The Miami Heat’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Clippers added another deflating defeat to a slowly declining season.

But coach Erik Spoelstra is still holding hope going forward. He remains optimistic that the team can use this as fuel to continue winning again.

“You can go the other way and say this is too much, or you can use these adversities to try to find something better from it,” Spoelstra said. “You always have a choice about your approach, your attitude, your mentality, your mindset, and our collective will. It can get stronger from this, so I’m not concerned about that in this locker room.”

Spoelstra used guard Pelle Larsson’s performance as an interesting motivation source for the rest of the team. Larsson had 10 points in his 28 minutes off the bench.

“The most inspiring moments were when Pelle came in, and we just need a whole lot more of that,” Spoelstra said. “One through 15, all the way through. As many guys that can inspire with those multiple efforts and tough plays, we can get out of this. Just takes a win, you can’t overwhelm yourself with everything.”

Miami currently ranks ninth in the Eastern Conference, 0.5 games behind the Orlando Magic for a top-eight spot. With one month left in the regular season, the Heat need to accumulate wins for any chance to make the postseason.

Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Miami Heat on SI. He can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.

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