Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Notes: Clutch Wins, Martin, Robinson, Playoff Run

May 21st, 2023 at 4:08pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

An up-and-down 44-38 regular season full of close games helped propel All-NBA small forward Jimmy Butler and his Heat to what has been an incredible playoff tear, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

Miami is leading the Celtics 2-0 in their best-of-seven conference finals series.

Windhorst notes that 38 of Miami’s 44 regular season wins were achieved in clutch time, defined as instances when the margin is five or fewer points during a game’s final five minutes in regulation or overtime. He adds that this has helped galvanize the team in the playoffs, even when it has fallen behind. To wit, the Heat are 6-2 in the postseason when trailing by 10 or more points in a contest.

“Just being in those (clutch-time) situations 50-plus times during the regular season, that just brings great experience for us,” center Bam Adebayo said.

There’s more out of South Beach:

Heat forward Caleb Martin, who established a new personal postseason high with 25 points on Friday, has capitalized on Boston’s inferred disrespect of his abilities, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. In leaning on a single-big lineup for much of the night, the Celtics opened the door for the Heat to play the 6’5″ Martin as a small ball power forward, and he promptly lit them up. Though giving Martin space to beat them worked in the Celtics’ favor during the conference finals last year, he’s making them pay this time around. “One thing Caleb told me was, ‘This is not last year,’” Adebayo said. “That really resonated with me, because they did the same thing to him last year. I feel like he felt like it was disrespectful.”
Although he was out of the rotation for much of the second half of the season, Heat forward Duncan Robinson made a point to remain prepared in the postseason and has emerged as a critical bench role player, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Through 13 playoff games, the 6’7″ wing is averaging 7.9 PPG on .424/.420/1.000 shooting splits in 17.1 MPG off the bench.
The Heat are a testament to the fact that surrounding a superstar with depth, rather than fielding top-heavy “super-team” rosters, can be a formula for playoff success, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. Miami’s togetherness as a cumulative unit, heavy on chemistry, has helped push it to being just two games away from its second NBA Finals berth in four seasons.

Celtics Notes: R. Williams, Horford, White, G. Williams, Tatum

May 20th, 2023 at 5:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla turned around the series with the Sixers by inserting Robert Williams in the starting lineup alongside Al Horford, but that pairing hasn’t been effective against Miami, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. In the 14 minutes that they’ve played together in the conference finals, Williams and Horford are getting outscored by 51.6 points per 100 possessions, which has made a difference in two close losses.

With the two big men on the floor together, Jimmy Butler has searched for opportunities to draw Williams away from the basket, Himmelsbach adds, and Horford has been outplayed by Bam Adebayo. After Game 1, Mazzulla was hesitant when asked whether he planned to stick with the two-big lineup, but they were both starters again Friday night. However, they played less than five minutes together as Mazzulla didn’t go back to that lineup after the Heat took an early lead.

There’s more on the Celtics:

Himmelsbach’s recommendation for Game 3 is to put Derrick White in the starting lineup and give him more minutes in general. He notes that White is an All-Defensive Team selection who blocked two shots by Butler in Game 2. He makes Boston a better shooting team as well, hitting 6-of-10 three-point attempts in the series. White played just 23 minutes on Friday and hasn’t topped that figure in the Celtics’ last four games.
Mazzulla isn’t upset about Grant Williams‘ trash-talking incident with Butler in the fourth quarter Friday, even though Butler responded by leading Miami’s game-winning rally, per Brian Robb of MassLive. The exchange overshadowed a nice bounce-back performance from Williams, who made 4-of-6 shots after not being used in the series opener. “I mean, he didn’t do anything wrong necessarily,” Mazzulla said. “So, I don’t think it’s emotions getting the best of him.”
The Celtics’ biggest concern is the continued lack of production late in games from Jayson Tatum, observes Matt Vautour of MassLive. Tatum didn’t make a shot from the floor in the fourth quarter of Game 1 or 2, leaving his teammates to try to carry the scoring load.

Southeast Notes: Butler, G. Williams, Heat, Magic, Wizards

May 20th, 2023 at 4:33pm CST by Rory Maher

Grant Williams started trash-talking Heat star Jimmy Butler after making a three-pointer to put the Celtics up 96-87 with 6:37 remaining in Game 2. Butler smirked, came to the other end, and notched an and-one with Williams defending him. The two players went head-to-head and both received technical fouls.

The Heat finished the contest on a 24-9 run (including nine by Butler) to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, winning both of their road games in Boston. As Nick Friedell of ESPN writes, Butler admitted the exchange fueled him.

“Yes, it did,” Butler said. “But that’s just competition at its finest. He hit a big shot, started talking to me. I like that. I’m all for that. It makes me key in a lot more. It pushes that will that I have to win a lot more. It makes me smile. It does. … But it’s just competition. I do respect him, though. He’s a big part of what they try to do. He switches. He can shoot the ball. I just don’t know if I’m the best person to talk to.”

For his part, Williams defended his actions, per Friedell.

