By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
One of the first two 2023 NBA Play-In games saw the Miami Heat lose 116-105 at home against the Atlanta Hawks, with Clint Capela getting 21 rebounds. In the post-game press conference, Jimmy Butler spoke about his team’s performance.
“We’d have to stay confident. We have to know we are capable of winning, if we start out the right way and if we rebound obviously. But it’s just, I don’t know, shots don’t go in, we foul – that’s never the recipe for success with us. So come Friday, we’ve got to play, like, legit the exact opposite that we played tonight”, he said about the loss against the Atlanta Hawks.
The 33-year-old tried to find the biggest Miami mistake. “Rebounding was just horrendous. We didn’t put the body on body and they got all the rebounds, all the second-chance points. And that was the game”, the former Chicago Bulls player said. Jimmy Butler went close to a double-double with 21 points and 9 assists, adding 4 rebounds and 2 steals, shooting 6/19 from the field and 9/11 at the charity stripe.
Jimmy Butler wasn’t the only one talking about the team’s performance following the defeat. “There’s probably been a little bit more than a half-dozen times, maybe eight to 10 times, where we have not rebounded where it has just been absolutely crippling, in terms of how it’s hurt us. We definitely have to get to the film and go back to all the fundamentals. We knew coming into this game, this game would be decided by ball in the air, ball on the floor, and it certainly was”, head coach Erik Spoelstra added.
After finishing the 2022-23 NBA Regular Season with the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference and losing to Atlanta, the Miami Heat will now face the winner of the game between the Toronto Raptors (9th) and the Chicago Bulls (10th) to secure a spot in the playoffs.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images