- Heat center Dewayne Dedmon was fined $15K by the league for kicking a seat cushion from his team’s bench into the stands, Shaw adds in another tweet. Dedmon was assessed a technical foul and ejected for his action, which occurred in the fourth quarter of the Heat’s win over Chicago on Saturday.
With a rematch against the Nuggets set for Monday, players from the Heat are moving on from the Nikola Jokic–Markieff Morris incident that happened earlier this month, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
The November 8 altercation started with Morris giving Jokic a hard foul in transition, then continued when Jokic blindsided him from behind. Morris has missed the Heat’s last 10 games with a neck injury caused by the hit.
“It’s over with, man. It’s over with,” veteran Udonis Haslem said, according to Chiang. “Nobody got time for that. Life is too short. It’s over with. It happened. In the heat of the moment, everybody reacted. OK, let’s move on.
“It’s over with. It is so far over with. I don’t have time for that. You’re talking to somebody who has seen everything but the wind. I’ve seen it all. That’s over with.”
Jokic is questionable to play in the contest due to a wrist injury, while Morris has been ruled out. Morris also didn’t accompany the Heat during the team’s recent four-game road trip.
Here are some other notes from the Southeast Division:
- The Hornets are being cautious with Mason Plumlee‘s calf injury, Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer tweets. Head coach James Borrego said it shouldn’t be a long-term issue, though Plumlee’s status for the team’s brief road trip (Chicago on Monday and Milwaukee on Wednesday) is unknown.
- The Wizards are encouraged by their strong start to the season, Ava Wallace of the Washington Post writes. The team owns the second-best record in the Eastern Conference at 13-7 after winning an impressive road game against the Mavericks 120-114 on Saturday. “I trust my teammates. I trust them to make the right play, and it means the world to me not having to make every one,” Bradley Beal said. “I have guys I can throw the ball to and then go get a shot, go create a play for somebody else. I can have a hockey assist. Those are all — I’m definitely proud of [it], and it’s a stepping stone for me, too. It’s a learning process.”
- Speaking of Beal and the Wizards, Josh Robbins of The Athletic examines how the All-Star guard is maturing and why it’s so important. In 17 games this season, Beal is averaging 23.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists, shooting 44% from the floor, 28% from deep and 93% from the free throw line.
Veteran center Dewayne Dedmon had trouble finding a standard contract last season before finishing the season with the Heat. He re-signed with the team on a minimum-salary deal over the summer, and he’s making the most of his minutes, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Coach Erik Spoelstra says Dedmon is an excellent communicator defensively and is ecstatic with his production.
“He has been so vital to our team,” Spoelstra said. “He’s a big big, as Pat [Riley] likes to say, and he makes his presence felt. Defensively, he’s one of our best communicators, if not our best communicator. He’s big at the rim. He protects the rim. He gives us a different kind of feel at that center position than Bam. And he has a great knack for the ball — offensive rebounding, sliding into open spots, making himself available so he can finish in the paint. And he has a good touch for a big. We couldn’t be happier with the minutes and productivity he’s giving from that position.”
Miami has been a been a far better team with Dedmon on the court than off — Chiang writes that Dedmon has a team-high plus/minus of plus-99, and advanced stats point to his high-level contributions in limited minutes. The big man says he’s having fun with the Heat, and no matter how many minutes he receives, he’s going to play as hard as he can.
“It’s just fun basketball, man,” Dedmon said. “Just come in, give it my all no matter how many minutes I’m going to play. Whether its 10, 15, 20, just play as hard as I can. So just having fun with it.”
Sharpshooter Duncan Robinson says Dedmon’s consistency has been crucial to the team’s success. The Heat are currently 12-7, third in the East.
“I think a huge strong suit of Dewayne is you just know what you’re going to get,” Robinson said. “He’s going to communicate, he’s going to be vocal, he’s going to be physical, he’s going to set screens, he’s going to be unselfish, he’s going to rebound, he’s going to put pressure on the other team to box out and then also to protect the rim. He’s super consistent and he has definitely, in many games, given us a boost particularly just creating second chances and protecting the rim and that paint.”
It’s an interesting article from Chiang with some more good quotes — it’s worth checking out in full.
