The Miami Heat have fallen to 1-4 to start the season after a disappointing loss to the Brooklyn Nets at the Kaseya Center, 109-105. After the game, Jimmy Butler, Erik Spoelstra, and Tyler Herro spoke to the media as they reacted to the heartbreaking defeat.
There's been chatter with fans and NBA watchers about Butler and if he's fed up with the Heat organization because they failed to sign a big star to further improve the team. However, the polarizing player said postgame that he still has confidence in the team to succeed and reach the standard they set.
“It's still a work in progress. Last year was last year, it's completely different this year in a number of ways and we will figure it out. There's no excuses for any of that,” Butler said. “I'm still very confident in this group. I really am. And I know what we're capable of and I know that we can win. So we just got to go out there and do what we're supposed to.”
Jimmy Butler scored 20 points and recorded seven rebounds as he was more aggressive Wednesday night than in any point of the current young season. He made seven of his 16 shots and also drained six of eight free throws.
The Heat losing a big lead, Spoelstra wants team to sustain
Heat center Bam Adebayo said after the home opener win against the Detroit Pistons that the team doesn't want to be known for losing double-digit leads. While they had a 19-point lead against the Pistons erased and still won, the same didn't happen against the Nets.
Miami's largest lead of the night was 16 points and with around four minutes left in the third quarter, the Nets were trailing by 15. The Heat collapsed in the fourth quarter to drop their fourth game in a row, and head coach Erik Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints that the team has to get in the habit of sustaining leads.
“I don't think it slipped necessarily at any point during the game, I just think that ability to sustain is a skill and it's a habit. And that's what where we need to get to, that's oftentimes the deal. If you're playing in a position of control, and playing with a double digit lead for the majority of the game, you have to treat them accordingly with respect and those swing moments,” Spoelstra said. “Any of those 12 to 14 point leads, if you handle it and sustain it the right way, that can be an 18 to 20 point lead and that could have happened 2, 3, 4 times during the course of the game and we never got that.”
Tyler Herro seeing the bright side of a loss
The one bright spot for the Heat continues to be Tyler Herro who scored 30 points, which was a game-high. Ten of those points came in the fourth quarter when the team was trying to get back the lead from the Nets.
When asked by ClutchPoints if there is any positives despite the loss to Brooklyn, he didn't hesitate. Herro said that the best teams take the losses and improve on them.
“There's always positive, we're not terrible people or players. If we look at it the right way, an L is positive if you can learn from it and take things that you did well in this game be carried on to the next. Build good habits and continue to get better. It's a long season but the more losses you have now, it becomes a habit and this will be a losing team if we don't turn it around.”
The Heat will get a chance to improve on their performance Friday night as they have another winnable game against the Washington Wizards. The game facing the Wizards will be the start of group play of the in-season tournament.
Follow Us
Subscribe