Heat center Bam Adebayo is listed as questionable for Game 2 against the Hawks on Tuesday due to a quad contusion, Joe Vardon of The Athletic tweets. After being cleared from the league’s health and safety protocols, Adebayo finished Sunday’s game with six points, six rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes. However, coach Erik Spoelstra said Adebayo played a giant role in the team’s victory, Vardon writes.
“Who (cares) about his scoring,” Spoelstra said. “Bam is an ultimate winner. A lot of what you guys are probably going to write about what we can do defensively; he’s the one that’s driving it. If you don’t have a guy like Bam, you know, it’s very difficult to do some of the schemes, and he fully understands that.”
We have more on the Heat:
- Jazz center Rudy Gobert, Suns guard Mikal Bridges and Celtics guard Marcus Smart were the finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year award and Adebayo was upset he did not make the list, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Smart won the award and Adebayo finished fourth in the voting, receiving 13 out of 100 first-place votes. “Disrespectful, honestly,” he said. “I feel like I can do anything that two out of the three can do besides the fact that I can’t teach height. But they all three play on TV more than me, so I would expect that. They get more TV games and they get more exposure. People like to talk about them more. Nobody wants to talk about us. So it’s whatever at that point.”
- Duncan Robinson, who scored 27 points in Game 1, admits it was tough to lose his starting job last month, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. “We’re all competitive,” said Robinson, who is in the first year of a five-year, $90MM contract. “I take a lot of pride in doing my job to the best of my ability. At the end of the day, there’s disappointment but you sacrifice and give in to what’s most important to this group. The focus quickly shifts to how can I embrace the role I do have and contribute to winning and help us advance?”
- Kyle Lowry brought a championship pedigree from Toronto and knows how difficult it is to win a title, Vardon writes. “Me getting a championship just made me want another championship,” Lowry said. “It made me understand that it’s hard to get there. It takes some skill, it takes hard work, it takes some luck. It takes a lot of things to go your way to win a championship. I’ve lost a bunch of game 1s and won series. I won a couple Game 1s and lost the series. It’s just, you’ve got to be able to stay even keel no matter what.”
Bam….play more than barely half a season and then you can complain about getting shafted for DPOY.
Bas.Ref. should keep track of games nonactive (GN) like they do played and started (GP & GS).
Bas.Ref. uses two words (inactive and did not play DNP) in their game logs section, but not on the main overview page for each player.
Other words besides nonactive are sidelined GS, out GO, missed GM, or away/absent… but GN isn’t being used in BB like the others, and looks like “gone’.
Proposal:
DNP + inactive = GN
GN + GP = total team games played
Hard to believe that UTA is on TV more than MIA. I guess Rocky Mountain bias is tough to overcome.
Bam is full of it. You’re telling me Phoenix is on TV all the time? Yes sure they are.., at 10:30 at night !!
The usual complaint of the last century is that the West Coast doesn’t get any exposure. Tony Gwynn syndrome. MVP Seasons, very few votes.
Defensive player of the year is not about TV exposure. The average fan doesn’t see what Mikal Bridges does or what Bam does. Has nothing to do with TV exposure. The guys who vote know what these guys do and watch ALL the games.
It’s messed up. Miami pushed their Heat Culture nonsense down our throats for months and months after their Mickey Mouse Eastern Conference title, now this season they’re complaining that no one is putting them on TV or talking about them being the 1 seed?
Maybe don’t get swept in round one last year and actually win a real playoff series where you have to TRAVEL.
Agreed Gary. I take no issue with a player who believes he should have won an award saying so, and making his case. But nobody with any character aspires to win an award, and then attacks the judges (referees, voters, etc.) and their process when they don’t win it. Bam got respect. Too bad he lacks the class to give any.
What a crybaby this Bam dude, to start you haven’t even played enough to be in the convo, & then you ain’t that good, as you had to blow your own trumpet a few times this season, it shows you ain’t the best, & you know it, that is why you trying to sway people!
Look & learn from Jokic, he is clearly light years the best player of the league, but he doesn’t go about blowing his own trumpet, does he?
His play speaks for him, you must try it, it actually works… & humility is by far the most appealing of human qualities!
I don’t see Miami’s chemistry. Celtics and Bucks have it. I think the 76’s have a good shot at the Heat if Doc can coach.
You’re about to be surprised. The only team I can say has a shot out East besides Miami is Milwaukee.