Bam Adebayo
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Following the Miami Heat loss to the Orlando Magic, Bam Adebayo didn't hold back on the referees.
The Miami Heat ended their seven-game win streak with a 121-117 loss to the Orlando Magic on March 14. After the game, Heat center Bam Adebayo didn’t hold back his thoughts on the referees.
With 36.6 seconds left in the game and down 117-113, the Heat were called for a five-second violation, essentially ending the game and solidifying a Heat loss.
“For the call, I thought it was fast,” Adebayo said. “That’s what’s frustrating about it, because we get fined if we say something about it, but that altered the game. When you alter the game, you should have to stand on that, because when we mess up, when we make mistakes, when we miss stuff, all hell breaks loose on us.”
“On the other side, I felt like they had a five-second call that wasn’t called,” Adebayo added. “You see what I’m getting at. They affect the game in a way where sometimes it does have an effect, and they get to go home and sleep peacefully.”
Adebayo finished the game with 20 points and 7 rebounds on 6-15 shooting. He also led the team with 4 steals and 2 blocks.
He wasn’t the only Heat player to comment on the referees after the game. Heat guard Norman Powell was asked about his thoughts on the five-second violation.
Powell was just as blunt as Adebayo in his answer.
“I thought the five-second violation was BS,” Powell said. “It was too fast; we couldn’t even get through our first two actions before they called a five-second violation. Late game, when we got them trying to get the ball in, they allowed them to call a timeout when it’s clearly longer than what our five-second call was.”
Powell finished the game with 20 points, 3 assists and 1 rebound on 7-15 shooting. He also came off the bench for the first time this season.
The Miami Heat Ended the Season Series With the Orlando Magic Winless
Paolo Banchero and Norman Powell
GettyThe Miami Heat will end the season series against the Orlando Magic with a 0-5 record
With the loss to the Orlando Magic, the Heat finished the regular season series going 0-5 against their Florida rivals.
All five games were decided by less than 10 points, with the largest margin of victory coming in a Magic 117-108 win on December 9.
If the Heat had defeated the Magic, they would have jumped to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference standings. With the loss, the Heat dropped to the seventh seed and back in the play-in tournament.
“Right now, we just need to focus on winning games and pouring into the team right now,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’re doing whatever we feel is necessary to put ourselves in a position to win.”
The Miami Heat are Becoming Healthier Towards the end of the Season
Despite the loss to the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat saw guards Tyler Herro and Norman Powell return to the lineup after missing multiple games.
Powell hadn’t played since February 26 after battling a right groin injury. Herro missed two consecutive games while sitting out with soreness in his quadriceps.
The injury report is now down to just three players: Andrew Wiggins, Nikola Jovic and Terry Rozier.
“It looks like everybody came out of the game good, so that’s a positive step,” Erik Spoelstra said.