MIAMI – It was a gutting loss for the Miami Heat at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night in NBA Cup group play, 106-103, as it was a thrilling contest from the jump. The Heat had looked to turn the tides riding in with impressive wins over the Philadelphia 76ers and the Dallas Mavericks, but after a disappointing showcase, star Jimmy Butler was candid about his team.
When Butler was asked about the proximity to where he believes Miami is from their ultimate standard, he would flat out say “very far.” It’s hard to argue with his stance as the team started poorly on both sides of the ball, especially defensively, allowing Milwaukee and especially star Damian Lillard, who had 37 points, to light it up from deep in the first half.
The Bucks would shoot 13 of 21 from beyond the arc in the first two quarters compared to the Heat, who only attempted nine shots, making three despite being one of the more effective teams from that range.
Heat’s Jimmy Butler says the loss to the Bucks “hurt”
However, the team would go on a tremendous run in the second half, despite the Heat having third-quarter struggles before, bringing down a 22-point deficit to at one point tying the game up in the fourth quarter, they even had two chances to win or tie at the very end. Butler saw what the team could be like during that 26-9 run in the third and the performance in the final frame.
“I mean, I guess you could take something good on everything,” Butler said. “We know who we could be; we know who we want to be. We just got to go out there and do it for 48 minutes. Start the game off way, way, way better. Really wouldn’t have lost, man. This one hurt.”
“Our effort, legitimately, that’s it,” Butler said when asked what changed in the second half. “We’re flying around making second, third, fourth, and fifth efforts if needed to. We didn’t do that in the first half.”
Heat’s Jimmy Butler on how they guarded Damian Lillard
There is no doubt that Lillard overwhelmed Miami, as he was the focal point of the offense due to the last-minute absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Along with his whopping 37 points, scoring 25 in the first half and starting three of three from deep, he also recorded 12 assists and three rebounds.
“I don’t think we threw everything at him,” Butler said on how the team played Lillard. “We didn’t throw no effort, we just had him go out there and just hoop, get comfortable, and do whatever he wanted to do, whether it was get to the cup, get to the free-throw line, and then obviously hit the open three or step back three. Then we started to, you know, be more aggressive and start making him miss a little bit. And then the game closer.”
Heat’s Erik Spoelstra has a blunt take on the defense
It was the Heat’s defense that has made strides recently that fell apart in the first half, as said before, due to the coverage on the perimeter. Head coach Erik Spoelstra would be blunt in saying that the effort wasn’t present in the opening period, though he saw it later.
But Spoelstra’s main goal for this team is to see them play a complete game for “48 minutes.”
“I didn’t see a lot in the first quarter, you know, but we had to do so many efforts in that second half,” Spoelstra said. “But you know that’s who we have to be if we want to get to where we want to go. Is this league easy? No, is it easy guarding guys like that? No. We were flying around in that second half, making some things happen, and they still scored some, but that’s who we are when we’re at our best.”
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“I just want to see that 48 minutes a game, 48 minutes every night, starters get us off to a good start, second unit give us a boost, and you live with results because this league is tough,” Spoelstra continued. “There will be teams that can still score on certain nights. I loved the passion, efforts, all that stuff in the second half, and the fans did as well. You want to win the crowd, you compete with that type of passion and disposition, but you do it for 48 minutes.”
Heat’s NBA Cup chances are most likely over
With the loss, Miami’s chances at the NBA Cup are most likely gone, though mathematically not out of it, but they would need a bevy of scenarios to happen. Looking back at group play, the team had a frustrating stint that started with the Nov. 17 game against the Pistons, where the Heat head coach in Spoelstra called the phantom timeout that led to the loss and now Tuesday night with the Bucks.
“It’s disappointing, we’ve had two ridiculously close games,” Spoelstra said. “We wanted to be there in Vegas, but that’s behind us now, and we’ll focus on getting ready for Charlotte tomorrow.”
At any rate, they are 1-2 in NBA Cup group play and 7-8 overall as they next travel to face the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night.
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