Miami Heat Refuse to Make Excuses After Latest Loss
The Miami Heat played without starters Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, who were both sidelined with injuries, Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The result was arguably one of the Heat's worst losses of the season, falling 111-85 to the Cavs at FTX Arena. The Cavs had lost 20 straight games in Miami.
“We don’t want to take away from anything that Cleveland did," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. There is a human part of it and it was a punch to the gut. It probably plays a part to it, but I think a bigger part to it was that Cleveland played a very good basketball game. They defended us extremely well and we had times where we were making the right plays and other plays where they were jamming us out.”
The Heat will have to get used to playing short-handed. There is no timetable on Butler's return and Adebayo will be out at least four to six weeks once he undergoes thumb surgery this weekend. The Heat have also played the last month without forward Markieff Morris, who is dealing with a neck injury.
“We need some time to assess everything and formulate a new plan and direction and that will include Jimmy," Butler said. "Collectively as a group, we will make the necessary adjustments. When you lose an all-star player, it is never easy. But when I look around the league, I see a lot of teams dealing with injuries and guys out and coming back. There is a lot of that going right now. We just have to weather the storm, recalibrate and figure out a new plan and direction, which our team is more than capable of doing.”
The Heat return to action Friday at the Indiana Pacers.
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