POSTGAME REACTION: Miami Heat vs Oklahoma City Thunder, 1/10/24.

POSTGAME REACTION: Miami Heat vs Oklahoma City Thunder, 1/10/24.

Coach what do you think about Yi’s development and what have you seen maybe in practice or maybe just the what you’ve seen from the players in terms of their trust in him to put him out in the court for so long yeah it it’s been um well earned and it’s been incremental uh

Progress going all the way back to Summer League you know preparing uh in June did the summer league and then went right to uh the World Cup he had great experience there earned a start spot and then really worked on his Player Development here and um you know he’s

Just made a lot of progress and his his confidence is growing um as you can see he adds a different dimension you know to our team uh in terms of skill and size um so we’ll just continue to to build on that their shooting percentage never really dipped very much they

Started hot stayed hot because of them and their good young talent because of what you didn’t do or couldn’t do um look the the first thing is um that that’s a very good basketball team uh it’s they’re high level uh Talent um you know uh Alexander obviously puts a lot

Of pressure uh on you to have to get a lot of things right um and and then there uh other younger players you know have really been developing um Williams obviously has taking a big step forward and hren uh really changed a lot things

For us uh at The Rim you know it felt like we had some advantages and uh he really protected the rim extremely well um so you do have to to credit them and and they’re very well coached uh as well you know they’re they’re organized they they plated their strengths uh on

Both ends of the Court um you know so where they are in the standings and in the league as the third best team in the league is Not an Accident uh so you have to to do a lot of things with great effort uh but also system discipline uh

And that’s that’s where uh we made a lot of mistakes system wise uh tonight that’s what good teams really good teams can do to you and I I I thought this was a really good important game for us uh from that standpoint um offensively I thought in the first half

We did a lot of things really well uh really were uh attacking moving the ball uh playing to our strengths and and had them on their heels uh and then I I just wish it could have kept on going I wish we didn’t have halftime we started out sluggish offensively to

Start the third uh and that just shifted the momentum just slightly we we we gained it back um you know uh toward the end of the third quarter but there was a momentum shift at that point uh and then that’s where uh our mental mistakes defensively really uh started to kick in

And and that’s where we’re going to get better is is to be able to defend whether we’re making shots or not we’re going to get there we’re not there yet and historically Miami teams always can do that right now it’s kind of dependent whether we’re we’re playing great offensively whether we’re making

Shots whether we’re playing the right Rhythm and flow then we’ll defend at at a really high level um I’m really looking forward to the game that we can win I’m not breathing it into existence but I want to you know see us win a game

When it’s in the mud where um it’s a little bit frustrating offensively even if we’re trying to do the right things uh intentionally offensively um but where the ball’s not going in that we can defend at a extremely high level that we’re capable of doing obviously Tyler can and has made

Bad shots he can make all kinds of shots you come out of a timeout six-point game he gets the ball puts up that three-pointer um your thoughts on that attempt by him was it what the design was or the thought was of going to the

Three and sort of when a player takes a shot like that you just accepted that he’s a guy who can make those kind of shots yeah um of all the things offensively um look at that point we’re trying to like come back from a 15 point 15-point

Lead uh I’ve seen him make a ton of those shots and I I don’t remember the exact sequence but there’s a a couple actions and a triple handoff and that I I think is a play right in our wheelhouse um and that that’s a makeable

Shot and he makes that all of a sudden that can change now a three-point game it can change the mental um aspect you know of OKC potentially uh I was more disappointed you know at the start of the third um and then you know some pockets of of the fourth quarter you

Know I think we got it back you know um playing with a little bit more intention offensively um but um the start of the third quarter you know I think I think um just started the Domino’s going in the wrong direction you said SJ puts a lot of

Pressure on defense seemed like Haywood at times was doing a good job on him and then you look up and he has 20 something points how do you feel like you guys defended him tonight he’s he’s a tough cover because he’s one of those guys that regardless

Of how many shots or how many you know opportunities he gets he’s going to get his average at some point you know the the ball’s going to keep on going to him uh so you have to try to be extremely disciplin and take away relief baskets

In all the other areas and then make it tough on him we didn’t take away the relief baskets throughout the course of the game on anyone else whether it was transition Cuts uh glitches that led to wide open shots those are far more costly uh because he’s going to get to his

Spots he’s got tremendous footwork you know for a perimeter player it’s it’s at such an elite level that you you have to have incredible discipline Focus uh to be able to play all the way through his shot fak step throughs pivots all of that um but I I wanted to see the the

System discipline in all the other areas um that we we didn’t didn’t show tonight and I think some of that was you know because of you know actually third quarter is because of our offense in the first half it was just because uh we just weren’t doing it the way we could

Have you got you forced a couple turnovers late with the Press but for the most part the turnover rate in terms of the ones you force is declining over the course of the game is that just the pace of play or are you actually seeing like deflections activity that sort of

Thing decline yeah it it depends like um you know tonight you’re you’re not going to force a ton of turnovers when the ball is in a very efficient player’s hand and the spacing is very good our turnover is forced um and disruptiveness a lot of that at the

Beginning of the year is when we had a lot of you know our disruptive Defenders uh out there and I’m not you know uh making an excuse for other guys um I I want to see system discipline first and then we’ll when we get some guys back we

