At some extent of the season when each minute counts, Haywood Highsmith has discovered himself at a juncture the place each seconds counts, with that basically how his enjoying time has come to be measured.
Injected into the Miami Heat combine when backup middle Cody Zeller was sidelined with a damaged nostril and when Omer Yurtseven was unable to realize the boldness of coach Erik Spoelstra because the backup to Bam Adebayo, Highsmith emerged as the final word short-timer.
In Saturday evening’s dwelling loss to the Brooklyn Nets, there was 1:52 within the first quarter, and that was it for the half.
In final Wednesday’s victory over the visiting New York Knicks, there was 1:46 within the first quarter, nothing else the remainder of the half. Then, within the second half, a single stint of two:19.
And the sport earlier than that, a highway victory over the Detroit Pistons, there was a single 1:28 stint within the third quarter on the evening, 88 complete seconds of motion.
“No, never ever did anything like this,” Highsmith mentioned with a smile, with the Heat on Tuesday evening opening a back-to-back highway set towards the Toronto Raptors that concludes Wednesday evening towards the New York Knicks. “But it’s all good. I mean, I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team win. So I’m cool with whatever.”
In addition to these transient stints, there even have been occasions throughout current video games when Highsmith went to the scorers’ desk to verify in, solely to have the shortage of a stoppage sending him again to the bench, bypassed from there.
“Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do,” mentioned Highsmith, who was added final season as an emergency pandemic alternative participant, occurring to earn a three-year contract. “I mean obviously I’m not used to it, but I’ll do it. If you need me to do it, I’ll do it, give Bam a break, whatever.”
At a listed 6 toes 7, 215 kilos, Haywood entered the league as an undrafted wing in 2019 with the Philadelphia 76ers. But with the Heat undersized since his arrival in December 2022, a lot of his time has come within the energy rotation.
“I’m cool with it,” Highsmith, 26 mentioned. “I can bang with the big boys every now and then. It’s not ideal for me, but whatever gets me on the court.”
And that issues, too, that within the midst of the playoff race, Spoelstra turned to Highsmith as a substitute of Yurtseven or others incomes extra or with better resumes.
“He wants to play any kind of minutes,” Spoelstra mentioned. “He’s prepared. And for this stretch run, we’d like everyone to contribute. And it may be 40 seconds. It may be three minutes. It may be 4 minutes. Whatever it takes to win.
“Any type of boost for any period of time, in a very competitive and highly contested game, can be the difference. And he’s kept himself ready.”
Willing to do no matter is required for so long as wanted.
“I mean, right now, we’re in a position where obviously Bam and Jimmy [Butler] are our top players, so we got to give Bam a rest every now and then,” Highsmith mentioned. “It’s basically just about plug minutes, just playing as hard as I can, whenever I can help the team, impact the team in a good way on the scoreboard, and giving Bam a rest.”
All whereas appreciating that the position, as restricted because it stands, in the end is Zeller’s.
Still, simply getting a vote of confidence from Spoelstra amid a playoff race is significant.
“I think he can trust me that I will play hard,” Highsmith mentioned. “He respects me and is aware of I’m going to play laborious, it doesn’t matter what.
“Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do.”
Quite actually taking it tick by tick.
“The solely factor Coach tells me is, ‘Just play hard.’ “
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Source: www.bostonherald.com