After Miami was sixth heading into Thursday, they are now seventh in the East with six games left.
The Miami Heat suffered a frustrating loss to the Philadelphia 76ers Thursday night as there are now six games left in the regular season. However, there is no time to rest as they got on a plane right after and traveled to Houston to face the Rockets Friday as head coach Erik Spoelstra and stars Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and others talk their mindset in the home stretch of the season.
What would have helped the travel no doubt is a crucial win against a team close to them in the standings like the 76ers are for the Heat, but in what ended up being a back and forth game of runs, that wasn’t the case. Butler finished the game with 20 points, five assists, and four rebounds as he said to the media that he believes “everybody knows where we stand” and that Miami needs to only worry about themselves.
“I don’t think you got to tell anybody, I think everybody knows where we stand,” Butler said. “Win, everything will take care of itself. Don’t need to worry about nobody else, we only need to worry about ourselves. Win as many as game as you can, it’s been that way all year long, now more than ever.”
Jimmy Butler on the time ticking faster and faster until the end of the season and getting wins.
“I don’t think you got to tell anybody, we know where we stand. Win. Everything will take care of itself…” #HeatCulture pic.twitter.com/j3R41MYcqU
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) April 5, 2024
Adebayo says “there’s no time for emotion” in home stretch of season
While there could be a myriad of feelings a player on the Heat might feel about the loss where they lost an eight-point lead and only scored one field goal in the last eight minutes and change of the game, Adebayo doesn’t see it that way. He said that with six games left in the season and with the tail-end of the back-to-back incoming, there’s no benefit to feeling a type of way.
“There’s no time for emotion right now,” Adebayo said when asked if there are any negative emotions after the game. “We got a game tomorrow, so it’s on to the next and focus on that.”
Bam Adebayo talking about recovering from a loss and if there’s any frustrations.
“There’s no time for emotion right now…” #Heatculture pic.twitter.com/x1gsEDgWGH
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) April 5, 2024
It was a rough start for Adebayo as he only had five points in the first half, making two of his nine attempts from the field. He had a tough matchup against 76ers star Joel Embiid and finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Kevin Love coming back and making an impact for Heat
When initially describing how the Heat locker room felt after the loss, it was definitely disappointment, but not the type that ruins the momentum for the rest of the season. They have been in this situation before, especially when it comes to veterans like Kevin Love who emphasized after the loss that Miami is “in control of our own destiny.”
“We’re still in control of our own destiny and tonight would’ve been huge for us,” Love said. “Especially separating ourselves from them, continue to be in that sixth spot, but again, we have these three games in front of us and the rest of the way to control what we need to control. We’ll fly to Houston tonight, we’ll play Houston in their house, they played tonight as well, so it is going to be a war of attrition and battle tomorrow.”
Love is still coming off a lengthy absence where he missed 14 games starting after the Feb. 27 win over the Portland Trail Blazers where he suffered from a right heel bruise. He would be made available for the first time on March 29 against the Blazers, but was kept out and also the next game for rest before making his return in the win against the New York Knicks last Tuesday.
Spoelstra was impressed with Love, making loss more disappointing
The former Cleveland Cavalier was active all over the floor in his 18 minutes of play as he scored 11 points and collected a season-high 16 rebounds. Love’s performance caught the eye of Spoelstra who mentioned was one of the reasons why the loss was disappointing, but they will “lick our wounds” and prepare for the Rockets.
“How could you not love what Kevin Love brought to the game tonight. His is passion, energy, inspiration, diving on the floor, banged his head, scraped up his elbow, everything else. He was the human bruise tonight. He was all over the place,” Spoelstra said. “That was really inspiring and I think those stretches when he was out there, it felt like ‘Alright, we’re gonna, we’re gonna take this to the win. That’s what makes it disappointing but you know, that’s this game and we’ll lick our wounds tonight. Get on to Houston and figure this out. We know that there’ll be waiting for us and then they’re in a competitive push as well. You just have to love how intense and competitive these games are for regular season games.”
Terry Rozier talks about loss being “devastating,” but have to move along
Heat star Terry Rozier was also candid in talking about how the loss to the 76ers felt, but also had the right state of mind to focus on what is ahead for the team. He led Miami once again in scoring with 22 points as it’s now the third straight game for the former Charlotte Hornets guard scoring 20 or more.
“It’s devastating for us to come up short,” Rozier said. “But obviously we can’t do nothing about it now, we gotta move on and it’s very important we get this win tomorrow.”
Terry Rozier gives his reaction to the loss. Plus, said he’s feeling better before this.
“It’s devastating for us to come up short..” #Heatculture pic.twitter.com/LdHVF65rAB
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) April 5, 2024
Rozier was also of importance towards the end of the game as on the Heat’s final offensive possession of the game, he bumped knees and was slow to walk off. However, he would tell the media that he’s fine, but Spoelstra said that while Rozier is tough, they will see his status once he gets to Houston.
Miami could be getting some huge help come Friday night as star Tyler Herro traveled with the team on their three-game road trip as it was reported Thursday. Plus, there is some “optimism” that he “could return to the lineup on Friday vs. the Houston Rockets” according to Shams Charania as with six games left and Miami 42-34 at the seventh seed, they need all the help they can get.
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