How Miami Heat’s Twitter Reacted to the Loss Against the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday Night
Heading into Tuesday night, Miami Heat fans were making predictions on how they’d fare against the Boston Celtics in the first round. Now, they have to fathom if they’ll even be in the postseason after losing to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks were practically an afterthought for many fans, who watched Miami dominate them dating to last postseason. Atlanta got their revenge with a blowout win forcing the Heat into a win-or-go-home scenario Friday night. Many fans are throwing in the towel, expressing their unwillingness to pay the team any more attention this year.
For Bam Adebayo, there was more criticism after another subpar performance. The 30-point performances he churned out before the All-Star break haven’t occurred since. He had just 12 points and nine rebounds Tuesday night, feeding into the narrative of his inability to perform in big games.
Even Jimmy Butler, the usual subject of praise on social media, was criticized after going just 6 of 19 from the field.
There were many reasons for concern, one of which was the Heat’s continued rebounding issues. Atlanta outrebounded the Heat 63-39, and Clint Capela’s eight offensive rebounds trailed Adebayo’s total by one. Another cause for concern was Kyle Lowry’s 33-point performance leading to a losing effort. It was arguably Lowry’s best game in a Heat jersey but Miami was not able to take advantage.
Now, the Heat play the Chicago Bulls (40-42) or Toronto Raptors (41-41) to advance to the playoffs. They are 1-3 against Toronto and 0-3 against Chicago this season.
Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
