SPOELSTRA ON THE ROPES

Things are really bound to get ugly when a team starts to struggle after all the hype and high expectations in the NBA, especially if it’s the Miami Heat. First, the unexpected early season defeats, then came the Phil Jackson prediction, followed by the LeBron James bump during the Dallas Mavericks game and now comes the wavering support of Dwyane Wade. Taking all the punches is the Heat Fil-Am mentor Erik Spoelstra. If this is a boxing match, Spoelstra is clearly clinging to his dear life as he finds himself on the ropes absorbing all the combinations of left and right. Everybody knows and it is no secret that if the Heat continue to perform below expectations, the inevitable will finally happen (remember Stan Van Gundy in 2005-06 season?): Spoelstra out, Heat President Pat Riley in. It seems Spoelstra is alone in this crusade and the coming days or weeks will see if he will be able to turn things around. Here are the latest statements from Spoelstra and D-Wade according to Fox Sports and Sun Sentinel, respectively.

Erik Spoelstra: “It is so easy for everybody to push the panic button right now. We’ve gone through a tough stretch right now; panic is probably at an all-time high on the outside. My job is to prepare this team and get us ready for the games and continue to help us get better. That keeps my days full. And nights. And when I’m not preparing and working to make us get better I’m actually trying to take some moments away where I’m not thinking about this team or the game, which is tough.”

Dwyane Wade: “In this league, and in sports in general, you really don’t look at it and say a coach is your guy. A coach is a coach and he has to take hard stances at times, more times than not. Players and coaches, it’s always that kind of weird type of relationship. You don’t look at him and say, ‘That’s my guy right there,’ in the sense of me. Yeah, I came in when Spo was early in his coaching career. He wasn’t even on the bench when I first came in. He’s grown to know me; I’ve grown to know him.

“He’s a different person and I’m a different player than when we came in. So, I’m not going to say he’s my guy, but he’s my coach, you know. We listen to him and try to execute a game plan and sometimes players and coaches get into disagreements. In general, that’s life with people. It’s the nature of sports. Right now, in my opinion, no one is doing a good job, we’re 9-8. We’re all in this together. Players not doing a good job; coaches not doing a good job. As a whole. When success comes, we win as a whole. We win four in a row, Coach is going to look great.”