Miami won six of their last eight games heading into the All-Star break.
It has been a major turnaround for the Miami Heat as entering the All-Star break, they have won six of their last eight games. Before then, they were on a dreadful seven-game losing streak, matching the longest skid since 2008, as head coach Erik Spoelstra and star Bam Adebayo spoke about the key difference the team has gone through.
The biggest aspect for Miami has always been their rough and tough defense that could get away winning with a low scoring game. However, during that losing streak, they were not playing to their strengths, identity, and to the much-touted “Heat Culture.”
After their seventh straight loss which happened on Jan. 29 to the Phoenix Suns, the team had a meeting and a film session where it was described as a “vulnerable” time where “things were said that needed to be said.” Since then, the Heat are second in the entire association in defensive rating only behind the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Erik Spoelstra talks about going through “harsh realities”
Spoelstra has continuously said throughout the losing skid that there is a “breakthrough” on the horizon and once they play back to their strengths, the winning ways will come back. It definitely has as he said recently that a team has “to deal with your harsh realities” to get back to the point you succeed in according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel.
“Sometimes,” Spoelstra said, “you have to go through that in a season, where you have to deal with your harsh realities. We were not defending the way we needed to and were losing games because of it. And after a certain point, you get sick and tired of being sick and tired of losing, and the pain of losing, and then you work toward solutions.”
There is no doubt that Miami has had a tumultuous season to say the least after making a miraculous playoff run to the NBA Finals where they lost in five games to the Denver Nuggets. In their sluggish start, they had to deal with constant injury issues to stars in their big three in Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Tyler Herro, and even some to their role players as well.
Spoelstra talks about the Heat’s “lowest-hanging fruit”
However, during that skid, they were fully healthy for the most part, so now it was the process of getting back to the basics. For Spoelstra, he called it “the lowest-hanging fruit” in Miami focusing their play style around their defense and being “intentional” with it which has been a term the coach has used all season.
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