Miami Heat superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped a blunt quote on his teammates needing to trust each other after losing the season opener.
The Heat were blown out on their home court on opening night, losing 131-106 to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.
After the game, Antetokounmpo made it clear that certain things need to be cleaned up if the Heat are going to achieve their ultimate goal of winning an NBA Championship this season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Drops Blunt Quote on Heat Teammates
Speaking to reporters following the game, Giannis Antetokounmpo shared an honest assessment of what needs to change if the Heat are going to do anything special this season.
“We got to trust each other. When things don’t go our way, we got to dig in. We didn’t do that tonight. Our effort has to be better. It starts with me. My effort has to be better. I set the tone,” Antetokounmpo said (per ESPN).
“We got to be better. We got to trust each other more. It’s just one game. But this is completely different offense and defense than we showed in preseason.”
Given that Antetokounmpo had 35 points in his official Heat debut, he is certainly being hard on himself with this message. But at the same time, the Greek is showing incredible leadership already by taking the blame for the team’s loss, even though it was his teammates who did not live up to their end of the bargain on Wednesday night.
Heat Need Others to Step Up
While Antetokounmpo did his part against the Timberwolves, the same cannot be said for many of his teammates.
For instance, Tim Hardaway Jr. only scored 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting, and the Heat need him to be better if they are going to go anywhere this year.
As well, while Antetokounmpo was -11 in the game, the rest of the team’s starters all had +/- ratings in the -20s, so the team needs a better defensive effort from their starters in their next game.
Fortunately for Miami, this was just one game, but the Heat clearly need to “trust” each other more next game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Has Blunt Quote on ‘Trust’ After Heat Loss