ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne revealed that Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra reached out to her privately after his harsh comments at his press conference following the team’s Game 2 win in the NBA Finals.
During the press conference, Shelburne asked a question about Miami’s defense against Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, asking Spoelstra if they tried to turn him into more of a scorer.
Erik Spoelstra shut down Ramona Shelburne's question about turning Jokic into a scorer or a passer quickly pic.twitter.com/PxcWQNN5w4
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) June 5, 2023
The Heat head coach had a bit of a critical response, saying that it was “ridiculous” and only the “untrained eye” would think that the Heat would do that.
The comments were certainly a little pointed, but it doesn’t seem like Spoelstra meant any harm by them. He later apologized for how they came off.
Those in their feelings about Spo, he texted Ramona & apologized. It was in the heat of the moment. Y’all can move along now 😒 https://t.co/iXj80sosEU pic.twitter.com/kMUBX32vi8
— 𝙈𝙚𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼𝙇𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙨 ™ (@AIR305) June 5, 2023
The Heat picked up a massive win in Game 2, defeating the Nuggets in Denver to even the series. As Shelburne mentioned, Jokic got whatever he wanted as a scorer in Game 2, putting up 41 points on 16-of-28 shooting from the field.
However, Miami held him to just four assists in the game, and the Nuggets saw Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and others struggle to get going on offense as a result.
While the Heat certainly want to limit Jokic as much as they can, it does help when he can’t get his teammates involved as much. Denver is a deep team, but the Heat showed that they are as well in Game 2 with role players like Duncan Robinson, Gabe Vincent and Max Strus all stepping up in the scoring department.
The Heat are hoping for a similar performance in Game 3 in Miami on Wednesday night. The team could flip the series in its favor, especially if it takes both matchups in Miami.
Spoelstra is one of the game’s best coaches, leading the Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals in three of the last four seasons and making the NBA Finals twice in that span. He already has two NBA titles as a head coach on his resume, and he’s hoping to add a third this season with Miami.
It’s great to see that Spoelstra reached out to Shelburne to make sure that they are on good terms.