“I think he said something and I just responded,” Williams said. “I’m a competitor, and I’m going to battle. He got the best of me tonight, and at the end of the day, it’s out of respect, because I’m not going to run away from it. … I’m ready to come back and come into Game 3 with a better mentality, and I know this team is as well.”

Here’s more from the Southeast:

Having the same owner, key front office members, and head coach for many years running is paying dividends for the Heat, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It takes so much time and energy to restart something,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, speaking beyond his situation. “And I think that’s been a part of why we’ve been able to reboot so many times over and over and over. We’re not reinventing a new culture and then trying to teach everybody and then all of a sudden two years later it’s going to be somebody else doing the same thing.”
Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (subscriber link) lists eight prospects the Magic should target with their two lottery picks (sixth and 11th). Some players mentioned include Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson of Overtime Elite, UCF’s Taylor Hendricks, and Kansas’ Gradey Dick.
Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington attended the NBA draft combine this week and observed five takeaways that could be relevant for the Wizards. Hughes believes Seth Lundy might be a solid choice with one of Washington’s two second-round picks (Nos. 42 and 57), noting that the Penn State guard’s shooting, rebounding, length and experience could make him an immediate bench contributor.

Heat Notes: Strus, Vincent, Heat Culture, Yurtseven

May 19th, 2023 at 2:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Max Strus has started every single one of the Heat‘s 12 playoff games so far and has scored at least 14 points in each of his last six appearances, averaging 15.8 PPG on .493/.375/.875 shooting in 31.0 minutes per night during that run. As Sean Deveney of Heavy.com writes, Strus is strengthening his case for a solid multiyear contract when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.

“It does not happen much that guys get paid off playoff runs, like it used to 20 years ago,” an Eastern Conference executive told Deveney. “But what he is doing is making a point to the Heat that they should bring him back. They are looking at some pretty big tax problems, and that makes it tough. But he has been showing how valuable he is to what they do.

“He is going to have teams willing to pay him the tax exception (worth a projected $7.55MM) but maybe that goes higher, maybe to the full MLE ($12.22MM). He is not all that young (27 years old), but he does not have a lot of wear and tear and he probably has another 10 years in the league, so some of these rebuilding teams like Orlando or San Antonio, they’d have to take a good look at him as a polished guy who can spread the floor.”

According to Deveney, there had been a belief that Strus might end up commanding a deal similar to the one Caleb Martin signed with the Heat last offseason: three years and about $20MM. But if his strong postseason run continues, he could end up exceeding that projection.

Here’s more on the Heat:

The years the Heat spent developing undrafted players like Strus and Gabe Vincent are paying dividends in this spring’s postseason, says Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Just because you’re undrafted doesn’t mean you’re a bad basketball player,” said Vincent, the team’s starting point guard since February 4. “We’re talented and we come in here and we work and we grind, and the organization, the coaching staff puts in the time, as well, with us and they believe in us.”
While the much-lauded “Heat culture” became the butt of some jokes when Miami was struggling, the team’s performance during this year’s playoffs has proven that the term isn’t just a buzzword, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “It’s real,” Jimmy Butler said prior to the start of the Eastern Conference Finals. “More than anything, it’s the belief we have in one another, the belief you must have in yourself to realize how special you can be in this league, in this moment, in this organization. I think everybody has bought into that. Everybody is confident. The confidence that Heat culture instills in every one of us is very real.”
Heat center Omer Yurtseven suffered a nose contusion during a Thursday scrimmage, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Yurtseven is listed as questionable for Game 2 on Friday, though he hasn’t been part of the club’s playoff rotation anyway, appearing in just two games in garbage-time minutes.
Although it nearly cost his team a playoff spot, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is a fan of the NBA’s play-in tournament, telling reporters on Thursday that the battle for play-in positioning forced Miami to play more competitive games during the second half of the season. “I do know the play-in helped,” Spoelstra said, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. “There are far less teams tanking. Everyone was fighting for it those last two months. Every game was must-see TV and that was in both conferences. So I think (for) the league, that’s probably the best thing that’s happened in the last decade.”

Haslem Glad Heat Didn't "Underachieve" In Postseason

May 17th, 2023 at 11:23am CST by Luke Adams

Heat big man Udonis Haslem, who will retire at season’s end, said this week that he would’ve found a way to be happy about how his career ended even if the team hadn’t made it this far in the playoffs, but he’s pleased to be going out on a positive note, according to Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “I just didn’t want to underachieve,” Haslem said. “It wasn’t really about how we go out. It’s really about underachieving and not reaching our maximum potential. That’s what I would hate to do any year is underachieve.”

Tyler Herro Still Not Shooting, Dribbling

May 16th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

An unlikely run to the Eastern Conference Finals for the Heat has increased the likelihood of Tyler Herro playing again this season. However, he still hasn’t begun to shoot or dribble as he recovers from a fractured right hand, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

After Herro broke his hand in Game 1 of the Heat’s first round series vs. Milwaukee, reports indicated that he likely wouldn’t be able to return unless Miami made the NBA Finals. When he underwent surgery on April 21, the sharpshooter was ruled out for six weeks.

