Erik Spoelstra and the officials, a love story

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra had himself quite the weekend.

Miami had back to back games over the weekend against the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves. In both games, Spoelstra received attention for his antics criticizing poor officiating In crucial parts of the game. Saturday night against Milwaukee Heat center, Bam Adebayo was trapped in the corner by George Hill and Brook Lopez. Spoelstra was signaling timeout to the referees but wasn’t awarded one, this led to him running onto the court during the middle of a Giannis Antetokounmpo fast break and receiving a technical foul.  

Erik Spoelstra ran across the court just to call a timeout 😅 pic.twitter.com/Y12BIZpBnH

— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) October 26, 2019

The following night in Minnesota during the fourth quarter of a closely contested game the officials seemed to have missed a kicked ball violation on Karl Anthony-Towns. This led to an Andrew Wiggins three which ultimately sealed the game for the Timberwolves. Spoelstra was livid and individually pointed at each official during a timeout in which he appears to be yelling at them as well. 

Erik Spoelstra has beef with all three refs💀pic.twitter.com/8K7yRQuUMF

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) October 28, 2019

Emotions were extremely high as both games over the weekend came down to key possessions late. Last season Spoelstra also reached a point where he was clearly frustrated with Nba officiating after a loss to the Golden State Warriors In mid-February. This year however It starts early as he has shown his frustration often with crucial calls down the stretch going in favor of the opposition. The Heat split the weekend series and find themselves at 2-1 facing Eastern Conference player of the week, Trae Young, and the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night at the American Airlines Arena.