The Miami Heat were never supposed to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder — the majority of the NBA isn't. Going into Sunday night's game might have already been a lost cause, but as a player or coach on the Heat, you, of course, can't have that mentality.
However, in the 124-112 loss to the Thunder, it was the mentality, or lack thereof, that evidently drowned the Heat in a game where, according to Erik Spoelstra, they had the right level of physicality needed to play competitively and perhaps win.
Miami's physicality wasn't enough, even though they led at the half, and that's where Spoelstra's latest public criticism of his team, from behind the microphone, focused after the 12-point loss and the Heat's third consecutive loss, going back to last week.
Erik Spoelstra calls out Heat for lack of focus, but emphasizes they will get better moving forward
A week ago, Spoelstra lamented that the Heat simply aren't where they need to be to compete with the league's great and better teams. Watching Miami play this season, the championship head coach isn't wrong by any means.
The Heat have dropped their last three games. One of those games was completely and entirely unacceptable because of their opponent, the Indiana Pacers, who picked up just their eighth win on the season. Miami had no business losing that game, but they did, and then followed it up with a loss to OKC.
A better loss, but still a loss. While Miami had some good runs and stretches in Sunday's game, it wasn't enough, and Spoelstra made that clear afterward.
“We just have to be overall tougher with everything. Not just physical toughness,” Spoelstra said. “I felt like we brought physical toughness, but the mental toughness when the momentum starts to swing the other way. It doesn’t have to be a 14-2 run. It can be half … We didn’t respond well, but we will get better at that.”
Will they? After a good start to January, fresh off finishing off December well, the Heat are now 5-5 in their last 10 games. They're so inconsistent right now that while they might be holding onto the eight seed in the East and a play-in spot, they don't look anything close to a team that could even make it to round one of the playoffs, much less compete and win a round.
They ended this recent roadtrip going winless, and that speaks to many of the issues the Heat are currently dealing with. Last week, when Spoeltra admitted the Heat can't go toe-to-toe with the better NBA teams, he said they would have to rely on physicality and swarming the basketball, causing turnovers and chaos.
By playing this way, a team has to remain mentally aligned as a collective, and that's what Spoelstra isn't seeing, especially against the Thunder. Miami will get another crack at the Thunder to end this week when they host the NBA's leading team at home on Saturday.
The trade chatter around the Heat is more than any other team in the league, save maybe the Los Angeles Lakers. At least in the East, Miami is at the center of it, and for good reason. Whether moves happen in the coming weeks or not, Spoelstra has to figure out a path forward with his current roster, and focusing on the mental aspect of the game will certainly play a part. After all, he stated, they will get better at it.