Heat’s Erik Spoelstra baffled by blowout loss to Raptors

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra baffled by blowout loss to Raptors – ‘Thought we were ready’ appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

MIAMI – While the Miami Heat were trying to get out of its current funk ahead of Tuesday night’s contest against the Toronto Raptors, the team once again disappointed, falling 112-91, marking their eighth loss in the last nine games. As the Heat remain in its massive slump, the result of Tuesday’s game still came as a surprise, especially to head coach Erik Spoelstra.

Miami would score its lowest-scoring total of the season, as it’s also the second time the team scored under 100 points, with the only other time this season being on Dec. 15 against Toronto. It was a horrid start as the team scored 16 points in the first quarter, not able to get anything going from three-point range, shooting one of 11 from deep.

The second half saw the Heat’s collective will fall off a cliff as the opponents handed Miami their third straight loss. Spoelstra was taken aback after the defeat, saying to ClutchPoints that he “thought we were ready.”

“I don’t know,” Spoelstra said when asked what problems lingered from the slump into Tuesday’s game. “This is not what I would have predicted. I thought we were ready. We had a good session this morning. I thought, coming off of our last two games on the road, even though there were losses, there were way more good things than negative things. The New York game, we competed with a great spirit.”

“But I don’t really know right now,” Spoelstra continued. “It was a lifeless start, and then we just felt like we were digging back the rest of the game, you know. And you have to credit Toronto, they came out with force and speed in this game that we couldn’t get a grapple on.”

Bam Adebayo on the ‘sh***y’ moment the Heat are going through Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

After another disappointing outing for the Heat, there was very little to point to as a bright spot, especially regarding Bam Adebayo, who continues a slump of his own. Scoring nine points, making four of his 11 shots from the field to go along with 12 rebounds, three assists, and two steals, he spoke about how it’s vital for Miami to “get closer together” through a “sh***y moment.”

“[Got to] be better man,” Adebayo said. “These are the times where we need to obviously get closer together cause it’s a very down and sh***y moment. No matter how short the stint or how long the stint is, we just got figure out of this hole.”

Adebayo would keep it real in saying it “sucks” to go through his current struggles, but expressed to ClutchPoints that it’s more of shots not falling than anything with his mechanics as the Heat look to get the captain back in his sweep spots.

Norman Powell shares his frustration about the Heat’s slump

Though the Heat are missing key players like Tyler Herro, whose skillset of being a shot creator is needed during games like this, there’s no denying that Miami’s outings look different than the 14-7 start this season. However, the frustration goes down the line, especially to Norman Powell, who was vividly vocal late in the loss, also pointing out to ClutchPoints how the defense “wasn’t good.”

“Because it was a few times in the game where coach draws up something, or puts together something that we got to go out there and execute, and we just totally do something completely opposite, just make it up, not having the attention to detail,” Powell said as he scored 17 points, making six of 17 shot attempts from the field.

“So I was pretty frustrated, because it’s happened not only in this game, but a few times in this tough stretch that we’re going through,” Powell continued. “And we’re young team, but we got to focus on the details of the game that’s going to help us get out this losing streak, however you want to call itm, this moment that we’re in, the spot that we’re in, is being better with the details of the game on both sides of the ball and how we want to execute and who we want to be.”

Miami is now 15-15 on the season, which is the first time the team has reached .500 since the eighth game, when the team was 4-4. The Heat look to get back in the win column and turn their luck with Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks.

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra baffled by blowout loss to Raptors – ‘Thought we were ready’

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