Miami Heat: Is Coach Erik Spoelstra The Blame For Bucks Sweep?
The Miami Heat’s 2020-2021 season is officially over. After landing the number six seed in the NBA Playoffs, the Miami Heat are now going home after being swept by their first round matchup, the three-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
The story is well-documented by now, an agonizingly close Game 1 defeat followed by what amounted to three dominations in Games 2-4. There were a ton of things to complain about from the Miami Heat’s side along the way, so it’s hard to pick out just one.
While that is the case, overall, there is a question worth asking. Do you blame this sweep on Coach Erik Spoelstra?
The answer is a rather easy one. In short, no.
light. Related Story. At $15M Per Year, Kendrick Nunn’s Probably Gone
The Miami Heat were swept out of the 2021 NBA Playoffs and one has to ask, how much of if is on Coach Spo?
While all members and parts of a team have a say in the winning or losing, to exclusively blame the results of this series on Coach Spoelstra would be unfair. The Miami Heat were outplayed, out-toughed, and most importantly, out-hustled in this series.
The Milwaukee Bucks wanted it more and it showed in most facets of the game. Also, Jimmy Butler couldn’t hit shots, going 19/64 throughout the series and Bam Adebayo was a bit timid, at times.
When your two best players can’t carry the load for you, it’ll be hard for you to win anytime. That’s especially against a team as motivated as the Bucks seemed to be to beat the Miami Heat all year long after last season’s results.
Speaking towards that motivation by Milwaukee, when you look at the rebounding battle, the Bucks destroyed Miami and averaging 17 more rebounds per contest than Miami did across the series certainly qualifies as that. If the numbers aren’t staggering enough, the Milwaukee Bucks grabbed offensive boards, at will, all series long.
This led to easy stick-back buckets or easy distance looks off of kick outs from a crowded paint. It was the things like that, the easy driving lanes, and the wide open paint looks once they drove those lanes that got the Miami Heat beat, not so much Coach Spo.
Listen and again, every member of a team has a part in them winning and losing, from the top down. That means the players, coaches, and every other member of the organization has to take a part in this.
Next. Why Game 1 Of NBA Playoffs Against Milwaukee Bucks Was A Must-Win. dark
As far as trying to pin or blame this series sweep and defeat on Spo though, not only is it unfair but it’s just plain wrong. The Miami Heat will be better, they just have work to do and that too includes Erik Spoelstra.