Jimmy Butler takes responsibility after latest Heat loss

A week ago, Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler was critical of his team following a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. After the Heat dropped another game to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, Butler struck a more conciliatory note.

Butler said after Friday’s game that he would “ride with these guys ’til wheels fall off,” pointing the finger at himself for not doing enough to help the team.

“We’ve got to be in this thing together, which we are,” Butler said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We’ve had lapses where I could do more. I got to show that I could do more.”

It’s a different tone than the one Butler used a week earlier. At the time, he was sharply critical of the team’s play, and the comments even raised questions about chemistry issues. As honest as those original comments were, Butler’s handling of this latest loss is probably better for team morale, at least publicly.

The Heat sit seventh in the Eastern Conference after Friday’s loss, putting them in danger of landing in a play-in spot just one year after reaching the NBA Finals.