Miami Heat Players Reduced To Tears After Fourth Straight Loss

By Randall Stevens, Published 03/07/2011

The Miami Heat losing steak grew to four-in-a-row on Sunday night (March 6), when the team took an "L" in a narrow defeat of 87-86 at the hands of the Chicago Bulls. Dwyane Wade took a last second shot that rimmed out and cost the team a one-point loss. ... And the team is took it hard, said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and the team's players. Spoelstra said, during a post-game news conference, that several Miami players were reduced to tears in the locker room, following the game. "This is painful for every single one of us to go through this, there are couple of guys crying in the locker room right now, it is not a matter of want," Spoelstra explained of his team's desire to win. Sunday's loss was a little rough on the team, apparently. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau even threw salt in the wound during Sunday's nationally televised game when he said that Chicago has "guys who can close." Forward Chris Bosh also told ESPN's Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) that while he wasn't among the players who were crying, he was nearly in tears after yet another close loss. "Just to come up short again and again, it hurts," Bosh said. "We all want to win. We all want to win very badly." A frustrated Wade was a little defense during his post-game interview, sarcastically commenting how his team is exactly where everyone wants it to be. "Inside our locker room, we stick together, we're like brothers," Wade said. "We win together, we lose together. Outside, the Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games. The world is better now since the Heat is losing." Superstar Lebron James had a chance to win the game on a drive with 6 seconds left, but missed a contested shot, and Wade's desperation toss from the right baseline rimmed out at the buzzer. Wade's shot was the 13th consecutive shots that the Heat have missed with a chance to tie or lead a game in the final 10 seconds of regulation or overtime, reports ESPN. Four of those were from James, who said he's taking much of the blame for the losses. "I told my team, I'm not going to continue to fail late in games," James said. "I put a lot of blame on myself tonight. I told the guys that I just keep failing them late in games and I won't continue to do that." The Sunday defeat marked their third close loss to Chicago this season, and a four-game stretch in which the Heat loss in close games against the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, and a blowout by the San Antonio Spurs.