There may not have been a lower night in the Miami Heat’s Big Three era than June 5, 2012.
That night, the Heat lost to the Celtics 94-90, falling behind the Eastern Conference Finals three games to two. After losing in the NBA Finals the year before, the LeBron James-led superpower was one game away from falling short of a title once again.
And while LeBron, Dwyane Wade and everyone else involved took some flak for the series deficit, no one got it worse than fourth-year Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
During and after Game 5, anti-Spoelstra sentiment was entirely unforgiving. A trigger-happy fan edited the coach’s Wikipedia page to say he’d been fired. Charitably, he was the wrong coach for this particular Heat team. Less charitably, he was “hot ass garbage.”
Seriously, though, Spoelstra is hot ass garbage. That's the underlying reason that the Heat can't get it done.
— Jeanna Kelley (@jeannathomas) June 6, 2012
Erik Spoelstra is taking his talents to South Beach Employment Agency.
— Stu Whitney (@stuwhitney) June 6, 2012
Hate calling for somebody's job, but Spoelstra has to be fired, series win or loss…
— David Oliver (@doliversub13) June 6, 2012
This Miami Heat team needs a coach who can motivate and help lead these guys more than anything else. Don't think Spoelstra is the answer.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) June 6, 2012
See ya Spo
— scottzolak 🏈 (@scottzolak) June 6, 2012
@JMV1070 definitely a cop out. spo's been weak since he got that job.
— bomani (@bomani_jones) June 6, 2012
https://twitter.com/spikeeskin/status/210368746123038720
Erik Spoelstra is still an NBA coach?
— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) June 6, 2012
Doc Rivers coaches methodically like a general on the battlefield. Erik Spoelstra coaches like he's playing Xbox.
— Dane Cook (@DaneCook) June 6, 2012
@ledax I can't stand Spoelstra. Despise the guy! He doesn't deserve coaching the team.
— Jack Rico (@JackRicofficial) June 6, 2012
I like Spo but I think the best scenario would be for him to coach a young upcoming team. The Heat needed Pat Riley for these past 2 years.
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) June 6, 2012
Bill Parcell could coach the Heat better than Spo
— Mitch B (@MitchBTV_) June 6, 2012
@Venomous408 I'm gonna hit Spoelstra hard on NBA tonight at 1am. Absurd how poorly coached they were tonight
— Timothy Legler (@LegsESPN) June 6, 2012
Spoelstra particularly suffered in comparisons with Celtics coach Doc Rivers.
Doc Rivers is an excellent coach. Maybe Top 3. But he also commands respect. Miami players don't respect Spoelstra.
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) June 6, 2012
Doc Rivers is to Erik Spoelstra as the Garden of Eden is to Olive Garden.
— Colin Jost (@ColinJost) June 6, 2012
Doc Rivers coaches methodically like a general on the battlefield. Erik Spoelstra coaches like he's playing Xbox.
— Dane Cook (@DaneCook) June 6, 2012
Doc Rivers is playing chess. Spoelstra is playing checkers. FIRE SPOELSTRA!!!
— Tony Rock (@TONYROCK) June 6, 2012
There seemed to be some consensus that instead of coaching the Heat, Spoelstra should coach the Charlotte Bobcats, who had a vacancy at the time and had just completed the worst season in NBA history.
https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/210218541914406914
https://twitter.com/martinrickman/status/210355045261246464
After Game 5, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojanrowski implied that Spoelstra was in fact one loss away from coaching the Bobcats.
He had to know that he possibly coached his final game at AmericanAirlines Arena with this startling 94-90 Game 5 loss, that losing in the conference finals would leave him with nothing but a notebook of cool Doc Rivers plays to bring with him to Charlotte.
But of course, Spoelstra never ended up in Charlotte. LeBron put up 45 points and 15 rebounds in Game 6 as the Heat beat the Celtics 98-79, and Miami continued on to the finals, where the dispatched the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games. The Heat won another title the following year, and Spoelstra wound up out-lasting every player on his roster, except Udonis Haslem.
Spoelstra is still the Heat coach, and given that Miami almost made the playoffs this past season despite featuring Dion Waiters in a key role, his job doesn’t look to be in danger. The Heat are probably glad they didn’t fire him after Game 5 in 2012.