Here are some more Heat notes:
- In an “Ask Ira” mailbag, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wonders whether Robinson, who’s struggled the first quarter of the season, is a fit for a championship-caliber team. He notes that Robinson’s defense is a definite concern, but when he’s making shots, he can be an X-factor for the Heat.
- In the same piece, Winderman opines that backup Gabe Vincent shouldn’t be shoe-horned into being a primary ball-handler, when his skill set is more in the mold of a shooting guard who is solid defensively.
- In a separate “Ask Ira” column, Winderman writes that he isn’t concerned with the team’s rotation, which has fluctuated at times beyond the top-eight core of starters Bam Adebayo, P.J. Tucker, Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and reserves Tyler Herro, Dedmon and Markieff Morris. He believes other members of the team will receive minutes based on matchups.
- Winderman recently asked former NBA executive Stu Jackson about the Heat’s rematch with the Nuggets on Monday night. The last time the team’s faced, there was an altercation between MVP Nikola Jokic and Morris. Morris has been sidelined since the incident with whiplash. Jokic has missed the past six games with an unrelated wrist injury. Jackson says the officials will be on high alert. “In short,” Jackson, now a Big East executive, said, “the officiating crew will be on high alert. Not only because of the matchup between the two of them, but also just the tone of the game, early on, which I suspect the referees will establish a mindset that they’re not going to tolerate any BS. The last thing an official wants to do is have something break out in their game that doesn’t have to do with the game.”
Heat forward Caleb Martin has emerged as a regular rotation player this month, but his two-way contract could complicate his role as the season progresses, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Two-way players can only be active for 50 of 82 games — Martin has been active for 17 of Miami’s first 19 contests, so if the club continues to use him regularly, he could reach his limit prior to the All-Star break. The easiest way to avoid that scenario would be to promote Martin to the 15-man roster, but the Heat aren’t filling their lone opening yet due to luxury tax concerns. As Winderman notes, Martin said this week that it’d be great to earn a standard contract, but that he’s not concerned about it yet.
“I haven’t really thought that far ahead,” Martin said. “I’ll leave that up to them. For them, that’s really on them to decide when they need me or when not. … Obviously that standard contract is what anybody who comes in on this situation works toward.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Wizards forward Rui Hachimura, whose debut this season has been delayed due to a personal absence, still isn’t quite ready to return to action. According to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post (Twitter link), Hachimura didn’t accompany the team on its current four-game road trip, which runs through Monday.
- Magic guard Jalen Suggs has struggled a little early in his rookie season, but after putting up 17 points and six assists in a loss to Charlotte on Wednesday, the first-year guard said he’s feeling more “comfortable and confident,” as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel details. “These past four or five games I’ve felt I’ve kind of turned the corner [from] trying to get adjusted, trying to get my feet wet, because it’s just a completely different situation to now,” Suggs said.
- Chris Kirschner and John Hollinger of The Athletic teamed up to discuss whether the Hawks make sense as a potential Ben Simmons suitor and how much urgency the team should feel to make a major consolidation trade. Kirschner doesn’t believe Atlanta needs to make a big in-season move, but thinks the team should seriously consider it during the 2022 offseason, a year before De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish are eligible for restricted free agency.
Kyle Lowry chose the Heat in free agency because they felt he “could move the needle” for them in pursuit of a championship, he told Marc Spears of The Undefeated.
The Heat worked out a sign-and-trade with the Raptors in which Lowry received a three year deal worth approximately $85MM.
“This is my first year here, but it was the situation where I feel like they wanted to move the needle,” Lowry said. “They wanted to find a way to move the needle and no matter what my age is, I’m still able to move the needle. I’m still playing at a high level. My job is to make everybody else better, to make our team better.”
Thus far, Lowry is averaging 12.0 PPG and 7.6 APG in his first season with Miami.
Lowry offered up some other insights and revelations in his interview with Spears:
- There were some family considerations in his decision to play with the Heat: “It was very bittersweet because I never wanted to leave (the Raptors). But it was more a sense of: ‘All right, my kids are getting older. I want to be somewhere where they can be stable no matter what.’ And, yeah, everybody says you could just live in Canada, but you’d have to get a Canadian citizenship to live there. And I don’t think I would’ve lived there for the rest of my life.”
- He considers Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam “family” and is glad they’ve become the faces of the Toronto franchise: “They will get more of the attention now. I would take all the blame because I wanted to. I never wanted them to have to deal with that stuff, because I just felt I could take the world on my shoulders. And they can, too, but now it’s theirs. I left the franchise in a great place.”
