Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra explained that the team is not happy with how it played on Monday and Tuesday this week.
The Heat dropped consecutive games to the Memphis Grizzlies and Detroit Pistons, losing badly to Detroit on Tuesday night. The Pistons are one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference this season and were without Cade Cunningham against Miami, making it a frustrating loss for the Heat at home.
“None of us are happy about this,” Spoelstra said. “You walk in the locker room, nobody feels good about the last 48 hours. And again, as a reminder, just five days ago, we were coming off of a very good road win. But we do have to collectively own this and that’s all of us. Everybody in the locker room and the coaching staff and myself, we have to do a better job.”
Miami’s loss to Memphis was also a questionable one, as All-Star point guard Ja Morant did not play for the Grizzlies in the game. The two losses have pushed Miami back to 11-14 on the season.
The Heat are in the No. 11 spot in the East following Tuesday’s action in the NBA, and they’ve taken a major step back so far from where they were last season.
In the 2021-22 campaign, the Heat earned the No. 1 seed in the East and won 53 games. The team already has 14 losses this season after losing just 29 games last season.
Injuries have certainly played a major role in Miami’s struggles, as Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Victor Oladipo and others have missed significant time so far this season. Still, that’s not an excuse for how the Heat played in their last two games.
Miami is going to need to improve on offense to turn things around, and Spoelstra is right that everyone has to do a better job.
The Heat finished with under 100 points in each of their losses this week, and the team is now 26th in the NBA in offensive rating.
This has been an issue for some time now for the Heat, as their offense stalled in the Eastern Conference Finals last season against the Boston Celtics as well.
Spoelstra is one of the best coaches in the NBA, so Heat fans have to be confident that he will be able to rally the team to turn things around.
Miami will have a chance to get back in the win column on Thursday night when it hosts the Los Angeles Clippers. That could be a tough game if Kawhi Leonard and Paul George suit up for Los Angeles.