Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat slumped to an embarrassing loss against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. On a day where the stalwarts like Chris Paul and Devin Booker could not influence the game, the Suns’ bench stepped up to do the job.
There were many defensive frailties on display from the Miami Heat. However, Jimmy Butler felt that their offense needs to be a lot better if they want to have any chance of winning the championship this season.
In the post-game press conference, Butler expressed his displeasure with the team’s offensive performance. He said, “We just start making stuff up after a while. We’re not doing what we say we’re gonna do. It turns bad very quickly. We must get away from that. We know what we’re supposed to be doing, we just choose not to do it.”
He continued, “Our offense needs to get drastically better. I think we did a good job on the defensive end. Had a couple of miscues, but nothing too crazy. However, I think our offense and our spacing are gonna help us score a lot more points against the Nuggets.”
Jimmy Butler and the Heat fail to stop the Phoenix Suns
It was a sterling effort from everyone who came off the bench for the Suns. Cam Payne was the star of the show as he came off the bench to score 14 points. He also racked up seven assists and five rebounds during the course of the game. Apart from him, Cam Johnson contributed heavily towards the victory. He scored 15 points and had five rebounds to his name.
PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 13: Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns and Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat fights for position
“They’re a very good defense,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They did that similarly to us in Miami. Got us out of our normal flow, flattened us out a little bit. Things started to slow down and we held on to the ball too much.”
The Miami Heat are sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. At the moment, they are well in contention for the playoff spots. However, coach Spoelstra and his men will look to improving their performances ahead of the business end of the season.
