Bam Adebayo takes blame for Heat’s Game 5 loss to Celtics: ‘I played like [expletive]’
Bam Adebayo didn’t mince words when asked what went wrong for the Miami Heat in a disastrous third quarter of a Game 5 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday.
“I played like [expletive],” the All-Star post player said after the defeat, “bottom line. I put that game on me. It’s not my teammates’ fault, it’s not my coaches’ fault — just me.”
Adebayo has set lofty standards for himself throughout the NBA playoffs and it was his worst performance of the postseason. His 13 points were his fewest in the NBA Conference finals and he shot worse than 50 percent from the field for just the fifth time in the 2020 NBA playoffs. His eight rebounds were his fourth fewest of the playoffs and the Heat was outscored by 15 points when he was on the court — only the second time he had a negative plus-minus all postseason and his worst mark by 11 points.
As good as All-Star wing Jimmy Butler and high-scoring guard Goran Dragic have been in the playoffs, Adebayo had quietly been Miami’s most valuable player, leading the Heat in player efficiency rating, true shooting percentage, offensive win shares and defensive win shares.
With a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals, Miami needs to win just one of its next two to reach the 2020 NBA Finals. Adebayo knows he needs to be better for the Heat to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014.
“There’s no excuses to this,” Adebayo said. “Y’all wonder as a collective unit? This game was on me. I played terrible and that can’t happen, and I know that and I feel like I let my team down.”
None of Adebayo’s teammates quite agreed with Adebayo’s sentiment. Both Dragic and Butler said it was a collective failure in the second half as Miami let a 12-point lead disintegrate into a 121-108 loss in Lake Buena Vista. The Heat gave up 41 points in the third quarter because of a collective defensive failure. Butler scored just three points in the second half after a 14-point first. Dragic was one of only two players to even crack double figures in the second half and rookie wing Tyler Herro, the other, didn’t do so until garbage time in the fourth quarter.
“It’s on everybody,” Butler said Thursday. “He does so much for us that it can feel like that at times, but it’s not on him. It’s on us as a whole. We all understand that because nobody was playing the way that we are supposed to play, the way that we have to play in order for us to win — nobody.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra also did not agree that Adebayo deserved all of the blame for Friday’s loss. But Spoelstra was appreciative of Adebayo’s willingness to assume responsibility.
“I love Bam Adebayo and everything he stands for as a competitor,” Spoelstra said Saturday afternoon. “That’s why I think he’s developing into one of the great winners in this league. That’s much different than saying you’re just one of the best players in this league. He is one of the best players, but he’s going to become one of the best winners in this league because it matters to him. He’s willing to take responsibility. But of course, it is not on him. It’s all of us, including myself. We did not play well.”
The performances of the two All-Star forwards, however, stood out. Friday was the first time in the series they didn’t combine for more than 30 points and they combined for just 10 in the second half as the game got out of hand. They combined to shoot just 45.5 percent from the field — their worst collective mark since Miami’s first-round sweep of the Indiana Pacers last month.
The Celtics are well-equipped to handle Butler, though, with starting wings Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart all good defenders. On paper, Adebayo has an obvious advantage against Daniel Theis, but the Boston post player outplayed Adebayo in Game 5 with 15 points and 13 rebounds, including five offensive rebounds, on 6-of-10 shooting.
Adebayo, who’s shooting 65.5 percent from inside five feet in the playoffs and 68.4 percent in the paint, went 1 for 3 inside five feet Friday and 4 for 8 in the paint. On defense, he said he felt a step slow and wasn’t happy with his communication. He also didn’t assign any blame to an apparent left arm injury, which has had him wearing a compression sleeve the last two games.
“I missed too many shots I could’ve made,” Adebayo said. “I wasn’t being that defensive anchor that I should’ve been.”
The 23-year-old said the next 24 hours will be dedicated to watching film and getting back in the gym to make sure he fixes whatever went wrong.
Usually, he’s pretty good at moving on from poor performances, he said.
“But this is the Eastern Conference finals, like this ain’t easy to let go,” Adebayo said, “but I’ve got 24 hours to get over it and then it’s go time.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 9:00 AM.
