“I can't say I would have predicted it in terms of the preparation this morning or arriving at the gym. It happened like that. » Erik Spoelstra struggles to find causes for the explosion of his group on the Toronto floor. The Heat lost by 24 points after a completely unsuccessful match.
It all started with a 10-0 and 41 points conceded in the first quarter. To start the second quarter, Jimmy Butler and his gang only scored two points in four minutes. It is then 56-20!
“It was an avalanche at the start of the meeting”, continues the Miami coach. “Our starters did not set the tone for the match and the situation got worse as the first half progressed. »
And if the Heat played without Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kevin Love, that is not an excuse since the Raptors did not have Pascal Siakam, leaving for Indiana. The Floridians, however, remained on three victories in a row, so how can we explain such a decline?
“We didn’t have the state of mind of the last three meetings”, judges the Heat coach, before emphasizing defense in transition and that on the ball carrier. “These are two areas on which we are focused and we have made progress. In this match, it's difficult to say that we made progress. It was probably our worst game in both areas. »
A “very ugly” match
Tyler Herro agrees with his coach's analysis. “It starts with defending on the ball, but also away from the ball, being active to help. That our adversaries do not have spaces to penetrate. We were good in the last match, but it didn't continue in this one.”explains the shooter.
The defense therefore sank, with a Canadian team which scored 121 points at 51% shooting success, 52% at 3-pts. The offense didn't help either, with 97 units and an awful 6/28 behind the arc.
“They put in shot after shot. We didn't really get them to miss shots, and we didn't put anything into it. So it's always complicated to shoot yourself in the foot like that. The match quickly becomes very ugly”summarizes Jimmy Butler.
It was therefore only an accident for this 41st match of the season. The Miami franchise is thus halfway through, with 24 wins and 17 defeats. “We are good”reassures Jimmy Butler. “Of course we can do better, but I prefer to be seven matches above 50% of victories than seven matches below. So that will do it. »
