as the season goes on, Butler will get better in almost every way.
A win is a win, but Bam Adebayo feels there is stuff to clean up
Saying that the team is “undefeated” is a funny way to look at a 1-0 record with 81 games left in the regular season, but fans already know Butler likes to have a little fun. Bam Adebayo on the other hand said to ClutchPoints that while a “win is a win,” there is still aspects to clean up as they head further into the season and try to prevent losing big leads.
“At the end of the day, a win is a win, but we do want to correct when we're wrong, and figure out how we can stop this before we get too far into the season. We don't want to be in the middle of December talking about how we blown 19-point leads anymore. So biggest thing for us is to correct it now. So then when we get in those clutch moments again, we don't have to worry about it.”
Adebayo led the Heat with 22 points and collected eight rebounds on the way to a strong night.
Erik Spoelstra got exactly what he wanted
Funny enough, head coach Erik Spoelstra said at practice earlier this week that if the Heat were guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, he would choose to have consistently close games as they build “fortitude” within the team. Tonight, he got what he wished as the Pistons clawed back to bring the Heat's lead down to one in the final moments of the game
“I still believe in that, if you can just guarantee that you will get a win {in a close game like tonight], I'll take that 10 times out of 10 for sure. To be able to manage all the emotions and all the late game situations, that's going to clean up our package very quickly,” Spoelstra said. “But that'll get us very focused in making sure that we just continue to try to hone in on that and all the different kinds of options we're looking for. And then how to make the appropriate plays when we get the ball where it needs to be. I loved it, I love the emotion, the energy, a lot of good things, a lot of great contributions.”
If Spoelstra loves close games and competition, he's going to love the Heat's next three games on the road as they'll face the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves back-to-back days Friday and Saturday. After that, they get a matchup against Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks next Monday.
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