Enjoy 3 months for $1.99! SUBSCRIBE SPORTS Embarrassed Erik Spoelstra Makes Strong Comment After Heat’s NBA Season Ends By Jeremy Beren Athlon Sports Updated April 30, 2025 2:47 PM The Miami Heat’s season was not supposed to end like this. Under Erik Spoelstra’s lengthy tenure as the head coach, few could ever credibly accuse his Heat team of “quitting” mid-game — but when TNT’s Charles Barkley launched such an accusation on Monday, it did not seem so far-fetched. That’s because the Heat’s 2024-25 season came to a crashing halt on Monday night with a historic 138-83 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Kaseya Center. The 55-point defeat is the largest margin for an elimination game in NBA playoff history — and it embarrassed Spoelstra, a two-time NBA champion with 110 playoff wins to his name.
During an exit interview on Wednesday, Spoelstra remarked that the Heat “deserved” both criticism and embarrassment for their playoff exit — a four-game sweep to the top-seeded Cavaliers that punctuated Miami’s downturn in fortunes since it traded superstar Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors on February 6. The Heat lost 17 of their next 21 games following the Butler trade and ended the regular season with a 37-45 record — tied for the worst mark of any Spoelstra-coached team. Despite leaning on All-Star talent in Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, Miami proved no match for Cleveland in the first round after escaping the NBA Play-in tournament. Adebayo has already teased changes to the Heat roster for next season, as longtime executive Pat Riley attempts to attract another star to Miami in a bid to return to championship contention. The obvious “big fish” would be Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose future with the Milwaukee Bucks is uncertain following a third successive first-round playoff exit.
