The exhale finally came on the court, during the Miami Heat’s morning shootaround ahead of Monday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center.
That followed the whirlwind of Friday’s seven-game team suspension of forward Jimmy Butler, Saturday night’s season-worst 136-100 loss to the Utah Jazz at Kaseya Center, and then Sunday’s crosscountry flight ahead of this six-game trip.
“Yeah, I mean it’s been an emotional rollercoaster for like the past 72 hours for everybody,” center Bam Adebayo said. “So it was good for us to get on the road, where it’s just us, so we can really bond and rally around each other.”
As much as the trip can stand as a potential reset for the Heat, so, too, did a return to the court stand as a potential one for Adebayo.
Adebayo went into Monday night’s game coming off a four-point performance against the Jazz, a game he closed 0 for 6 from the field, declining interviews afterward on Saturday night.
That had him at Monday’s shootaround reflecting with FanDuel Sports’ Jason Jackson about his ongoing balancing act as he works through it with coach Erik Spoelstra.
“For me, man, it’s just out there, I don’t know, my role changes every day,” Adebayo said, with such adjustment now more acute in the absence of Butler. “Like I said, sometimes it is where I just put my head down and go score. Sometimes I need to be the point guard, to facilitate, make the extra pass, so other guys can get going. Other days it can be the stuff that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.
“So for me, it changes game to game. Me and Spo are trying to figure this out to where it can be a consistent basis.”
Spoelstra said the Heat had no recourse but to take a hard look at Saturday’s video, a game when the deficit reached 43 against an opponent that entered 7-25.
Asked about the area of focus in that review, Spoelstra also pointed to the defensive failings in Thursday night’s 128-115 loss to the visiting Indiana Pacers.
“It’s our competitive spirit, particularly on the defensive end,” Spoelstra said. “You definitely have to have your defense travel. The last two games were not indicative of a lot of the habits we’ve been building of a top-10 defense of all season long. And we paid the price for it.
“I don’t know what would have happened with a better defensive disposition, but it would have felt different, I’m sure.”
For now, the challenge remains finding a way in the absence of Butler, who was suspended without pay for what the team Friday termed “multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks.” Butler remains behind in Miami.
To Spoelstra, it is about who is available and how those available have to adjust and move forward, with a game on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center to follow.
“So things happen during the course of long seasons,” Spoelstra said. “We just need to recalibrate and get back to our identity.”
Heat comparison
Ahead of his team’s Sunday night loss to Sacramento, Warriors coach Steve Kerr reflected on the Kings’ dismissal last week of coach Mike Brown, who had served as a Kerr assistant with the Warriors. Kerr’s reflection also included a reference to Spoelstra, who served as a Kerr assistant during Team USA’s run to Olympic gold last summer at the Paris Games.
“We all go through stretches,” Kerr said. “We just lost 12 out of 15. Everybody in the league goes through stretches. Miami just lost by 35 at home to Utah. Miami’s not firing Erik Spoelstra. All of these issues that we face as organizations, it’s a group effort and we all share blame when things go wrong.
“I just have a really hard time understanding, with what Mike has done there, how that move was made. But it was made, so I’ll leave it at that.” . . .
Forward Haywood Highsmith, who did not travel with the Heat on Sunday due to what the team listed as personal reasons, was back with the team on Monday.