The Detroit Pistons defeated the Miami Heat 120-100 on Saturday to improve to 3-9 on the year. The Heat now sit at 4-7.
After the outing, a justifiably annoyed Bam Adebayo called out his teammates for not living up to the expectations that were set by the Heat’s run to last year’s NBA Finals.
“We didn’t play to … the Miami Heat culture that we represent,” Adebayo said.
“I feel like we’re letting not only us and our teammates down, but the staff, we’re letting this organization down, the fans down. We’re built on the culture. The culture is take a bunch of guys, counted out, overlooked, and you figure it out. Right now, we’re not doing it.”
The Heat came into this one very shorthanded. Jimmy Butler and Avery Bradley were both out for COVID-related reasons, Tyler Herro was held out with neck spasms, and Meyers Leonard was dealing with a lingering shoulder issue. That said, Miami got six players back – among them Adebayo, KZ Okpala and Goran Dragic. Adebayo scored 28 points, while Okpala and Dragic chipped in 16 points and 12 points, respectively.
Duncan Robison also scored 22 points in the losing effort.
Despite seemingly strong showings from the aforementioned players, for whatever reason, the Heat simply couldn’t put it all together.
Yikes. It’s a wrap for Jackie MacMullan.https://t.co/lIFTuBiJtc
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 14, 2021
At one point Detroit led by as many as 23 points, their biggest lead of the year.
Meanwhile, the Heat have trailed by at least 23 points in four of their first 11 games.
Something has to give.
Who could’ve predicted that having a threesome with your brother could end so poorly. https://t.co/wifkDzyL6x
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 14, 2021
Miami came into 2021 as one of the favorites to emerge from the East as a Finals contender. The team was dubbed as a conference elite, on par with the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.
At the moment, they are not playing like it.
Will Adebayo’s call to action motivate his teammates and inspire some sort of push towards recapturing last year’s magic? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
