Demands for Cuomo’s resignation grow after more harassment allegations
Takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Hawks at home on Tuesday night. The Heat was without star Jimmy Butler, and they missed him.
Calls for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation intensified Tuesday after a third woman came forward with sexual-harassment accusations against him.
Former allies and political foes alike spoke out against the governor, including the progressive Working Families Party, which called for an end to Cuomo’s “reign of fear, harassment, and intimidation.”
“We are calling on Governor Cuomo to resign immediately because he is unfit to serve the people of New York,” said WFP State Director Sochie Nnaemeka.
Progressives on the Democratic governor’s left flank are increasingly joining Republicans in calling on him to step down as three women have come forward alleging sexual harassment or unwanted advances.
The governor, who initially resisted calls for a fully independent investigation, eventually agreed to a probe, which is led by Attorney General Letitia James’ office.
However, some lawmakers believe he should face impeachment proceedings in light of the latest accusations and the administration’s handling of nursing-home deaths during the COVID-19 crisis.
Cuomo has denied he ever “inappropriately touched anybody” or “propositioned anyone” and apologized
Sunday after acknowledging that “some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation.”
Calls for Cuomo’s ouster multiplied on Monday night when a third woman went public claiming that he had made her deeply uncomfortable during an encounter at a 2019 Manhattan wedding.
Anna Ruch, 33, told The New York Times the governor approached her, put his hand on her bare back and then clasped her head in his hands and said: “Can I kiss you?”
“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” Ruch told the newspaper. “It’s the act of impunity that strikes me. I didn’t have a choice in his physical dominance over me at that moment. And that’s what infuriates me.”
Life without star Jimmy Butler has been hard for the Heat this season.
Playing without Butler for the second consecutive game because of right knee inflammation, the Heat’s six-game winning streak was snapped in a 94-80 loss to the Hawks (15-20) on Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Heat defeated the Hawks on Sunday without Butler, but Tuesday’s loss dropped Miami to 4-10 in games that he has missed this season. The Heat (17-18) is 13-8 in games that Butler has played in.
The Heat actually led by three early in the third quarter and the game was tied at 73 with 7:28 to play.
But the Hawks blew open the game with a 21-7 run to close the game on their way to the win. Atlanta star guard Trae Young scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter.
In addition to Butler’s absence, Heat star center Bam Adebayo turned in a quiet performancewith just 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting, two rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes.
After completing a 3-1 homestand on Tuesday, the Heat closes the first half of the regular season with a road game against the New Orleans
Pelicans on Thursday before heading into the All-Star break.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Hawks:
The Heat’s offense really missed Butler on Tuesday.
Miami found enough offense to earn a 109-99 win over Atlanta on Sunday without Butler, but that wasn’t the case Tuesday.
The Heat scored just 80 points while shooting 37.3 percent from the field and 9 of 33 from three-point range in the loss.
The first 18 minutes of the game were especially rough for the Butler-less Heat. Miami had only 22 points on 7-of-26 shooting from the field and 1-of-12 shooting on threes before two-way contract wing Max Strus hit a three with 5:37 remaining in the second quarter.
The Heat finished the first half with 37 points on 13-of-36 shooting (36.1 percent) from the field and 2-of-15 shooting (13.3 percent) shooting on threes. It went down as Miami’s third-lowest scoring first half of the season.
Tuesday’s underwhelming offensive performance is the continuation of a season-long trend for Miami without Butler.
Without Butler on the court, the Heat entered Tuesday scoring 104.7 points per 100 possessions this season. For perspective, that would be tied for the worst offensive rating in the NBA this season.
When Butler is on the court, the Heat’s offensive rating jumps to 110.8 points scored per 100 possessions. That’s mediocre relative to offensive ratings around the league, but still six points better per 100 possessions than when Butler is not playing.
Regarding Butler, he remains day to day because of his knee issue.
“He’s making improvement,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Tuesday of Butler, who missed his second straight game because of right knee inflammation. “But we think it’s best that we not play him tonight. We’ll just continue to evaluate him day to day.”
Tuesday marked the
14th game Butler has missed this season — two because of a sprained right ankle, 10 because of the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols and two because of knee inflammation.
Spoelstra said it’s too early to predict whether Butler will be available for Thursday’s road matchup against the Pelicans, the Heat’s final game before the All-Star break. Miami then has a week off from game action before resuming its schedule on March
11 against the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“Right now, he’s just day to day, and we’re just monitoring his progress,” Spoelstra said. “He’s getting in some good work with [trainer] Armando [Rivas] and we’ll just continue to evaluate.”
The Heat again found a way to slow down Young on Tuesday, but only for the first three quarters.
Miami toggled between man and zone, and trapped Young whenever it could to limit him to 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting on Sunday.
And it looked like that same scheme would work
again Tuesday, with Young scoring just five points on 2-of-7 shooting in the first three quarters.
But then Young exploded for 13 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Hawks to the win. He finished with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-9 shooting on threes and 10 assists.
Young entered averaging 26.5 points on 42.8 percent shooting this season.
The Heat received positive news on Tuesday regarding its twoway contract players.
The NBA’s Board of Governors is expected to approve a rule change that would allow two-way contract players to be active for more than 50 games and also allow them to be eligible for the playoffs, ESPN reported.
This is important for the Heat because it uses its two two-way contract players, guard Gabe Vincent and wing Max Strus, often.
Tuesday marked the 29th game that Vincent has been active for this season, and Strus was active for the 28th game. There are 37 remaining regular-season games to be played.
Before the rule change that’s soon expected to be approved, two-way players were allowed to be active for up to 50 of their team’s 72 NBA regular-season games. But now the Heat won’t have to worry about navigating that game limit with Vincent and Strus during a pandemic.
“We all appreciate that they see that each team is in a different place,” Spoelstra said. “We felt that we’ve competed in this season with great honor and respect to the league. We went out in one game with seven guys. They miraculously clear somebody to make it eight. Otherwise, it would have been canceled. All of those games now are being canceled or postponed. We never complained, we never made an excuse. But we are getting those days stacked up for our twoways and our two-ways are playing for us. There are a few other teams that are in that circumstance. It’s just an uneven and unpredictable year for so many teams.
“It just makes all the sense in the world to not have to even think about that or concern yourself with days, particularly when we’re playing them.”
The Hawks had a new head coach in Tuesday’s game.
Atlanta fired head coach Lloyd Pierce on Monday, just hours after Sunday’s loss to the Heat. So assistant coach Nate McMillan, who was the Indiana Pacers’ head coach for the previous four seasons, took over as the Hawks’ interim head coach on Tuesday.
Pierce went 63-120 in his two-plus seasons as the Hawks’ coach after he was hired in the 2018 offseason. As expected, the news of Pierce’s firing did not sit well with Spoelstra.
“It’s one of these disappointing moments for the coaching profession,” said Spoelstra, who is in his 13th season as the Heat’s head coach and is the second-longest active tenured head coach with one team behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich. “Look, you spend any time with Lloyd, it doesn’t take you long to figure out that he’s a transformative leader, he’s a character builder, he builds culture, he’s got a wealth of experience as an assistant coach with great coaching staffs."