As the Miami Heat face the Indiana Pacers Friday night in what will be the second game in NBA Cup group play, they are still reeling off a disappointing night last Tuesday. The Heat would lose to the Pistons on a mental error made by head coach Erik Spoelstra, calling a phantom timeout as he reflects a few days later about how he sees a bright side in the situation.
After Miami star Tyler Herro made the basket, giving a two-point lead in overtime, Detroit would tie the game on the next possession with a lob from Cade Cunningham to Jalen Duren. Vividly upset from the defensive lapse, Spoelstra called a timeout even though they did not have one, which led to a technical free throw for the Pistons to take the lead and win the game.
The Pistons win it after head coach Erik Spoelstra is called for a technical foul for attempting to call a timeout with none remaining 💔 https://t.co/kCjq7fUU5f pic.twitter.com/hiDgtBH0ap
— HEAT on FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSN_Heat) November 13, 2024
Heat's Erik Spoelstra reflects on mental mistake
Spoelstra would describe his mistake as “horrendous” after the game, but now, after having time to sleep on it and reflect, he has a positive attitude about everything that transpired. After the team practiced Thursday in preparation for Friday's contest against Indiana, Spoelstra said it was “what makes you feel alive” about having consequences and improving from them, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“We’ll be better from all these experiences,” Spoelstra said. “As tough as it is in this league when you lose those, you just have to embrace all of it. We’re in an incredible profession. That’s what I love about it most.”
“Even as horrible, as bad as I felt after the game,” Spoelstra continued. “It’s what makes you feel alive in this league when there’s competition and there’s consequences. If there weren’t consequences, you wouldn’t feel the elation from great wins. But there’s also the other side of it. We’ve had two games where it was two totally different emotions. We’ll get better from it.”
There is no doubt that people aren't used to seeing Spoelstra make mistakes like that as he's been super successful and considered one of, if not the best, head coach in the league, leading the Heat to sign him to a massive contract extension last season.
Heat's Erik Spoelstra shares initial reaction after mistake
While he has a positive attitude a few days removed from the heartbreaking loss, he said he felt “horrible” about costing Miami the game when they could have at least taken the contest into double overtime.
“I made just a serious mental error at the end,” Spoelstra said. “That’s on me. I feel horrible about it. There’s really no excuse for that. I’m 17 years in. We had talked about it in the huddle. I knew we didn’t have [a timeout]. I just got emotional and reactive on that and I just made a horrendous mistake there at the end. It’s a shame because we really fought back.”
“You don’t want to come down to a mental error like that, you would have liked to have seen it go double overtime,” Spoelstra continued. “It deserved to go double OT and not have someone get in the way of that. Unfortunately, even as a veteran coach, I got in the way of that.”
Heat stars come to the defense of Erik Spoelstra
If there was one bright side to the loss to the Pistons, it was the Heat star in Herro who scored a whopping 40 points while making 10 shots from deep, along with eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals. While some may say his performance went to waste, he does not have an inch of doubt about his head coach, as shared after the game.
“Spo is one of the best coaches ever. It happens,” Herro said via The Miami Herald. “Great players make bad plays. Great coaches sometimes, he made a tough decision. It was an intense moment. Sometimes, you get caught up in that. He won us the game last game. We ride with Spo no matter what.”
The same goes for who some consider the cornerstone of the Heat, Bam Adebayo, as he puts into perspective how some do not know what goes on in the mind of a head coach during a stressful and tenuous game. He would call it a “glitch” and one that he does not envision Spoelstra doing ever again.
Related Miami Heat NewsArticle continues below
“There’s a lot going through our head coach’s mind,” Adebayo said. “Time out we didn’t have. You learn from this at the end of the day… It’s one of those things where he had a glitch; he had a mental mistake. That’s the first time he’s ever done it in my eight years. I don’t plan on him doing it again. He feels truly bad about his decision.”
Heat's focus on defense heading into two matchups against Pacers
Herro and Adebayo will especially be huge going forward as Heat star Jimmy Butler is set to miss his third straight game against the Pacers. While the former has had an impressive season so far, where he leads the team with 24.9 points per game, Adebayo has had a slow start to the season, averaging 15.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 40.7 percent from the field.
The same goes for guard Terry Rozier, as after the first few games of excitement, he has been on a massive slump, including the last effort against Detroit, where he made three out of 14 from the field, scoring seven points, though he had five assists. On the season, the 30-year-old is averaging 13.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 38 percent from the field and 36.5 percent from beyond the arch.
However, while the offense looks to be better, Spoelstra would focus on the defensive side of the ball as being an area that will lead them to success.
“We need to do some more things defensively,” Spoelstra said. “We’re seeing some trends that we can shore up that will really help our defense, and then you just make plays. Even if it’s not pretty, even if it’s not going well, even if everybody is not in a total rhythm, you just find a way to win.”
At any rate, the Heat are 4-6, which puts them ninth in the Eastern Conference, as they are also 0-1 to start NBA Cup group play. They look to even it out Friday night against the Pacers as they close out the six-game road trip once again in Indiana on Sunday.
