![\"Miami](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-25-1.07PM-edited.jpg\")
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was not happy about the team\u2019s recent efforts defensively (Mandatory Credit: Justin Casterline\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nMiami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was not happy about the team\u2019s recent efforts defensively (Mandatory Credit: Justin Casterline\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
While the Miami Heat demolished the Utah Jazz Saturday night, it didn\u2019t come without some tension. Not in-game, but before it.<\/p>\n
While they were shorthanded, the Heat were coming off a 127-110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. The loss dropped the Heat to 1-2 on their road trip, 3-6 over its last nine and 5-7 in January. Better yet, the Heat\u2019s offense dropped to No. 27 while the defense cratered to 18th over that span.<\/p>\n
After their dominant 31-point win, Heat wing Nikola Jovic revealed that Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra lit a fire into the team \u2014 especially Heat captain Bam Adebayo \u2014 at the morning shootaround.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis morning, [Erik Spoelstra] kind of went off on us, especially on Bam [Adebayo], which I think kind of set the tone,\u201d Jovic said, according<\/a> to the Miami Herald\u2019s Anthony Chiang. \u201cWhen you start talking to the captain first, we just knew we had to take more responsibility and be more locked in. So I think it\u2019s (as) simple as that. Just maybe we had a little more pressure on us and it helped.\u201d<\/p>\n Adebayo led the Heat from 26 points with 15 rebounds on 8-of-19 shooting in the team\u2019s 31-point win. He\u2019s had a quality stretch of six or so games. But as the team\u2019s captain, he\u2019s always going to be the one with the brightest spotlight regardless of his numbers \u2014 and whether it\u2019s conducive to success.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like when coach confronts us,\u201d Adebayo said.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s just he got to be prepared when we burp back. We\u2019re all grown men at the end of the day. So if we don\u2019t like what he said, we can always have a man-to-man conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n Spoelstra explained after the game that he didn\u2019t believe the Heat were physical enough defensively. The Heat\u2019s defense was still far from perfect against Utah. But they tied a season-high in points scored with 147, six away from tying the franchise record that was set last April.<\/p>\n If you look at strictly defensive rating, four of the Heat\u2019s worst nine games of the season defensively have come since the turn of the calendar. Thankfully for the Heat, only one (Celtics) of their next 10 before the All-Star break will be against teams inside the top-13 offensively.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n To check out our other content, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter\/X\u00a0here<\/a>!<\/p>\n Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram\u00a0here<\/a>!<\/p>\n Check out Hot Hot Hoops on Facebook\u00a0here<\/a>!<\/p>\n Subscribe to our YouTube channel\u00a0here<\/a>!<\/p>\n \t\t\t