Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler expressed the need for his team to improve their performances after losing 116-105 to the Atlanta Hawks in a play-in tournament game Tuesday night. Following this loss, Miami will be pitted against the winner of Wednesday night’s No. 9 vs. No. 10 game between the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls.
“We’d have to stay confident,” Butler explained, further emphasizing his confidence in the team’s ability to turn things around. “We have to know we are capable of winning, if we start out the right way and if we rebound obviously. But it’s just, I don’t know, shots don’t go in, we foul — that’s never the recipe for success with us. So come Friday, we’ve got to play, like, legit the exact opposite that we played tonight.”
By losing Tuesday night’s game, the Heat has become the first seventh-placed team to lose in the five-year history of the play-in tournament. They still have an opportunity to advance to the playoffs by defeating the winners of the Raptors-Bulls game.
