Erik Spoelstra Regrets Timeout Call in Heat's Loss: Takes Responsibility

DETROIT (AP) — Erik Spoelstra took full responsibility for a critical error after calling a timeout the Miami Heat didn't have with just 1.1 seconds left in overtime on Tuesday night. This mistake resulted in a technical foul being called, allowing the Detroit Pistons to take the lead with a crucial free throw.

Malik Beasley made it and the Pistons went on to 

beat the Heat 123-121

“I made just a serious mental error there at the end,” 

Spoelstra said

The Heat had a 121-119 lead after Tyler Herro’s basket with 1.8 seconds remaining. But after a timeout, the Pistons ran a well-executed inbounds play, with Cade Cunningham throwing a lob pass that Jalen Duren slammed down.

Spoelstra quickly and angrily stormed onto the court and motioned for a timeout.

“There’s really no excuse for that,” Spoelstra said. “I’m 17 years in. We had talked about it in the huddle, I knew that we didn’t have anything. I just got emotional and reactive on that and I made just a horrendous mistake there at the end. It’s a shame.”

Spoelstra has won two NBA championships, was an assistant coach on the U.S. team that won an Olympic gold medal this summer, and was the overwhelming choice of executives who responded in the 

NBA.com GM Survey

But he made a rookie mistake Tuesday that negated a brilliant performance by Herro, who scored 40 points and made 10 3-pointers.

“You don’t want it to come down to a mental error like that,” Spoelstra said, before a lengthy pause. “Yeah, you would have just liked to see this go double overtime. That’s the kind of game it felt like. It deserved to go double OT and not have somebody get in the way of that, and unfortunately even as a veteran coach I got in the way of that.”