Observations and different notes of curiosity from Sunday evening’s 102-101 loss to the Brooklyn Nets:
– We’ll begin right here.
– Yes, this was about Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, till he bought damage.
– But a subtext, a minimum of a Heat subtext, was how Erik Spoelstra dealt with the Heat’s state of affairs at backup heart.
– No, not practically the sexiest side of the one, which could have been as compelling as something for the Heat this season.
– But Dewayne Dedmon, listed as accessible, didn’t play.
– And Orlando Robinson did.
– And performed fairly effectively.
– Actually affording Adebayo relaxation with out penalty.
– And now may imply extra with Adebayo along with his hand challenge.
– Yes, Dedmon has foot points and is working again into situation after a health-and-safety absence.
– And that absolutely gives cowl for Erik Spoelstra reasoning.
– But the Heat haven’t been good with Dedmon this season.
– And had been fairly good with Robinson on this one.
– That issues.
– Because Adebayo deserves a break.
– Which Robinson supplied Sunday.
– Plus, Omer Yurtseven was ambulatory within the locker room pregame.
– So one other reply within the center additionally could possibly be on the way in which.
– The Dedmon minutes have been uneven this season.
– But via three quarters Sunday, the Heat had been plus 19 Sunday with Robinson on the ground.
– With Caleb Martin lacking his fourth sport out of the final six with a quadriceps pressure, Haywood Highsmith bought his fourth begin of the season.
– Highsmith’s full $1.8 million wage for the season turned assured Saturday.
– Spoelstra then performed Highsmith via two early fouls.
– Highsmith had seven of the Heat’s first 13 factors, together with a banked-in 3-pointer to beat the shot block.
– The different starters had been Adebayo, Butler, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry.
– Adebayo had been questionable till 90 minutes earlier than sport time attributable to a thigh bruise.
– “It happened last game,” Spoelstra mentioned of Friday evening’s victory in Phoenix. “He just got kneed really hard, I think by [Deandre] Ayton in the back of his leg and it just stiffened up, almost immediately.”
– With the beginning, Adebayo handed P.J. Brown for 14th on the Heat all-time listing.
– The Nets opened defensively with Ben Simmons on Adebayo.
– Herro had been listed as questionable with the again spasms that saved him out Friday.
– Herro is also on excessive alert for the arrival of his second baby.
– The Nets’ Kevin Durant within the first quarter handed Dominique Wilkins for 14th on the NBA all-time scoring listing.
– Durant then was misplaced for the evening within the third quarter with a knee damage.
– Victor Oladipo performed as Heat sixth man.
– With Robinson and Max Strus then following collectively.
– Gabe Vincent then made it 9 deep for the Heat.
– Lowry’s first steal moved him previous David Robinson for 63rd on the NBA all-time listing.
– Lowry’s first defensive rebound was the three,800th of his profession.
– Adebayo prolonged his streak of video games scoring in double figures to 53, two video games shy of the longest streak of his profession.
– Butler’s third free-throw try moved him previous Glen Rice for tenth on the Heat all-time listing.
– Butler’s eighth shot was the 9,000th of his profession.
– Spoelstra mentioned pregame that loads of classes had been gleaned from the 3-2 western swing.
– “I saw a little bit of everything,” he mentioned. “We’re constantly learning more about ourselves. And it’s easy to get discouraged or get down on a couple of losses.”
– He added, “We’re getting a little bit better to an identity.”
– Spoelstra spoke pregame of the individuality of the Nets’ Durant-Kyrie Irving collaboration.
– “They’re brilliant basketball players,” he mentioned. “I’ve heard each of them talk about the art of basketball, and I think that describes each of them well. They just continue to elevate their craft, the craft for the game. There’s great players in this league and then there’s great players who are of a different level. You can’t really do anything to scheme against them. You just have to do what you do extremely well. You can’t make mistakes. You have to make it tough and play really well.”
– He added “But the way they can get to where they want to go to and then the accuracy of how they shoot is so uncommon, because they see all the different schemes. Everybody is challenging them.”
– Spoelstra then mirrored on the Heat’s free company recruitment of Durant in 2016.
– “Even on our recruiting trip a long time ago, you knew he was a gym rat and he takes his craft very seriously,” Spoelstra mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com
