Sometimes it’s the exterior dialog that confirms the ascension.
So even past the 38 factors that Miami Heat heart Bam Adebayo placed on the visiting Washington Wizards in Friday night time’s 110-107 victory, what might need resonated much more have been the postgame feedback of Wizards heart Kristaps Porzingis.
“I don’t remember,” Porzingis mentioned, when he performed like this.”
Considering Adebayo’s profession excessive is 41, it’s not as if there have been many such video games for Adebayo.
But in setting profession bests with 22 pictures, 15 baskets and 30 factors within the paint, it was one other signal of a participant bent on a extra aggressive strategy, which has been a degree of emphasis this season.
“That’s one of those games where he shows his dominance of a big, and that’s on both ends of the floor,” level guard Kyle Lowry mentioned, with the Heat shifting their focus to Sunday’s 5 p.m. sport towards the Atlanta Hawks initially of a four-game journey. “But we don’t want him to have to do it every night, but it’s great to see it. When he can do that, it makes our lives a lot easier.”
To coach Erik Spoelstra, it was one other instance of Adebayo offering what is required, on this case with Jimmy Butler, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson out Friday night time with accidents, and with Lowry, Caleb Martin and Jamal Cain coping with a bug that has been going across the locker room.
“Bam was Mr. Reliable,” Spoelstra mentioned. “He has been Mr. Reliable all season lengthy, via all the adversity. He’s the man that we’ve simply been in a position to depend on, together with his psychological stability, his consistency, his management, after which additionally his play on each ends of the court docket.
“I think at some point, I’ll print up the shirt, ‘Mr. Reliable’ and I’ll wear them proudly.”
Adebayo wasn’t having any of that, however he was taking what the Wizards have been giving.
“It was one of those things where my teammates were getting me the ball,” he mentioned, “and I was just taking advantage of the mismatch and the shots they were letting me have.”
All whereas draining a sequence of floaters over 7-foot-3 Porzingis.
“I mean, I’ve been working on my touch, trick shots, playing h-o-r-s-e, and just practicing those types of extended shots,” Adebayo mentioned.
In including 12 rebounds, Adebayo moved previous Dwyane Wade for fifth place in Heat profession double-doubles at 127. Next up is teammate Udonis Haslem at 134. The Heat’s all-time leaders are Rony Seikaly at 221, Alonzo Mourning at 205 and Hassan Whiteside at 185.
“They wanted him to be aggressive in the beginning, and he did that, and it worked well for him,” Porzingis mentioned.
Straight up
Given the prospect to commit a two-shot foul towards Bradley Beal in a three-point sport at Friday’s end, Martin mentioned there was no thought however to play it straight up, with Beal off with a 26-foot, step-back potential tying 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining.
“I didn’t really think about fouling,” Martin mentioned. “I take pride in trying to get stops. As a defender, those are the type of matchups and situations that you dream about — game on the line, go against a guy like Bradley Beal with the ball, late shot clock. Those are the types of plays I dream about.”
Martin closed with 20 factors within the victory, giving him consecutive 20-point video games for the primary time in his four-season profession, after scoring 24 in Wednesday’s dwelling victory over the Wizards.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com
