POSTGAME REACTION: Miami Heat at Washington Wizards, 2/2/24.
Kevin Love thank you so much for joining us a oneman Winner Circle tonight and you were a oneman show how about a a double double for you and just 15 minutes of work and I know that means more to you when it comes in a pleasing Road Victory like you just had uh for sure we felt like we weren’t ourselves in that that first half um you know came off a good win at home against a very good Sacramento team and uh we just needed to uh come out and play hard in the second half
we felt like we did that we felt like we communicated uh all got on the same page uh and then they just start hitting shots in that fourth quarter we had to recollect ourselves and ultimately came up with a win but like you said always always better when you’re on The Winning Side Kevin you guys really uh making the extra effort with your spacing and and moving the basketball you for one doing an amazing job looking over the top but also uh with some of these quick passes to try to set up your teammates you
know what has been the emphasis coming out of the losing streak with with the ball movement I think just not missing moments we we want to make the right play
I’m always looking for Jimmy I’m always looking for Tyler and all the way down throughout our lineup so I want to play unselfish knowing that that ball has energy there’s certainly a Karma to it as well that that thing’s going to come back and find us if we play the right way so uh that’s mostly what I’m looking for just to get our other guys going and go from there being a role player Kevin you’ve been such a breath of fresh year since you joined the Heat last season embracing Your Role accepting it and thriving
in it want to take you back a little bit though what what happened to this team during that seven game losing streak and how are you guys coming out of it getting back to to the game we know you you can all play I think it’s just being ourselves honestly these we know what we’re capable of uh you know in the past when you know I was with uh with Cleveland it always looked like you know oh maybe sometimes this team will will will turn it on and it’ll be LAX for a few games so
I think we just got away from being who we are what we’re about um and the coaches prepare us every single day so it’s not on them it’s on us having conversations uh being a little bit vulnerable making sure that uh we’re having transparency out there on the floor and when we communicate that’s a that’s a baseline of any any great relationship and when we do that we’re such a better team so um you know collectively these these last two games they’ve been great for us obviously sometimes you have to win ugly that’s happened the
last two games but again we just keep knocking off W’s we keep climbing in the standings we’re going to be okay and again if we get together continue to be transparent get out there on the floor and communicate we’re going to be better off Kevin Love thank you for your time as as as speaking for heat Nation our pleasure to watch you do your work tonight we enjoyed your 466th career double double you’ve been there around that block a few times that just means I’m old I appreciate it guys thank you Kevin appreciate it by
the way we know that feeling not not about double doubles either um I don’t know I I uh would like to think that we are doing some things better I mean certainly defensively now two games in a row um you know we’ve been able to um show more of our identity more uh efforts and and um you know that third quarter U our activity level is extremely high defensively uh and it’s two games in a row now we’re holding teams uh you know under their average uh you know by double digits and and this day
and age it is not easy to do that uh no matter who you’re playing uh you know there’s so many um offensive players and offensive teams that that spread you out and everything it just takes a great deal of commitment uh to be able to hold teams down and you know it was a little bit of an uneven uh offensive uh game you know I thought we had some really makeable shots in that uh fourth quarter uh we weren’t able to knock those down but I’d like the process of that the third quarter we were
able to put both sides of the floor together and um that was probably our best stretch there but um the resolve and um you know that commitment on that on the defens side of the floor that’s uh progress in my mind when Jim how yeah it allows us to control the game better you know particularly when you’re on the road it it doesn’t really matter but uh home or away but definitely I mean You’ like to do it both home and away but if you’re able to control the game get into the bonus on the
road that certainly helps um we were able to set our defense you know so many times uh from that uh and different guys were able to you know get to the free throw line because we were in the bonus you know I think early pretty much in every quarter and that was a result of Jimmy’s aggressiveness um mean our pain attacks in the first half were great it was one of our more aggressive games and we missed a lot of shots like inside the circle uh but the aggressiveness uh was there and then the defense
