Adebayo said:
“We didn’t play to … the Miami Heat culture that we represent. I feel like we’re letting not only us and our teammates down, but the staff, we’re letting this organization down, the fans down. We’re built on the culture. The culture is take a bunch of guys, counted out, overlooked, and you figure it out. Right now, we’re not doing it.”
The Heat came into his one very short-handed. Jimmy Butler and Avery Bradley were both out for COVID-related reasons, Tyler Herro was held out with neck spasms, and Meyers Leonard was dealing with a lingering shoulder issue. That said, Miami got six players back — among them Adebayo, KZ Okpala and Goran Dragic. Adebayo scored 28 points, while Okpala and Dragic chipped in 16 points and 12 points, respectively.
Duncan Robison also scored 22 points in the losing effort.
Despite seemingly strong efforts from the aforementioned players, for whatever reason, the Heat simply couldn’t put it all together.
At one point Detroit led by as many as 23 points, its biggest lead of the year.
Meanwhile, the Heat have trailed by at least 23 points in four of their first 11 games.
Something has to give.
Miami came into the year as one of the favorites to emerge from the East as a Finals contender. The team was dubbed one of the conference’s elite, along with the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.
At the moment, the Heat are not playing like it.
Will Adebayo’s call to action motivate his teammates and inspire some sort of push toward recapturing last year’s magic? Time will tell.
