The Miami Heat are the first seed in a tightly-packed Eastern Conference despite the majority of their top players missing significant time due to injury this season. That makes it seem like everything is great in Miami, right?
Well, for the last week or so, everything has been far from fine in South Beach. The Heat have lost six of their last ten games and visions of their internal collapse have begun pouring out.
Erik Spoelstra misses game amidst Miami Heat collapse
Miami has lost their last four games to the Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Brooklyn Nets. Those are some stiff opponents, so that’s acceptable… right?
Wrong.
The Sixers were missing Joel Embiid and James Harden, the Warriors were missing Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, and the Knicks were without Julius Randle.
Plus, while the Nets had both of their superstars available and active, the Heat didn’t even keep that one close. And to make matters worse, Erik Spoelstra wasn’t even with the team for the contest.
Ahead of their game vs. Brooklyn, it was announced that Spoelstra would miss the game due to personal reasons. This came just a couple of nights after he and Udonis Haslem got into a visible altercation with Jimmy Butler.
Jimmy Butler was HEATED in the Miami huddle after the Warriors went on a big run to start the second half pic.twitter.com/6waBmHlL1r
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 24, 2022
The incident went viral on social media, as many speculated Spoelstra mouthed the words “I’m not going to fight you” to Butler, while Haslem backed up Miami’s head coach. Obviously, there was plenty more colorful language involved, too.
When Spoelstra’s absence was announced, many people began speculating that it was in relation to the recent sideline blowup, despite the fact that they had already played a game since.
In reality, it was probably just for actual personal reasons, as indicated by the designation. But regardless, the Heat are visibly crumbling, and his absences could speak volumes.