The Heat had just lost on the road to their key Eastern rival, the 76ers, before the game against the Warriors, who were also in the top three in the West. However, in this game, in addition to Curry's inability to play due to injury, the two main cores Thompson and Green have both taken a break. Because the Warriors are in terrible shape at the moment, almost everyone thought before the game that the Heat, who are the number one in the East, will easily win the game.
In the first quarter of the game, the Heat also showed overwhelming strength, playing a small climax of 13:0 in the opening stage, but the Warriors scored 12 consecutive points at the end of the quarter, and the two sides ended the first quarter in a draw. In the second quarter, the two sides launched a tug-of-war, neither of them could open the point difference, and in this quarter, the two teams once again fought to a draw. Yi Bian fought again, and the situation on the field of the third quarter suddenly changed, and the Warriors suddenly blasted out a wave of 19:0, directly establishing a 19-point advantage. However, the Heat quickly made adjustments, playing a 30-12 wave to chase the point difference to 1 point. In the final quarter, the Warriors once again played a small climax to widen the point difference to double digits, and finally defeated the Heat with a 118:104 upset.
The Heat's performance in this campaign is undoubtedly very disappointing to the fans, facing the remnants of the Warriors, the Heat, one of the best defensive performances in the league, actually let the opponent cut 70 points in the second half, and let the opponent play a small climax many times. The Heat, who are highly tactically literate on the offensive end, also kept making mistakes at key moments in this campaign, and eventually lost the game by missing a good game. This is very undeserved for a team that is currently at the top of the division and is aiming to reach the championship. More chilling to the fans than the final result was the infighting between Butler, the team boss, and his teammates during the game.
According to reports, because the third quarter of the game was played for less than 5 minutes, the Heat were hit by the opponent with a wave of 19:0, thus widening the point difference to 19 points, in order to make adjustments, Heat coach Spault had to call out a timeout in a row. During a timeout, without warning, Butler suddenly engaged in heated discussions with the team's dressing room leader Haslem. In the course of the discussion, Haslem suddenly became furious and pointed at Butler fiercely, saying that if Butler wanted to fight, he would beat Butler to the north. Even though his teammates and coaches were obstructive, the two sides still did not spare, and Haslem even wanted to rush forward and beat Butler at one point.
Coach Spoo also joined the ranks of persuasion, because both sides refused to give up, Coach Spoo's rare anger directly threw the tactical board on the ground, and also began to spray with Butler. The whole infighting process lasted very long and the scene was extremely chaotic. If it weren't for the timeout, the Heat's infighting would probably have spiraled out of control. However, it is worth mentioning that after this infighting, the Heat instead swept away the previous slump and played a 30:12 mini-climax for the rest of the third quarter, chasing the point difference to only 1 point in one fell swoop.
Although neither Butler nor Haslem explained the conflict after the game, and the specific cause of the infighting is unknown, from the situation on the court at the time and the style of the Heat players, such infighting is also excusable. First of all, the Heat were in a very bad state at the time, the morale of both the players on the court and the players on the bench was very low, and the dispute between them was undoubtedly in terms of the situation on the court. Secondly, Haslem and Butler are both very hot-tempered players and are very eager to win.
The former joined the Heat in 2003 and has played for the Heat for 19 seasons this season. At the peak of Haslem's time, his temper was very hot, and he was the team's approved thug during the Big Three period, and it was common for conflicts with opponents. Even though he has struggled to get playing time in recent seasons, Haslem is still the spiritual leader of the Heat's locker room and has high requirements for the team's mental state. In the first round of the playoffs last season, when the Heat were underperforming, Haslem would still throw tantrums at his teammates.
The latter is not a fuel-saving lamp, since entering the league, Butler is the typical representative of tough guys, and is also a player with a strong competitive spirit. In addition to frequent clashes with opponents, Butler has often had infighting with his teammates during his career. During his time with the Timberwolves, Butler was exposed to have a lot of contradictions with Towns and Wiggins, and in order to win, Butler would often directly blame these two leaders in the team. So it's no surprise that such a big conflict can erupt between Butler and Haslem in the event of a dispute.
In the end, for a team like the Heat, which has a tough style, no one on their team is in a high position. As long as anyone has a bad performance, anyone in the team can stand up and blame, just like in the original Big Three, James also had a fierce infighting with role player Chalmers. This clash will undoubtedly have some impact on the feelings between Haslem and Butler, and to some extent will also hurt the current atmosphere in the team. But infighting is not a bad thing at some point, which shows that there are real problems in the team, and infighting is sometimes a good way to solve the problem.
As lowry and other players said in post-game interviews, such infighting is nothing to them, even in the locker room, the Heat often have similar disputes. And that doesn't mean the atmosphere within the Heat is bad, on the contrary, it's because they all have a lot of desire for championships that similar clashes will occur because of victories. At the moment, the Heat are still in first place in the East, and judging by the current league structure, they will be one of the strongest contenders for the championship, so they are more eager to win than ever.
Of course, Butler, as the current team boss, must respond accordingly, after all, the team has suffered two consecutive defeats, and with few games left in the regular season, if the Heat want to lock up the first place in the East, then they must try their best to win every next game. In addition, since the powerful Nets are currently in the lower half of the East, the Heat are also likely to meet them in the first round of the playoffs, so the Heat must make corresponding adjustments as soon as possible.