The Miami Heat lost their 10th straight game as they fell to the Houston Rockets 102-98 on Friday, March 21.
A monster performance from Fred VanVleet ensured Ime Udoka’s team secured it’s ninth consecutive win, heaping more pressure onto Erik Spoelstra’s team. During his postgame news conference, Spoelstra praised VanVleet’s performance.
“He had one of those nights,” Spoelstra said via Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “He’s a competitor, so it can look a lot of different ways when he just makes winning plays. It can be a deflection, steals. It can be 20 points. I think he had nine threes, that’s not totally typical. He was hitting some bombs.”
Miami is likely ruing the lack of production from their own backcourt after seeing such a dominant performance from VanVleet. Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr combined for a total of 12 points throughout the night, with Davion Mitchell coming off the bench to add another 12.
As such, VanVleet outscored Miami’s entire guard rotation on his own, and that’s even if you include Duncan Robinson‘s addition four off the bench.
The Heat are on a worryingly bad slide. Spoelstra must find a way of getting his team back on track. Otherwise, Miami’s nightmarish season is only going to get worse.
Is It Time For Pat Riley To Step Down?
According to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Pat Riley should step down from his role in the front office at the end of the season. Riley recently celebrated his 80th birthday.
“There’s a lot of people that would love to come to Miami, one would think,” Smith said. “But LeBron James departed from there, Kevin Durant didn’t come there, and Damian Lillard, you couldn’t get there. Then, you made a colossal mistake. We already heard Dwyane Wade’s story all over social media about you messing with LeBron’s chocolate chip cookies. And when you look a guy like Jimmy Butler in the face and say, ‘We ain’t moving you,’ forcing him to become a bit truculent to force his way out, it looks like an organization that you’re not inclined to gravitate to.”
Riley is a Miami Heat legend. However, it’s clear the franchise needs an injection of fresh and vibrant ideas. Allowing someone else to step into a front office role and initiate a rebuild is exactly what the franchise needs moving forward.
Jeff Teague Also Believes Riley Should Step Down
During a recent episode of his “520 in the morning” podcast, former NBA champion Jeff Teague echoed Smith’s sentiments on Riley.
“They gotta get rid of Pat Riley, man,” Teague said. “…Blow up the Heat. It’s time for the Heat to blow up, too. It’s time for the whole organization just to start over. Let Pat Riley just go ahead and retire, man. Sit down somewhere, you 88. Let’s just start it over. Let Erik Spoelstra run the team from the top to the bottom. Be the coach and the GM. Just start over.”
While Riley will need to step down eventually, there’s no telling if the upcoming offseason will be when he chooses to do so.
However, if Riley is focused on re-tooling the roster rather than allowing a rebuild to take place, the Heat’s chances of prolonged success will get kicked down the road. Riley must accept that the current roster needs a total overhaul.
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