Bam Adebayo has been the X-Factor for the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, but he did not dominate Game 5 like he had been doing during the rest of the series, and his team suffered, losing 121-108.
But to his credit, he did not shy away from his poor performance. In fact, he held himself accountable, and then some.
Jimmy Butler is the Heat’s leader, and Tyler Herro was the best player on the court in Game 4 — dropping 37 points — but neither of them played particularly well on Friday night. Still, Adebayo didn’t call them out or anything like that. Instead, he focused on himself, taking blame for the Game 5 loss.
“This game’s on me, I played terrible,” Adebayo said. “I feel like I let my team down today.”
Bam Adebayo takes blame for the loss. “This game is on me” pic.twitter.com/IYR4TZ52UG
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) September 26, 2020
He wasn’t terrible, but he didn’t protect the rim as well as he usually does, nor did he dominate on the offensive end. It’s possible that he was playing hurt, though, as he hurt his wrist in the previous game, and maybe that took a toll on his performance in Friday’s loss. It will be interesting to see what version of Adebayo the Heat get in Game 6 on Sunday.
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