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.
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.”