Erik Spoelstra opens up on Domantas Sabonis' game-winning bucket vs. Heat

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There isn’t much hype surrounding the Miami Heat, with some critics believing that their title-contending window has already slammed shut. But despite their heartbreaking loss on Monday night to the Sacramento Kings courtesy of a Domantas Sabonis putback, there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful for the Heat’s chances of remaining competitive, although head coach Erik Spoelstra made it clear that they have a ton of things to work on moving forward.

In particular, the Heat have to learn how to weather the storm when the opposing team is mounting a major push. On Monday night, they relinquished the 13-point lead they had at the half, but he gave the team credit for fighting back and putting themselves in a position to win the game with only a few seconds to go in the game, only for Sabonis to somehow come away with an offensive rebound against three Heat players and then maintaining the requisite composure for him to put up a quick shot before the defense could react.

“There was a scrum. … It's unfortunate, a tough loss, because we showed the resolve. We had another one of those third quarters… I thought we showed some great toughness in the fourth quarter to come back into it and take the lead and take control of it,” Spoelstra said in his postgame presser, via Zachary Weinberger, Heat beat reporter for ClutchPoints.

"There was a scrum… It's unfortunate, a tough loss, because we showed the resolve. We had another one of those third quarters… I thought we showed some great toughness."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra details Domantas Sabonis' go-ahead score

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The Heat, indeed, did put up an incredible effort towards the end; Spoelstra praised Jimmy Butler for the way he helped Pelle Larson contest the game-winning pullup attempt from De’Aaron Fox. It simply just did not work out in the Heat’s favor as they couldn’t find a way to come up with the loose ball following Fox’s miss.

“Jimmy flew out of nowhere to be able to get that contest just to make it a little bit tougher of a pull-up,” Spoelstra added. “We just couldn’t come up with the rebound.”

At the very least, the Heat’s best players are rounding into form, and it should only be a matter of time before these 50-50 plays fall in their favor. But on Monday night, it simply was not meant to be.

Can the Heat shock the world yet again?

No one could have expected the Heat to make it all the way to the NBA Finals in 2023. But this Heat can never be counted out. As long as Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler act as the team’s spine with Erik Spoelstra at the helm, they could shock the world and play above expectations, and in a year wherein a vast majority of the teams in the Eastern Conference have been mediocre, the Heat should have the opportunity to stand out.

Butler played well against the Kings, and he showed that he can reach another gear when playing against quality opponents after enduring through a bit of a slow start to the season. Meanwhile, the Heat appear to have unearthed another diamond in the rough in Pelle Larsson, someone whom Spoelstra deemed played well enough to earn crunch-time minutes.

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