Inconsistent Tendencies Continue for Miami Heat in Loss to Atlanta Hawks

The Miami Heat continued their struggles with inconsistency in Friday's 118-103 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Heat fell despite facing a Hawks team that was without guard Trae Young and Clint Capela, who were dealing with injuries. Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 21 points.

“That has nothing to do with it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of playing an undermanned opponent. “This has been somewhat of a trend with our basketball team. We did not have those multiple efforts that we had certainly the last game, but even the two games before that. And that doesn’t even necessarily guarantee you that we win, but I don’t think we imposed our will on this game, particularly on the defensive end.”

Here's more reaction from Heat players:

Heat guard Kendrick Nunn: “We really just couldn’t guard the ball, collectively as a group. We were switching a lot but they just didn’t feel us tonight. We didn’t get into the ball enough, in all areas. It was a little bit of everything defensively.”

Heat forward Jimmy Butler: “We got our butts handed to us. So we don’t want to pretend that that one was like a playoff game. Because if it was, we would be going home, really, really early ... We're actually consistently inconsistent if you really want to be honest."

The Heat return to action Saturday against the Chicago Bulls.

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