On Tuesday night, the Miami Heat found themselves with a chance to go up 2-0 in their NBA playoff series with the New York Knicks. In the end, being without Jimmy Butler proved to be too much to overcome, as they lost Game 2 by a final of 111-105.
With Butler out of the lineup, Miami needed a big game from Bam Adebayo. That being said, the All-Star big man did not have as impactful of a game as he may have wanted. Adebayo played 38 minutes and finished the game with 15 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
After the game, Adebayo talked about his performance. He took full accountability for his play and put the loss on his shoulders.
“I just got to play better,” Adebayo said. “I feel like this game was on me, and I lost it for us. I’ve got to be better. I played terrible. I put this one on me.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra also touched on his star big man’s performance. He isn’t focused on Abedayo’s scoring, but wants him impacting the game in a variety of ways.
“He doesn’t need to score 50 for us to win this game. But he has to have his fingerprints all over this competition,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra had said of Adebayo before Game 2.
The main way Adebayo impacts a game is with his high-level defense. This was one of the areas Spoelstra cited when breaking down his game.
“And the way he does it is very similar to the way that Jimmy does it. He has to do it on both ends with massive challenges for him to be able to defend everybody, anybody and all the schemes. Then offensively, all the scoring, the facilitating, all of that. But that’s what he wants.”
Following what he considered an off night, Adebayo has had a few days to regroup and prep for Game 3. The series is set to resume on Saturday afternoon on the Heat’s home floor.
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