Erik Spoelstra sends stark message about ‘doing hard things’
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo recently expressed his frustration with always being in the Play-In tournament. It sounded like a wake-up call to his teammates, and maybe a a well-intentioned plea to coach Erik Spoelstra.
While only time will tell if Adebayo’s message worked, the Heat pulled off an impressive 115-105 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday. Spoelstra made the right call to use a zone defense, which made life difficult for the Rockets.
The Heat are 5-5 in their last assignmentsimproving to 32-29.
In a report by Anthony Chang of the Miami Herald, Spoelstra admitted to having a love-hate relationship with zone defense. However, he emphasized that at the end of the day, it is all about effortas corny as that sounds.
“No matter what the scheme is, I always come back to it. It’s just about committing to the hard stuff,” the three-time champion coach said.
“We were really moving in the zone, taking away air space and trying to force shots at the rim. In a lot of these losses over the last three months, we were just giving up shots at the rim and 3-pointers.”
The 55-year-old Spoelstra is considered one of the NBA’s brightest tacticians, and he knows his willingness to do less glamorous things on the floor will set them apart from the competition.
The Heat held the Rockets to just 43% shooting from the field, including 9-of-36 from three-point territory. They also pounded the Rockets inside, scoring 66 points in the paint.
Miami has been to the Play-In Tournament the past three seasons, including advancing all the way to the 2023 NBA Finals.
2026-03-03 03:55:00
