Delicate period on the side of Miami, since the Florida franchise remains on a series of six defeats in a row. The latest occurred this Saturday in New York, after a completely failed fourth quarter (36-23), from the moment Jimmy Butler (28 points) left to rest.
“ Currently, we are going to regroup and remobilize behind our identity. But it's a difficult time…” concedes Eric Spoelstra. “ Defensively, I don't remember seeing a stop. Between the time I called a timeout, and maybe even three minutes later, I don't remember a single stop.. »
Afterwards, Bam Adebayo could only agree with his trainer: “ The Knicks made more baskets than us, it's as simple as that. We had some oversights in defense, a lack of communication. It happens game after game…”
Above all, do not disunite
For the record, the Heat had not experienced such a series of defeats since March 2021. One more and it will be its worst series since April… 2008. Obviously, this is striking as the Florida players seemed to have found their cruising speed, going from 15th to 4th place in the East between early November and early January.
“ It's always frustrating not to win and the last six games have been very, very frustrating » regrets Jimmy Butler.
Punished in particular by Jalen Brunson (32 points, 8 assists) with the Knicks, Miami is still struggling to reap the benefits of the arrival of Terry Rozier and, while waiting for the graft to take, it must therefore turn its back collectively.
“ We try to make sacrifices, do the right thing, be on the same page and connect with each other » says Bam Adebayo, the team captain.
A season soon to launch in earnest?
The good news, because there is one with the returns of Jaime Jaquez Jr. or Kevin Love, is that the Heat is finally complete (if we except Dru Smith's long-term injury).
“ It's certainly encouraging to say that almost all of our players are available » appreciates Erik Spoelstra, who relied on a five Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Bam Adebayo.
Enough to hope for better results between now and the All-Star break, when six of Miami's next nine games will take place at home.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Tyler Herro | 26 | 34.0 | 44.0 | 40.4 | 84.8 | 0.6 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 4.2 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 21.8 |
| Bam Adebayo | 35 | 35.0 | 50.0 | 9.1 | 78.0 | 2.3 | 8.2 | 10.5 | 4.3 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 21.3 |
| Jimmy Butler | 30 | 33.5 | 48.5 | 41.3 | 88.1 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 4.9 | 4.4 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 20.7 |
| Jaime Jaquez, Jr. | 39 | 30.2 | 51.3 | 35.3 | 83.7 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 14.0 |
| Duncan Robinson | 43 | 28.1 | 45.4 | 40.3 | 87.5 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 13.4 |
| Caleb Martin | 28 | 26.6 | 44.0 | 38.5 | 76.5 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 10.6 |
| Josh Richardson | 36 | 25.9 | 43.2 | 33.3 | 93.8 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 9.6 |
| Kevin Love | 34 | 18.3 | 43.8 | 34.0 | 77.4 | 1.1 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 9.5 |
| Kyle Lowry | 37 | 28.0 | 42.6 | 38.5 | 83.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 8.2 |
| Terry Rozier | 2 | 29.1 | 28.6 | 22.2 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 8.0 |
| Haywood Highsmith | 31 | 21.5 | 43.0 | 39.8 | 78.3 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 6.2 |
| Nikola Jovic | 18 | 17.6 | 40.2 | 42.2 | 55.0 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 5.8 |
| Jamal Cain | 14 | 14.9 | 43.9 | 32.0 | 73.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 5.7 |
| Thomas Bryant | 24 | 10.7 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 81.8 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
| Orlando Robinson | 19 | 12.0 | 51.7 | 58.3 | 70.0 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 4.4 |
| Dru Smith | 9 | 14.5 | 45.5 | 41.2 | 100.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| Cole Swider | 9 | 4.9 | 42.9 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2.6 |
| Rj Hampton | 8 | 9.5 | 28.6 | 12.5 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