in the second half uh in particular you put that together and ends up being a pretty physical game um you know on both sides of the floor and we’ll definitely take that speaking of aggression Terry maybe not from the field but from the line and he got there and he’s helped settle things I think he finished 11 11 from the line how much was his attacking and aggressive approach helpful yeah that that uh that unit in the third quarter uh really broke the game open on both sides of to the floor they’re really disrupted defensively
and then uh you know he has an ability to play off the ball on the ball uh to get to the basket he can draw some fouls create something you know out of really not a whole lot uh so was Jimmy him Klo uh Hae um and I I believe uh Jay Rich you know for part of that that period of time that that group you know had a really good uh flow and you you can see the uh the possibilities uh with Terry uh he’s a guy that you know you know to a fault
he wants to fit in he wants to compliment you know once he gets comfortable you know these are the shots that he’s he’s made a name for you know over the course of uh his career and in particular the last uh you know two or three years I know it’s not about speed but the Zone stabiliz certain especially put up so many yeah you know uh it it’ll differ game to game you know where we need you know to adjust our schemes it’s really about the the activity level making it tough uh on other teams
getting them out of their comfort zone today uh or tonight that ended up being a little bit of of the Zone we’re able to extend it full court uh a little bit more uh and take them a little bit out of their their normal attacks and and and three-point shooting um you know you don’t want want to look at their record because this is a team that’s really dangerous and and now you know really the last four games uh before this they’ve had some different kind of Life uh to them and they can be really
ignitable U so regardless of whether the scheme what what the scheme was going to be you would have to make you know some big time multiple efforts you have a challenging six game stretch before the allstar break starting with the Clippers on Sunday you also have games coming up against magic against the Celtics uh continuing Milwaukee Philadelphia where your team is positioned right now maybe regaining his footing a little with these last two games how do you feel about the final six going into that Allstar can’t play them all on Sunday but I know our
guys are looking forward to the competition you know uh the Clippers I think are the hottest team in the league you know right now um it’s in our house uh we had some good decent stretches uh in LA but then they really took control in that second half um and it’s better to be uh facing them with a a little bit of a momentum you know going into it uh our guys are competitors um you know so it should be a fun night right thank you thank you oh man come on um we’re talking about
Terry spit how how long do you think it would take for him to find his his role like he’s been struggling from the field but how much longer do you think it would take for him to just figure out what his as long as he’s contributing winning the last two games he’s really contributed to the win you know and it’ll take whatever it takes uh for him to get you know his his full offensive Rhythm but in the meantime impact the game impact the win and that’s what he’s doing all right thank you Tyler take
us back to the third quarter where you guys really took over this game what were the key components do you believe um I mean really you know stepped it up on on the defensive end able to get stops and turn you know turn that into offense you know easy buckets on the other end um you know and Caleb really stepped up in that third quarter um making making plays hitting shots rebounding and really just energy you know he really felt in that third quarter and I think he ignited our group want to go deep inside
your lob throws to Bam um are you just challenging how high that man can go to go get it and throw it down n i I know his limits but he really has has no limits as far as his whole game but you know I feel like when of the defender backpedaling and Bam gets a running start you know he can go up there and get it with anybody so um I just got to throw it up Tyler 7003 is your second one gave you that second fastest Heat player because Duncan’s always getting in the
way of that kind of stuff but what’s it like to hit a number like that be one of five players in the heat 36 years to have at least 700 threes uh yeah I mean it feels feels good uh just want to continue to to you know take second to Duncan um just got to keep shooting my threes and uh being confident and uh they’ll fall and um yeah I’m excited what was the goal in the zone tonight and how much that kind of help you guys that third yeah uh really just being disruptive and
um you know it takes them out of their their normal offensive sets and they’re getting a little bit of a rhythm there in the first half um I think that the Zone forces them to take shots that we want them to take which is those non-p paint twos um long twos you know and um I think they once they started the funnel we funneled them into into our Zone and um they started to really struggle on the offensive end and that’s when our our lead started to increase you guys also had those six turnovers early
