How Heat’s Erik Spoelstra putting Bam Adebayo on blast sparked dominant win over Jazz

As it has been a concerning January for the Miami Heat, as the team has been unable to win consecutive games in the month, there needed to be some sort of change or a fire lit under the roster. With the Heat currently in a West Coast road trip, coming off a disappointing 127-110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, they bounced back hugely with a 147-116 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday.

It was before the win that proved key as a team dinner and a meeting in the morning changed the mindset of the game, with head coach Erik Spoelstra calling out the team and its captain, Bam Adebayo. For young star Nikola Jovic, who came into the game with a slump, those talks “set the tone.”

“We had a team dinner last night,” Jovic said, who recorded 23 points off the bench, via the team, posted to X, formerly Twitter, by HeatCulture. “This morning, Spo kind of went off on us, especially on Bam [Adebayo], which I think kind of set the tone. When you start talking to the captain first, we just knew we had to take more responsibility and be more locked in…Just maybe we had a little more pressure on us, and it helped.”

Nikola Jovic said Spo went off on them in the morning shoot-around:

“Something had to be said this morning, Spo kind of went off on us especially on Bam which I think set the tone…we just knew we had to take more responsibility and be more locked in…” https://t.co/mK538w46GW pic.twitter.com/ESlQfSHRZj

— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) January 25, 2026

There was no doubt that after the loss to Portland, the team was irate, allowing the team to rain it down from three-point range (20/50, 40 percent), which came into that contest with the worst three-point percentage.

“It’s just there’s a feeling, and the Blazers did not feel us enough,” Spoelstra said. “And we paid the price for that; it ended up being from the three-point line. And then tonight we wanted to make sure that we came out with more force.”

Heat’s Bam Adebayo on the team meetings with Erik Spoelstra 

While the Heat star in Adebayo has gotten out of his offensive slump, continuing on Saturday with scoring 26 points and collecting 15 rebounds, he would be emphasized during the meeting since he’s the captain of the team. Adebayo spoke about the benefits of those types of meetings and expressed how open it is, with even himself getting involved with Spoelstra.

“It definitely clears the air, clears the room,” Adebayo said, via the team, posted to X by Heat Central. “All being said, we like when coach confronts us, it’s just he got to be prepared when we burp back. We’re all grown men at the end of the day. So if we don’t like what he said, we can always have a man-to-man conversation.”

Bam Adebayo on Coach Spo calling out players in a team meeting yesterday morning

“You’re definitely clearing the air, clearing the room. All being said we like when Coach confronts us, he just has to prepare when we bark back. We’re all grown men at the end of the day so if… pic.twitter.com/uEebMDGxSH

— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) January 25, 2026

It was an impressive game on the glass for Miami, out-rebounding the Jazz, 64-34, especially offensively, 26-7, led by Adebayo, who had seven. Spoelstra would say Adebayo “set the tone” for the game as he described himself as ‘leading by example.’

Coach Spo said Bam set the tone for tonight’s win:

“Tonight we wanted to make sure we came out with more force and Bam set the tone for that — he was on the offensive glass, he was defensively calling out schemes…knocking down shots, he’s really showing his versatility right… pic.twitter.com/RXYC5SDaO0

— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) January 25, 2026

“We know what we’re capable of, we just got to be more consistent with it,” Adebayo said. “That’s from top to bottom.”

That’s the goal and message of the entire season, which is to be consistent and distance themselves from a .500 record and play-in tournament purgatory. The goal now is to stack the wins with Miami at a 24-22 record, eighth in the East, as the team faces the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.

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