MIAMI – Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 138-135 loss to the Detroit Pistons:
– For a rare time, the Heat have the needed size.
– Which means little if you don’t maximize it.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– Or put it together.
– So for the second game in a row it was Bam Adebayo starting.
– But Kel’el Ware off the bench.
– So get Adebayo to switch out to the perimeter and it’s the ability to work against short, shorter, small and smaller.
– And it’s not as if Ware is fully adept at the nuance of rim protection.
– (See: Third period, Paul Reed double pump, layup.)
– Such is the reality of having a roster loaded with quality wings.
– And a roster where your other big man on a standard deal, Nikola Jovic, has not been very good this season, and Saturday wasn’t even that.
– So 42 paint points for the Pistons Saturday’s first half.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– And 76 overal.
– Bully Ball 1, Small Ball 0.
– Yes, if the Heat shot better, the difference could have been mitigated.
– Yes, the late rally was fun.
– But size matters.
– Especially when otherwise surrounded by quality, which the Pistons have in abundance.
– So even without the incredible bulk of sidelined Jalen Duren, the Pistons pounded and attacked.
– Leading to whether the Heat instead now decide to stand tall.
– Because getting pushed around, as Saturday showed, is no fun.
– And takes the edge off any rally.
– For the second consecutive game, the Heat opened with the smaller-ball lineup of Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Norm Powell, Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell, leaving Ware in reserve for a second consecutive game.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– Ware this time was first off the Heat bench, in a lineup that had Adebayo still on the floor.
– Such, however, was not often the approach in this one.
– With Jaime Jaquez Jr. sidelined, Pelle Larsson then played as the Heat’s first wing off the bench.
– Jovic also entered at that point.
– Dru Smith followed for nine deep.
– With Simone Fontecchio out of the rotation mix.
– With Jaime Jaquez Jr. sidelined by a groin strain, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra offered an appreciation pregame of what was lost for the night.
– “You just have clarity with that second unit,” Spoelstra said of the sixth-man niche Jaquez has carved amid this season’s revival. “I think that clarity has helped him. He knows when he’s going in the game. He can see the game for the first six minutes.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– Spoelstra added, “I think everybody has welcomed the boost of energy that he brings, immediately, as soon as he comes into the game.”
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– Spoelstra said Jaquez has been about all the right things.
– “He’s really worked at improving the things that he’s needed to improve on, to be able to maximize his strengths, which is getting downhill, getting in the paint,” Spoelstra said. “But the playmaking and the decision making has improved to allow him to be that aggressive.”
– Yes, Spoelstra monitored Friday’s results in the NBA Cup that allowed his idle team to advance.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– Monitored to a degree.
– “I was watching two of the games at the same time,” Spoelstra said. “I just got more confused. And then in the last four minutes of both games, I was starting to get stressed out. Really, I don’t want to root for anybody, especially not these teams.”
– So? “So I put on a movie instead and then waited,” Spoelstra said of the clarity Saturday morning delivered.
– Boxing legend Bernard Hopkins was among the faces in the crowd.
– As was former Heat forward Jamal Mashburn.
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