Miami Heat Fans Pelt Erik Spoelstra With Criticism After Latest Loss

The chances of the Miami Heat firing coach Erik Spoelstra are likely as snow in South Florida in July.

That’s not happening any time soon. Nor should it because Spoelstra is one of the best at his job in league history.

Still, that didn’t prevent fans from criticizing their coach after the latest loss to the Chicago Bulls. The Heat blew a 17-point lead after being outscored 36-20 in the fourth quarter. It was the 16th time they lost a double-digit lead this season.

Even Spoelstra expressed some frustration after a third straight loss. At 29-34, the Heat hold the No. 9 spot in the Eastern Conference.

“Today was a regression for one night,” Spoelstra said. “We have a competitive character. We’re going to bounce back. But we had some of these things bubble up again.”

Many fans were upset about rookie center Kel’el Ware’s lack of playing time in the fourth quarter when the Bulls made their run.

“But again, my ownership part of it will be if we had some fresher bodies and fresher minds,” Spoelstra continued. “You know, maybe we’d have the ability to withstand that. So we’re all in this together, that’s what I told the group right now, I’m fully with them. This is an opportunity for all of us to face our demons to get past this. This is not something that’s comfortable for any one of us. And I see something amazing on the other side if we can collectively overcome this.”

Fans were so upset with Spoelstra they took a night off from throwing shade at guard Terry Rozier, who finished with 15 points.

“We just got to figure it out,” Rozier said. “We’ve got to fix it now.”

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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