The Miami Heat are in a different zone this season, and a significant portion of the celebratory pie goes to Bam Adebayo. This success is largely due to his serious commitment to embracing his new role. And if anyone dares to disrupt his carefully organized plan, then he won’t hesitate to make it known. Bam Bam made that clear during the Heat’s latest clash with the Suns when head coach Erik Spoelstra received an earful from the 27-year-old for messing things up.

In the postgame press conference, while praising Bam’s multiple near-triple-double performances this season, Spoelstra emphasized that it’s a shame people often focus solely on his stats and overlook what the Heat center contributes beyond the stat sheet. “He can impact in so many different ways,” the 54-year-old highlighted. “His leadership in that Q3 is what I saw. Every side out of bounds, that they’re running, he was the one organizing everybody.” However, the rhythm broke when Spoelstra tried to take matters into his own hands. “I tried to get our team organized into a zone. I messed that up. I called it too late, and he’s yelling at me.”

Instead of taking offense at Bam’s actions, Spoelstra had a different reaction. “I love it,” the 2-time champion coach said. “I want him taking control of the defense. He is our voice. And every coverage, he was communicating it. Every huddle, he was making sure everybody understood what we were doing and what adjustments we were making. When he’s like that, you know, he’s, you know, a special kind of leader.”

While Spoelstra was impressed with the 3-time All-Star, Bam was actually disappointed with the head coach and expressed his sentiment after the game.

Bam Adebayo “pissed off” at Erik Spoelstra

The incident Spoelstra referred to took place in the third quarter during a defensive possession for the Heat. Bam became frustrated with the coach for calling a zone play a bit too late. Later, in the presser, when asked about it, Bam didn’t hold back from stating, “That pissed me off.” He further added, “Spo always gets on us for glitching. And that was one of his glitches where they’re about to take the ball and he yells two. Getting his own. I’m like, bro, you can’t do that in the middle of the play.”

Soon after, Bam received a foul for expressing his frustration with Spoelstra but anything for the team. “So it’s one of those things where next time down court, I barked at him. I told him stop doing it. Feel like he learned from that,” he said. Well, hopefully, Spoelstra learned his lesson and won’t repeat his mistake. Otherwise, Bam looks ready to take a stand again.

Besides being a top-notch leader for the Heat on Saturday night, Bam Adebayo contributed a game-high 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists, leading Miami to a hard-fought 121-111 victory over Phoenix. This marks Bam’s 11th double-double of the season and Spoelstra was right to point out this as another of his near triple-double performance like three others. But no worries, Bam has already notched a historic triple-double this season, thanks to the support of his frontcourt partner, Jimmy Butler. Now that the Heat’s future is in the capable hands of Bam, the Sunshine State can breathe a sigh of relief.