Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra Says The Team Needs To Play As A Group

The Heat coach feels they need play better as a team
Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra Says The Team Needs To Play As A Group
Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra Says The Team Needs To Play As A Group /

A large part of the Miami Heat's last year was based on their familiarity with each other and their ability to play as a team. 

A 2-5 start has caused Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to call out the team for too much individualism. It has caused them to struggle getting on the same page. 

“Anybody that’s trying to do it on their own, anybody that’s trying to self-will it, anybody that’s trying to work any kind of individual goals with this, it ain’t gonna work," Spoelstra said. "It ain’t gonna work on either end. We have to come together as a group to figure this out and impact winning.”

The Heat get their first chance to show change Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors at FTX Arena. The Warriors soundly handled the Heat when the teams met last week in San Francisco. 

“We know what our identity is,” Spoelstra said. “We know we have to compete at this game together, on both ends of the court. We have that kind of disposition, and we have that commitment defensively when we’re fully engaged. And it’s just proven to be extremely costly when we’re not living on that razor’s edge.

“And that’s what we’ll fix. We obviously have some time. We’re not in a panic about it. But we don’t want to wait. We don’t want to wait anymore, particularly when we know the answers to the test. It’s just the full commitment to do this connected and together on both ends.”

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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