While the Miami Heat tried stopping Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night, the team would end up losing 107-1o1, snapping their three-game winning streak. As the main Heat storyline has surrounded their new and fast offense, the team slowed down as head coach Erik Spoelstra gave his honest thoughts on their performance.
Entering the game, Miami ranked first in the NBA in pace, recording 107.30 possessions per 48 minutes and even averaged 131.5 points per game, the most in the league through four games. There was no denying that San Antonio came in motivated to slow down the team, especially succeeding in the third quarter as the Heat scored only 14 points.
“The bottom line is we were kind of uneven all night long,” Spoelstra said, according to The Miami Herald. “But there were two key possessions there going down the stretch where they got offensive rebounds, and then both those possessions end up in open threes. If we secure those rebounds, my experience tells me that the game would have felt a little bit different those last two minutes.
“So, regardless of how you get there, it’s about making winning plays going down the stretch,” Spoelstra continued. “And there were those couple winning plays and one or two other possessions we could have gotten stops with another rotation, another effort. And then you just grind it and you come away with a win when you’re not playing well.”
Heat's Erik Spoelstra speaks on the new offense vs. Spurs
Though Bam Adebayo flourished for the Heat in the new system with 31 points and 10 rebounds, and Andrew Wiggins had 24 points, it was a struggle for the team in the second half to cover ground. Despite starting the fourth quarter with a run that cut their deficit close, Miami scored 43 points in the second half, the lowest so far this season, as Spoelstra admitted that when it comes to the new offense, “it's not always going to be easy.”
“It’s not about how many points can we put up on the board,” Spoelstra said. “You have to credit their defense, they played well. When we got in the paint, they were there. We missed some shots that, during the course of the game that could change things. But it didn’t matter, we were there at the end.”
At any rate, the Heat looks to bounce back against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
