Subscribe
Follow Us
The Miami Heat lost to the Orlando Magic on Friday by 20 points and Heat All-Star small forward Jimmy Butler wasn't happy about it.
While speaking to Heat reporters postgame, Butler called out the Heat's poor defense:
“Not offense,” Butler said of what has been going wrong for the Heat lately, via the Miami Herald. “I don’t think that will ever be our weak point in any game. We got to guard. I don’t think there’s any other way to say it. We can’t come into a game thinking we deserve to win, we should win, we don’t have to play hard, we don’t have to guard. We should just come in no matter our opponent, no matter where we’re playing and do what the hell we’re supposed to do.
“I think that whenever we’re making shots, we’re happy, we’re celebrating, we’re rah-rah. That’s not who we are because we got to be able to rely on defense. I think UD says it the best, that’s some front-running [expletive] whenever you’re making shots and you get to celebrate and then you’re up and you go down there and you get a stop. I didn’t see no celebrating on our end tonight. I saw a lot of low energy, not doing what we’re supposed to be doing, frowns and not competing. That’s all because we didn’t make shots.
“We're not soft. But right now, that's how I would describe us. I would. I think teams want to play us right now.”
The Heat are 25-10 on the season. They are in third place in the Eastern Conference standings.
However, Butler is one of the fiercest competitors in the NBA and hates to lose, even if it's just one game. The Heat are 1-2 in their last three games. They lost to the Washington Wizards, which was a bad loss since Washington is one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Butler and the Heat will look to get back in the win column on Sunday when they host the Portland Trail Blazers.
In his first season with the Heat, Butler is averaging 20.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists.
