Jimmy Butler Calls Out 'Very Mediocre' Heat After Loss to Pacers without Haliburton

Jimmy Butler didn't sugarcoat things for the Miami Heat following Saturday's loss to the Indiana Pacers.

"We stand right where we don't want to be, which is very mediocre," he told reporters. "Not good, not bad, just mediocre."

Miami's most recent performance was a 144-129 loss to the Pacers on Saturday that happened even though Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton was sidelined. It didn't stop the Heat from allowing six Pacers to reach double figures, including Bruce Brown (30 points) and T.J. McConnell (20 points and 11 assists).

"You talk about our offense, it's been mediocre," Butler said. "You talk about our defense, it's been mediocre."

He isn't wrong, as Miami is 16th in the league in defensive rating and 11th in offensive rating, per NBA.com.

The result is an 11-9 record and the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, although there is plenty of time to turn things around before the playoffs. There is also quite the precedent of the Heat overcoming mediocre performances, as they went from the play-in tournament to the NBA Finals just last season.

Perhaps something like that is in store for this group yet again in 2023-24.