Bam Adebayo and the Heat are holding onto this one silver lining amid their struggles for the past few weeks.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Miami Heat made a well-received trade when they dealt away Kyle Lowry and a future first-round pick for Terry Rozier, giving the reigning Eastern Conference champion more firepower on the perimeter. Alas, the Heat haven’t exactly hit the ground running with Rozier in town. In fact, since integrating Rozier, the Heat have lost five out of seven, including a 103-95 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.
Now, Rozier is certainly not at fault for the Heat’s uneven play for the past few weeks. A team-wide malaise appears to have caught on; even Jimmy Butler hasn’t looked like himself as of late. Nonetheless, there are a few silver linings for the team to hold onto, with Bam Adebayo explaining succinctly why the Heat remain a very dangerous team despite their struggles.
“We was in a worse position last year. At this point, we are better than we were last year. We just need to get in the film. Lock in and keep our communication and keep figuring out how we can win these games even if it’s in the mud,” Adebayo said in his postgame presser, per Zachary Weinberger, Heat beat reporter for ClutchPoints.
This statement from Bam Adebayo, however, will be debatable for some Heat fans. After all, from a win-loss record perspective, Adebayo’s statement is flat-out wrong. After 50 games last season, Miami had a 28-22 record; this season, following a promising start, they have fallen to 26-24, which is good for just eighth in the Eastern Conference.
This is certainly not the level of play the Heat envisioned from themselves at at this point of the season. While Miami cannot be counted out among contending teams while Jimmy Butler and Adebayo are leading the team, they do not want to tempt fate yet again by putting themselves in the compromising position of having to mount a deep playoff run as a low seed.
Nonetheless, the Heat still have a few months to figure it out, and if there’s anything to glean from what Bam Adebayo said, it’s that they are never lacking in confidence and that they have earned the benefit of the doubt.
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