Miami Heat Adjusting To Jimmy Butler Facing Constant Double-Teams

The Heat have faced the defense for two consecutive games

In the past two games, Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler has taken just 14 shots and scored 30 points. 

The reason is simple. Opponents are starting to realize they have better chance of defending the Heat when double-teaming Butler. 

He finished with 18 points on 5 of 7 shooting in Sunday's win against the New Orleans Pelicans, but the Heat know they have to handle the defense better. 

"It was better than certainly Dallas," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We're going to see this a lot more and we're going to continue to get better at it ... We're much improved where we were last year."

Here's what the rest of the players are saying about the double-teams:

Kyle Lowry: "It's something we're going to continue to see. He's one of the most dominant players in our league. Teams aren't going to let him play one-on-one but I think we've made good adjustments."

Tyler Herro: I think we can continue to work at it. It's something that we're going to see a lot. You have to make adjustments ... Ultimately, by the playoffs, we want to be able to have something we can go to and feel comfortable with."

Bam Adebayo: "Knowing JB is going to get doubled, everybody's got to be on red alert and we've got to find ways to get him easy buckets. If they're going to double him or before they start to double him, put him in situations he can just get easy baskets. I feel like it's hard to double someone in transition." 

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Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Inside The Heat.

TWITTER: @ShandelRich

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here