On Saturday against the Sacramento Kings, Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro missed his second-straight game with a toe injury.
As a result, his absence was missed for the second-straight night, mustering together just 111 points on 48.2 percent shooting (9-31 3PT; 20-32 FT) against one of the league’s worst defenses.
However, there was another Heat player whose presence was sorely missed: Davion Mitchell.
Mitchell missed his first game of the season with right groin tightness. While it may not have made a difference, Kings guard Zach LaVine exploded for a game-high 42 points — including 18 in the first quarter, and 37 through the first three quarters — in their 127-111 win.
Heat guard Norman Powell addressed Mitchell’s importance after Saturday’s loss.
“He’s the one that’s flying around every possession,” Powell said. “Surprising guys with the ball, double teaming them, playing passing lanes, being that extra defender in the help (position). We just missed his energy and physicality on defense.
“We follow off of that, and we were looking at who’s going to be that guy tonight. I think we had small moments of it, but nothing that was able to be sustained for a full 48 (minutes). We know how important D-Mitch is to what we do both offensively and defensively.”
Collectively, the Kings shot 52.7 percent, including 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) from 3-point range and 44 points at the rim alone. But he’s also one of the Heat’s best slashers and playmakers, where the ball didn’t pop as well without him on the floor.
“He adds such an incredible energy at times,” Heat big Bam Adebayo said. “Certain buckets you need out of no where he finds a way to get one. On the defensive end — we all know what he brings to that side of the ball.
“Like I’ve said, he’s the head of the snake when pushing the pace in transition.”
In a lot of ways, Mitchell is one of the Heat’s biggest X-Factors. Through 23 games, he’s averaging 9.7 points, 7.8 assists and 1.3 steals on 51.1 percent shooting and 39.0 percent from 3-point range.
Lavine was beyond excellent, but Mitchell is one of the Heat’s most important players defensively, not named Bam Adebayo, because of his ability to snake around screens and prevent teams from initiating offense early in the shot clock.
The status of Mitchell heading into Tuesday’s Emirates Cup quarterfinals against the Orlando Magic remains unknown. But it won’t be an easy task, even though Orlando could be without one of their best players in Franz Wagner.
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I like Mitchell and hope Miami keeps him. He would be excellent starting or off the bench. He would be a good role player on a championship team.
The Heat has a good borderline playoff team. If Riley wants to have a shot at another ring, he’ll need to make a trade or two. Morant, Young, Ball, Zion, Leonard, or other high priced, injury prone players with baggage are not the answer. Lateral trades for equal level talent won’t cut it either.
I agree with your assessment of us being a borderline playoff team, 44-38ish. Our record so far is a tad better than our talent level, as we manufactured a few wins with the run and gun style that now teams have caught onto. I also agree about every player you name, even Zion, because, as good as he is, he is truly as injury prone as a player gets. The other trades are all clearly not worth making except one, I’d take that admittedly risky flyer on Morant, even giving up a lot in picks and/or players. But, I wouldn’t give up four core players, Bam, Ware, Davion, or Powell, mainly because then it would be a lateral trade which I agree won’t cut it. In any trade, we need to get more talent in than out, and pay for that in draft picks.