Rough Miami Heat Game Leads to Court Tensions
Jimmy Butler and Udonis Haslem became heated with one another.
Last night saw a nasty loss for the Miami Heat against the Golden State Warriors. The Heat lost the game 118-104, and not only does that mark their second loss in a row, putting their spot in the Eastern Conference in jeopardy, but the Warriors were also missing several of their key players and still managed to beat them.
This less-than-stellar game caused an escalation of tensions on the court after the game, with two Heat players, Jimmy Butler and Udonis Haslem, to become visibly agitated, loud, and nearly physical with one another. Reporters noted that it took three times longer for the Heat to come out of their locker room for post-game interviews than it normally does, likely because they needed the extra time to cool off.
“Listen, our guys really want to win basketball games and we have guys that work extremely hard,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “The passion comes out. The fire and the emotions come out sometimes. But like I said, to us it’s nothing. We conversated and had a conversation and we continue to build.”
Udonis Haslem vs Jimmy Butler 👀
(@BuffaJack) pic.twitter.com/u6gb2qzo2M
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) March 24, 2022
“We have bigger things to accomplish,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra added. “But we do want to play better. Everything else across the board. It starts with our leadership, our veteran players have to lead and then we just have to play better. We got to play more consistently, and that’s really all the discussions were. I know how it could look on the outside, but as I mentioned before, that is more our language than playing without passion or without toughness or without multiple efforts.”