NEW YORK — With his two NBA titles and two additional trips to the Finals during the Miami Heat’s Big Three Era, and his selection as one of the league’s 15 greatest coaches in 2022, Erik Spoelstra’s reputation is nearly spotless.
But lately, things have been incredibly rough for Spoelstra and the Heat. On Monday, Miami lost 116-95 to the New York Knicks for their eighth consecutive defeat — the Heat’s longest during Spoelstra’s 17-year coaching career.
“We’re all getting tested, including myself,” Spoelstra said. “No one’s absolved from this. I’ve not come up with enough answers for this team. I have to do a better job. Our group has to do a better job.
“We have to put our feet into the dirt and hold our ground at this point. You always have a choice. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win, necessarily. … But [you at least have] to make some strides. And you could see that in some of the losses over the last three weeks, where it felt like we were making strides. The last two games haven’t felt like that.”
It has been a frustrating season for the club, which has a history of playing with effort. The franchise endured a high-profile standoff with former star player Jimmy Butler, who was suspended multiple times after demanding a trade. Team president Pat Riley traded Butler to the Golden State Warriors before the deadline.
The Heat, who have gone 4-15 since the move, have been held under 100 points for three consecutive games for the first time since 2018. Miami, which is in the 10th and final spot for the play-in tournament in the East, is 10 games below .500 for the first time since 2017.
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“We’re going through the dark days right now,” forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said after the loss. “As a team, right now we’ve got to come together and find a way to fight. It’s something we’ve been talking about. We just need to find something to rally around.”
Miami (29-39) jumped out to a 12-0 advantage over the first four minutes Monday. But things turned quickly in the second quarter, when Knicks All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns reeled off 15 consecutive points in just over three minutes to give New York a 33-31 lead, its first of the game.
The Knicks continued to pour it on in the third quarter, outscoring Miami 41-15. The game was delayed about 10 minutes after actor and comedian Tracy Morgan, who was sitting courtside, required medical attention. He was taken off the court in a wheelchair.
“We hope Tracy feels better soon and look forward to seeing him back courtside,” a Madison Square Garden spokesperson said in a statement.
The Heat head back to Miami for a five-game homestand as they attempt to snap their skid. Spoelstra said it will be a test for his players to mentally push forward.
“This has been one of the biggest challenges that I’ve ever come up against in a regular season. But we just have to stay the course,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll have another game Wednesday night, and we have to collectively get our mind right. All these losses don’t have to necessarily impact the next game. That’s the mental discipline [we need], and it’s a tough human condition to fight because it’s human nature to stack up some of these memories and let them affect us for the next game.”
ESPN Senior NBA Writer Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.