it led to the separation they were able to create of 11 you only had six turnovers for the rest of the game what did you guys really clean up uh just being Smarter with the ball uh slowing down knowing that we can get whatever we want on the offensive end just playing at our pace and uh making the right reads setting three at the end of the second second quarter into the third defense locks down and you guys are able to separate what you like most about that period um I mean they regard guarded that
we uh we made shots and uh it it looked very easy cuz we was out there playing together on both sides of the ball and more than anything we won another one that’s it rebounding was so key you guys dominated the boards I know SP shared with you guys today how many games you win when you guys go that route so I assume that was front of M I think that’s that’s part of the let me turn this I think that’s that’s part of the the formula realizing if we can win the shot shots if
we can win the the the rebounding battle I think we’re all right um and you know we want to be the more physical team when the ball’s in the air you got to go get it and I think we did that adding one more kind of shot toov mentioned the free throw shots and the facts you’re were able to settle the game stop it when you got to the line be able to set the zone defense also that aggression can y’all please leave me alone that aggression I mean is that just something you realize you
have to step up now and just how much it helps the team when you take that aggressive bent yeah but I mean I feel like I always play the same way but I will say I do have to make my foul shots I’ve been missing a lot of those lately um and what’s even crazier if I would make them I would be 50 40 90 I’m just saying I’m just saying and just and just your aggressive play is there anything that sort of that triggers that like even early the last two games you went early
where you might let the game settle in what triggers that or what do you see that you know it’s go time uh I just feel like it’s we we’ve lost a couple games maybe because I haven’t been as aggressive as I’m supposed to be um we talked about how that had to change and you know you come out and be aggressive keep everybody on their heels because I think when I’m I’m playing like that makes everybody else’s job a lot easier ups and ups and downs in the course of long season you you got two
now under your belt after the losing streak how good does that feel great don’t nobody want to go on the losing streak nobody wants to lose period but um it’s always good to get one in the win column um for sure on the road and now we got a couple at home how close are you monitoring the 50490 I’m not um I don’t pay attention to it uh we sit here and we mess around and uh we joke about it but I could care less you got a six game stretch coming up before the All-Star
break that includes teams like the Clippers and the magic and Celtics and the Bucks and the do you feel you’re in a better place now with these two wins to build off of going against that level we we straight we always was even whenever we were losing games we just got to get back to playing the right way which we have believing in one another smiling enjoying the process um because I feel like we’ve hit that adversity we got through it and now it’s time to roll all right I’m going to see TI I’m Tak
us to the third quarter where you guys were able to open this up and of course as things do it’s positive with the Miami Heat led by your defense man uh good we just really been binding the uh that side man just letting our defense be our offense and then you know running out the transition and that’s when that’s when we get to have fun that’s when that’s when the basketball’s moving uh you know that’s when that’s when we start to really make plays was one of those big 38 assist nights or 40 that should
have been 40 uh but it was a night where it felt like the flow was there it felt like there were a lot of people eating on the offensive end was that the feeling you had yeah like I said man the ball was moving ball was popping everybody was involved and uh we weren’t stagnant you know we really bought into that after uh couple conversations and you know it’s been great for us Jimmy was just saying that he probably wasn’t playing as aggressive as he should have been earlier this season what have you noticed that’s
been different about him these last four games and especially tonight early on he’s been more aggressive than he was at the beginning of the season I mean basically gave you the answer um you know we we know what that man can do when he’s uh when he’s tapped in and he’s locked in and uh feel like he’s starting to get his Groove what was the goal of the Zone tonight and and how much did it kind of help change things in that third quarter goal of the Zone just to get just to get people out
of their ordinary NBA offense you got to run something else for for Zone and you know bothered them today so it work for us and we’re we’re going to keep running it
