"No matter what you say, it won't change that a** whooping ya'll took back in the day" - Udonis Haslem reacts to Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce's strong take on Miami Heat
The Miami Heat logged their fifth loss of the season yesterday against the Sacramento Kings, 113-119. The Heat have won just two of their seven games, four of which have been at home.
The Heat made no significant changes to their roster in the offseason, and moreover lost a key piece, P.J. Tucker. Caleb Martin has started as the power-forward in the absence of Tucker.
With Miami's dwindling season and a strengthened Eastern Conference, former teammates and 2008 NBA champions, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, on Showtime Basketball's "Ticket & The Truth," spoke on Miami's situation, and their lack of faith in the team:
“What’s Miami’s identity? ... They used to be known as a defensive team that can score the ball.
"Now, they done turned into a 3-point shooting team with a bunch of ball movement. I’m trying to still figure out who they are though. They don’t really have no identity.
“Like you said, Jimmy Butler, like you say that to say, ‘So what? I’m supposed to wait 82 games to see if Jimmy Butler gonna give me something like some 36s, some 40s, some 45s?’
Paul Pierce further went on to name the teams he thinks are better than the Miami Heat in the East:
“Obviously [Boston] Celtics, I think Brooklyn [Nets] is better, Philly [76ers],” Pierce said. “Even though Philly getting off to a slow start, I think they better than them, and so, it’s just, it’s over. Their window’s closing.”
While Miami might not be as good as the Celtics or even Philadelphia, Brooklyn is another conversation.
Following Pierce and Garnett's comments, Udonis Haslem took to his Instagram to respond, stating:
"No matter what you say, it won't change that a** whooping y'all took back in the day. I know a lot about windows closing cause we slammed y'all s**t and locked you out forever."
Udonis Haslem has some words for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce 👀 https://t.co/lFrBV0MKMp
Miami Heat's disastrous start to the season
The Heat's fifth loss of the season came at the hands of one of the only winless teams in the league, the Sacramento Kings. What made the loss worse was that none of their key players (Butler, Adebayo, Herro) were injured, and simply lost the game.
Following the game, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra reportedly looked fed up, and stated:
“Right now, this is about the collective group, how are we going to impact this thing together to impact winning,” he said.
Tyler Herro had 34 points in the game while Adebayo, Lowry and Butler added 23, 15 and 13 points respectively. Spoelstra continued:
"Anybody that is trying to do it on their own or anybody that is trying to self will it or anybody trying to work any individual goals with this, it ain’t going to work, it ain’t going to work on either end.” (via) Miami Herlad
The Miami Heat came mighty close to securing a berth in the NBA finals last season, and with a 2-5 start, a reported loss of identity, something Adebayo has stated the team will figure out, things don't seem to be going too well in South Beach.