Bam Adebayo feels he’s taking an excessive amount of blame for the Heat’s 0-4 start, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. He’s averaging 11.8 points per game and shooting 40% from the field after posting averages of 20.1 PPG and 44.2% shooting last season. Adebayo scored just eight points in 30 minutes against Dallas on Monday.
“Can’t overthink basketball, man. For me, it’s my shot’s not going in,” Adebayo said. “It’s funny how the outside noise wants to make me the scapegoat, but when the tables turn … when the energy shifts, just be prepared for that.”
Adebayo, who is the first year of a three-year, $160.3MM extension, also believes the media is too eager to criticize during the bad times and not as willing to give praise when things are rolling.
“The media gonna be the media,” Adebayo said. “They gonna try to bury you when you’re down, and then it’s quiet when you’re up, so you expect that from the media.”
Adebayo is closing in on a milestone. He’s just seven rebounds from breaking Udonis Haslem’s franchise record of 5,791 rebounds in a Heat uniform.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Tim Hardaway Jr. was joyful this summer when he signed a one-year, $6.5MM contract to join the Heat, a team that his father helped lead to the Eastern Conference finals in 1997. But Hardaway is off to a slow start, making just five of 25 shot attempts during the first four games. He averaged 13.5 points per game for Denver last season while shooting 44.7% from the field and remains confident that a turnaround will come soon. “Everyone is really searching, really trying to create offense for themselves to get themselves going rather than let the offense dictate and let the game come to them, including myself,” Hardaway said, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “For the most part, I would love to get more shots in rhythm, but right now it’s doing the little things and the offense will come.”
- Pelle Larsson, Bobby Portis, Dru Smith and Hardaway were the reserves that coach Erik Spoelstra used on Monday, while Nikola Jovic did not play, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. Jovic, who appeared in the first three games, is in the first year of a four-year, $62.4MM extension.
- Giannis Antetokounmpowho is averaging 28.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, is still looking for his first win as a member of the Heat. “We all have to take a deep breath, and eventually we’re going to figure it out,” Antetokounmpo said, per Chiang. “You cannot press the panic button and panic. Because it’s only going to get worse if you start panicking. … You just got to keep on playing basketball. You’re going to figure it out. But once you figure it out, you cannot let it go. Feel what you feel now. I feel what I feel now. I don’t like this feeling. The moment we turn this around, I’m always going to remember this feeling, and I’m going to try not to get back to this feeling.”
- Miami’s injury report is relatively short for their game at Atlanta on Wednesday. Simone Fontecchio is doubtful due to an illness and didn’t travel with the team, Chiang tweets. Larsson (ankle sprain) is listed as probable.