Photo: Eric Espada/Getty
With the NBA playoffs just around the corner, teams are doing everything they can to finish the regular season off on a high note. But even for top-tier teams, tensions are apparently boiling over.
On Wednesday night, Miami Heat player Jimmy Butler and head coach Erik Spoelstra had to be separated on the sidelines during their home game against the Golden State Warriors.
The Heat own a 47-26 record and are the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference but have lost two games in a row, including last night’s 118-104 game against the Warriors.
“Listen, our guys really want to win basketball games and we have guys that work extremely hard,” Heat player Kyle Lowry told reporters after the game, according toESPN. “The passion comes out. The fire and the emotions come out sometimes. But like I said, to us it’s nothing. We conversated and had a conversation and we continue to build.”
Spoelstra, who earned two NBA championships with the Heat in 2012 and 2013, said the team wants to play better heading into the playoffs but the chaotic incident won’t affect them long-term.
Eric Espada/Getty
“We got to play more consistently, and that’s really all the discussions were,” he explained. “I know how it could look on the outside, but as I mentioned before, that is more our language than playing without passion or without toughness or without multiple efforts.”
“We have bigger things to accomplish,” Spoelstra added. “But we do want to play better. Everything else across the board. It starts with our leadership, our veteran players have to lead and then we just have to play better.”
RELATED VIDEO: Jimmy Butler Teaches Emma Raducanu How to Make a Latte During Miami Open
“You can use moments during the season to catapult you,” Spoelstra told reporters. “You can galvanize together over frustration and disappointment. Teams can also go the other way. I don’t see that with our group. I don’t see that with our locker room. But we have needed a kick in the butt.”
source: people.com
