At one point during the Miami Heat’s 10-point victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, head coach Erik Spoelstra called for his players to get into a zone on defense when they had very little time to do so, and big man Bam Adebayo picked up a foul as a result.
After the botched defensive possession from Miami, Adebayo could be seen giving Spoelstra an earful.
Following Miami’s 11th win of the season, Spoelstra spoke about the big man’s impact against the Suns and said he was glad that Adebayo called him out on his error.
Erik Spoelstra talks about Bam Adebayo’s impact tonight, specifically with his voice
Says he called a zone too late into a possession and Bam was yelling at him
“I love that”
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) December 8, 2024
Adebayo also divulged as to why he was unhappy with Spoelstra in that moment.
Spo recalled him calling to go zone late in a possession and Bam yelled at him about it
Asked Bam about the play:
“That pissed me off.”
“Spo always gets on us for “glitching,” and that was one of his glitches…Next time down court I barked at him.” pic.twitter.com/jSrAWRx9hl
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) December 8, 2024
The play seemingly happened early in the fourth quarter.
The play being referenced: https://t.co/0V7A02OsYv pic.twitter.com/p6wQd80EvX
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) December 8, 2024
Adebayo was probably Miami’s best player against the Suns when factoring in all that he contributed on both sides of the ball.
On the offensive side of the ball, he led the way for Miami from a scoring standpoint with 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting from deep. He was maybe equally excellent from a playmaking standpoint, considering he dished out a team-high eight assists.
On defense, he was his usual impactful self and served as an anchor for the Heat on that end. Miami held a Suns team with multiple capable offensive players to 111 points on 43.9 percent shooting from the field. Adebayo also finished with 12 rebounds, eight of which were defensive.
Adebayo and the Heat got off to a poor start to the 2024-25 regular season but have rebounded by playing solid basketball in recent weeks. Miami owns a record of 6-3 over its past nine contests, and the team’s victory over the Suns was its second win in a row.
The Heat are also in the Eastern Conference playoff picture at the moment, as the team sits as the No. 6 seed and is three games back of the Orlando Magic for the No. 3 seed.
Miami is in for quite a tough second leg of a back-to-back on Sunday, however. The Heat will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have played as well as any team in the league so far this campaign. Cleveland has lost only three of its 24 contests to this point and owns the NBA’s best record.
