The Miami Heat suffered a 19-point loss to the Boston Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back Monday evening inside of TD Garden, their worst loss since losing 116-97 on opening night to the Orlando Magic.
Miami shot just 35.6 percent from the floor and 22.9 percent from 3-point range. A lid was on the basket the entire night. To add insult to injury, it shot 41.3 percent from the paint and a disastrous 35.3 percent on non-restricted area 2s, where it attempted nearly 40 percent of its shots.
Once again, the Heat struggled at or around the rim–which has been one of the offensive’s weakest links the last few seasons. Though one of the biggest culprits to its struggles has been Heat All-Star big Bam Adebayo, who’s having the least efficient season of his career. He went just 6-of-18 Monday night, including 4-of-12 in the paint and 1-of-4 at the rim.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra acknowledged Adebayo’s woes around the rim, but backed his recent all-around impact outside of Monday’s loss.
“He’s built a career being able to make (restricted area) shots and make those look easy,” Spoelstra said after Monday’s game. “It’s just one of those stretches that sometimes you can’t explain.
“But I think the beauty of his game he’s still able to make an impact. We saw that impact (Sunday night against Toronto)–his defensive impact from when he was on the floor versus off the floor, getting 20 rebounds, getting three games in a row where he almost had triple-doubles.
“He’ll work his way through it. I’ll get to work on more ways we can help him.”
Adebayo has been nowhere near his peak defensively, but he’s still provided a positive impact–even if it hasn’t always been felt on a possession-by-possession basis. He’s also posting the third-highest assist rate, assist-to-usage rate and lowest turnover rate of his career. That’s been sorely needed with the Heat’s lack of a true facilitator.
The 27-year-old’s shooting woes, however, have been uncharacteristic through 19 games–especially at or around the rim, making up for 75 percent of his shot diet. His field goal percentage is the lowest of his career by nearly 10 percentage points; his rim and short mid-range (~4-14 ft.) accuracy are the lowest by roughly five percentage points. His rim frequency has continued to plummet while his free-throw rate has dipped by nearly eight percentage points.
While he isn’t the focal point of the offense, his shotmaking–or lack thereof–is one of the biggest reasons why the Heat is No. 20 in offensive rating and one of the league’s worst around the rim … again. Adebayo is confident he will turn his shooting slump around, and I trust he will. After all, the only direction he can go is up … right?!?
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
Interesting article. The following passages sum up what a few of us have been suggesting. It’s up to Riley to pull the trigger(s).
“The small-ball era seems like it’s being phased out of the NBA, and featuring Bam and Ware without the added pressure of making the playoffs could be very fun to watch.
Unfortunately, this would mean we likely won’t see Pat Riley win another championship before he retires. But it allows him to set the team up for success on his way out.”
…“There are many teams in the league that are set up to win now in the East: Boston, Cleveland, New York, Indiana, and even Orlando to name a few. If the Heat decides to make moves and embrace its young talent, they can afford to wait for these teams to age out (maybe not Orlando) and strike a couple of years down the line.
Tanking is a curse word in Heat fandom, so maybe this is more of a retool — but the Heat need a new identity soon, or the misery of losing will persist.”
https://allucanheat.com/time-miami-heat-trade-embrace-youth-movement?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955