- The desire to win a second NBA championship drives him: “I love my ring, but I want to have another one. I want to be able to wear two of them. I’ve got an [Olympic] gold medal. It was a great feeling. I got an NBA championship. I need to get back to that.”
- Regardless of what happens in Miami, Lowry wants to be remembered as the Raptors point guard on their championship team: “I’ll say it now, I will sign a one-day contract and I’ll retire as a Toronto Raptor. That is my everything.”
Lakers superstar LeBron James was suspended one game without pay and Pistons center Isaiah Stewart will serve a two-game suspension for their altercation on Sunday, the league announced in a press release.
James was suspended for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation. Stewart was given a bigger penalty for escalating the incident by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing James in an unsportsmanlike manner.
Stewart had to be restrained numerous times by coaches and players from retaliating after James struck him in the face battling for position as Jerami Grant attempted a free throw. Pistons coach Dwane Casey stated afterward he didn’t feel Stewart deserved an additional penalty besides the in-game ejection.
James, who has never previously been suspended his career, will miss a marquee matchup against the Knicks on Tuesday. Stewart will serve his suspension Tuesday against the Heat and Wednesday against the Bucks.
The Heat may have enough talent to challenge for an NBA title, but they’ll have to break their habit of letting big leads slip away, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Jimmy Butler addressed the topic Saturday night after Miami squandered a 16-point third quarter advantage while losing to the Wizards in a battle of two of the East’s top teams.
Most troubling for an organization built around its defensive mentality is that the Heat couldn’t stop the Wizards in the fourth quarter. Miami allowed Washington to shoot 73.3% in the final 12 minutes, including 5 of 9 from three-point range.
“I just think everybody’s got to grow up a little bit and realize, if we want to be a really good team, we’ve got to win these games, we’ve got to hold on to these leads, we’ve got to keep playing basketball the right way, keep getting stops, even when we’re not making shots,” Butler said. “Because that’s what’s going to win us a championship, on the defensive end. And if we’re making shots, great. Maybe we’ll win by a little bit more. But it we’re stopping other teams from scoring, that’s what champions are borne of.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Heat coach Erik Spoelstra provided an update on Markieff Morris, who is still recovering from whiplash after being hit from behind by Nikola Jokic, Winderman adds in a separate story. Morris didn’t accompany the team on its current four-game road trip, which means he will miss at least 10 games. “It was a very dangerous play and it’s really unfortunate,” Spoelstra said. “That’s the byproduct of those kind of dangerous actions. But he is feeling better. We’ll just continue to take it one day at a time.”
- Rui Hachimura attended the Wizards‘ shootaround Saturday and is getting closer to making his season debut, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “The fact that he was able to go through parts of shootaround today were terrific,” said coach Wes Unseld Jr. “I think it’s just another step in his ramp-up. We still don’t have a definitive timetable, but every day it seems like it’s more.”
- Mychal Mulder, who signed a two-way contract with the Magic late last month, enjoys being with his new team, notes Matt Murschel of The Orlando Sentinel. The former Warriors guard turned in his best performance of the season Saturday night as Orlando’s reserves nearly erased a 28-point deficit in Milwaukee. “We’ve got good chemistry all around, up and down the roster,” Mulder said. “Guys love playing with each other here. We like one another. We’re a unit and we’re connected. That connectedness in our group is going to show up over time.”
- Heat veteran Markieff Morris (neck) isn’t traveling with the team for its four-game road trip, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link). Morris has yet to play since being intentionally hit from behind by Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic on Nov. 9 — an altercation that began with Morris’ hard foul in transition.
- Heat center Bam Adebayo admits the team was worn out by the time the playoffs came around last season, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Miami was swept by the Bucks in the opening round. “We are more solution-based and trying to figure out how to get it done rather than, ‘Here is our excuses to why we can’t get it done,’” Adebayo said. “But after the season, looking back at it, you was like, ‘Nah, we were broken.’”
- Heat star Bam Adebayo is getting a night off for injury maintenance on a bruised knee, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Per Chiang, coach Erik Spoelstra says that it will be “really beneficial” for Bam to get rest and treatment in order to reduce swelling in the knee.