Have that that um 10x ability to be really disruptive within that discipline um rough night for Duncan it seemed like they were putting a lot of pressure on him and weren’t denying were denying him the ball from the perimeter making you know challenging him on the shot did you

See anything in how they defended him and keeping him away from the paint and being able to be a little bit more versatile in his offense they’re good defense they’re very disruptive um they have the seventh ranked defense but at times this year they’ve been top five uh

And that’s okay you know some nights yeah you know the ball’s not always going to to find you in perfect flow in the first half we were putting up a ton of points you know we didn’t stay with it enough where we’re really putting uh paint pressure and then moving the ball

And getting them on their heels uh you know he benefits from that probably more than anybody is that overall like team flow offensively that’s question just curious about the the new look starting lineup just the decision behind kind of going with another look here and what did you like about it

Tonight yeah I mean it was a lot to like at the beginning of the game I mean we jumped out to an early lead but offensively I I didn’t have many complaints offensively in that first half that’s why you know when we went into halftime I I was assuming that it

Was going to continue that kind of flow and playmaking and uh accessing all the parts of our our menu and it just stalled out you know for whatever reason you know we’ve had a lot of different starting lineup so I’m trying to keep as much consistency as possible

And um you know that was the thought process behind that okay thank You bam there have been a few of these in recent games when the opposition shoots a really high percentage tonight uh 593 by them which is very 8 typical against you guys is it just really good players making really tough shots or do you go back and look and say that can

Happen and that something’s missing on your end of the equation um obviously you know this is a league of talented players so they’re going to make tough shots um but for us it was the the the lack ofical plays the ones where we get caught going back door not

Communic K and obviously when in this league when you when guys see a couple go in you know they start to start to the the rim starts looking bigger than it should uh you know I feel like that game flipped in uh the beginning of the third

We came out with no energy and they came out making shots B in these fourth quarters um you know Tyler was just saying that the offense when you guys hit an offensive lall it’s affecting your defense does that feel like what’s happening more that instead of like the defense

Affecting the offense it’s Miss shots than affecting you guys on defense in the fourth uh yeah I mean obviously when you’re in the fourth quarter and you’re at home you want shots to go in so it’s it’s kind of deflating but you know that’s what we need to work

On when we miss shots how can we still get stops even the game down even the game out slow the game down and uh figure out how to turn it into a a grinded wing it’s been a weird season for injuries for Haywood and even though the results

Against s SGA as far as misses weren’t always there for him tonight when he has been on the floor this season do you feel like he’s proving himself as an operational on Defender yeah uh you know in my in my eyes for sure um you know he

Does the little things you know he sacrifices for his teammates um you know he takes on the the option one option two uh and you know you’re expected to get stops I mean obviously it’s a league of talented players like I said before but you know we expect him to get stopped so

You know I feel like it’s just beer respect from us to trust him with that and uh you know I feel like he’s handling it well you know B obviously like you said in the league full of talented players one of those talented players is Chad on

The other side who it was a good match up between you two can can you just kind of talk a little bit about his game what you seen from him cuz obviously he was sitting last year and he’s finally getting the chance now um you know I feel like he’s a good fit

For that team uh you know their their energy towards each other is very you know I guess like Blended uh they have a good group of guys over there um and it’s not just him uh you know they got a they got a young group that

Can really get wins and you know they’re shocking people uh it doesn’t shock me if they they make runs in in June lineup then the concussion then you had her work your way back he missed the games how comfortable were you back in that first unit and sort of what do you

Attribute a career high in scoring um yeah I was in the good rhythm today U my teammates was fing me um you know they was collapsing the defense had some open shots um it was just you know ready to shoot knocking him down um you

Know and then I mean for me just always be I’m a defensive player so just trying to find my n defensively obviously tonight you know had to guard SGA one of the better players in this league so um you know just Tred to make as tough as

Possible for him but you know he’s a good player so wasn’t the easiest job obviously but he’s a good player for sure what’s that like when it seemed like you really were playing and defending pretty well and because he’s creative and athletic and what he does

Sort of what’s the feeling like I kind of play good defense on that and then he scores yeah I mean all I could do is make it as tough as possible make him work and um you know I mean it’s the NBA he great great players great scorer so

You know you only can do so much but um you know I felt like I did okay job I could have did better I feel like for me but um you know he’s a good player like I said you know hey what has been a Tous past couple just

Weeks because of the injury the concussions and stuff like that uh can you just was this sort of game sort of kind of boost the confidence a little bit or was it sort of just always there and never really fter yeah it’s been a kind of a up and down season for me

Dealing with a lot of injuries not really used to this um so just trying to find a rhythm and St Rhythm has been kind of tough for me but um you know for me I always got confidence in myself I was going to let the ball fly I always

Going to you know shoot my shots and just play my game um soever I get you know 10 shots one shot whatever I’m still going to play defense no matter what so it’s not even about confidence offensively it’s about just you know doing what I do play defense be tough

Not making shots you know it’s okay I’ll make shots the next night or you know keep shooting whatever

The Miami Heat fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. Hear from head coach Erik Spoelstra, Bam Adebayo, and Haywood Highsmith on the defeat. 🎙