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Erik Spoelstra has no plans to apologize to anybody after he left Bam Adebayo in Tuesday’s win 150-129 over the Wizards, where the Heat star scored a history-making 83 points to surpass legend Kobe Bryant.
The 83-point performance — which is now the No. 2 in NBA history for a single game — has created a surprising amount of blowback, and Spoelstra made sure that it was known that he had regrets over it.
“I apologize to absolutely no one. Period,” he told reporters ahead of the Heat’s game against the Bucks in Miami. “And going into the game, it’s a Tuesday night game against a team where they’re not playing for anything, where their organization is trying to lose. We’ve already lost a game, you know, in that kind of situation. We have players [who] are sitting out. And I spoke to Bam about what I want, as our best player and team captain, for him to be locked in and ready.
“And he sure was.”
Adebayo trails only Wilt Chamberlain for most points in an NBA game with his 83-point night this week, where he shot 20-of-43 and made 36 free throws.
He also went 7-for-22 from 3-point range.
It garnered pushback from some around the league, with Wizards coach Brian Keefe not seeming to be a fan of Spoelstra’s late-game tactics. Lakers head coach JJ Redick described the latter moments of the game as “a different type of basketball.”
“I’ve seen people say, ‘You’ve got to be a purist.’ I’m a Darwinist in this league. Really,” Spoelstra said, per the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “You can do anything you want in this game. You can approach it however you want. We get criticized for what we do. There was probably irony in these two organizations. There’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing. If you can tank and get a great draft pick, I don’t care. You can do anything you want in this league. You can approach it however you want. We don’t do that.”
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo called the Heat’s tactics on Tuesday a “complete disgrace,” and broadcaster Doris Burke said she was “slightly uncomfortable with the six-minute mark and down with some of the intentional fouling and free throws? A little bit.”
Spoelstra said he’s “not losing any sleep” over it and doubled down on what happened.
“I would do it 10 times out of 10 again for Bam,” Spoelstra said.
English (US)