At the time, it seemed safe to conclude Herro’s season was over, but the No. 8 Heat have since won two series, giving him a chance to make it back this spring. Still, as Jackson observes, that six-week timeline would mean Herro will be sidelined until at least Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, so Miami will still need to win a few more games to have any hope of seeing him again this postseason.

Poll: Which Team Will Win Eastern Conference Finals?

May 16th, 2023 at 8:57am CST by Luke Adams

For the second season in a row and the third time in the last four years, the Celtics and the Heat will face one another in the Eastern Conference Finals, battling for the right to play in the NBA Finals. The series will tip off on Wednesday night in Boston.

The odds of the Heat making it back to the Eastern Finals appeared slim when the postseason began. After finishing the regular season seventh in the conference, Miami needed two play-in games to secure its playoff berth, then saw one of its top scorers – sharpshooter Tyler Herro – break his hand during the first half of Game 1 against the top-seeded Bucks.

Despite injuries to Herro and reserve guard Victor Oladipo, as well as the history of futility for No. 8 seeds in the NBA playoffs, the Heat pulled off an impressive five-game upset of Milwaukee, then defeated the No. 5 Knicks in the second round to advance to the third round.

Jimmy Butler, who has been the Heat’s leading scorer in every single game he has played during the playoffs (he missed Game 2 of the Knicks series due to an ankle sprain), has been the difference-maker for the franchise. After averaging 22.9 points per game during the season, “Playoff Jimmy” has bumped that number to 31.1 PPG in the postseason, chipping in 6.6 RPG, 5.4 APG, and 1.7 SPG with an impressive .527/.361/.792 shooting line.

Butler and Bam Adebayo, who is anchoring the defense and providing secondary scoring, have been buoyed by a supporting cast featuring Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Caleb Martin, and a resurgent Kyle Lowry, leading the Heat to an improbably deep run. Miami will be looking to become the first No. 8 seed in NBA history to win a title — if they can get past Boston, the Heat will become just the second eighth seed in league history to even make the NBA Finals, joining the 1999 Knicks.

To advance to the Finals though, the Heat will have to defeat a Celtics team that held the East’s top seed for much of the season and ultimately ended up No. 2 with 57 wins.

Boston had a league-best +6.7 net rating during the regular season, posting the NBA’s second-best offensive rating (117.3) and finishing second in defensive rating (110.6) too. The offense has been even better (118.1) during the postseason and the defense (111.0) has shown no sign of slipping.

This is a talented, well-rounded team led by a pair of star wings – Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown – and featuring strong defenders all over the court, including guards Marcus Smart and Derrick White and big men Robert Williams and Al Horford.

While Miami should have the head coaching advantage in the series, which pits long-tenured Heat coach Erik Spoelstra against Celtics first-timer Joe Mazzulla, there’s little question that Boston has the talent edge on the court. Currently, BetOnline.ag lists the Celtics as significant betting favorites — Boston is -550 to advance to the NBA Finals, while the Heat are +430 underdogs.

But the Heat have defied the odds to even make it this far. Can they do it again? We want to know what you think. Which team will represent the East in this year’s NBA Finals?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

Bucks, Pistons, Raptors Interested In Monty Williams

May 15th, 2023 at 11:07am CST by Arthur Hill

After being fired by the Suns Saturday night, Monty Williams is attracting interest from the other three NBA teams with head coaching vacancies, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. Sources tell Charania that the Bucks, Pistons and Raptors all plan to pursue Williams in their coaching searches.

Charania hears that Williams will “take time to himself” after his surprising ouster in Phoenix, but opportunities will be available if he decides he wants to coach next season. Even though Detroit scheduled interviews with its three finalists last week, it appears the team will delay a decision until it finds out if Williams is interested. The Raptors, who fired Nick Nurse on April 21, and the Bucks, who dismissed Mike Budenholzer on May 4, are both in the early stages of their coaching searches.

Despite an early report that new Suns owner Mat Ishbia was responsible for firing Williams, sources tell Charania that it was an organizational decision that involved “all segments of team leadership.” Charania adds that Phoenix will look for “a respected program builder” who will demand accountability from players and bring a creative approach to an offense built around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. The Suns may interview six or seven candidates before making a decision, Charania adds.

Charania also confirms a rumor that emerged Saturday night that Phoenix considers current Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to be its “ideal No. 1 target.” However, Lue is still under contract and there hasn’t been any indication that L.A. is considering a coaching change.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM points out that if Lue does want to come to the Suns, he would have to be the one who asks the Clippers for permission to interview (Twitter link) and Phoenix would likely be required to send some form of compensation if Lue is hired.

Charania’s sources identify Nurse as another desirable target for the Suns.

The Bucks are continuing to expand their list of coaching candidates, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who tweets that the team has received permission to interview Heat assistant Chris Quinn. The Pistons reportedly interviewed Quinn early in their search, and he’s considered to be a candidate for the Raptors’ job as well.

Heat Notes: Butler, Adebayo, Spo, East Finals, Sixers

May 14th, 2023 at 2:38pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Heat stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are grateful for their extended break between last Friday’s series-sealing victory over the Knicks and Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Miami got to take Saturday and Sunday off before beginning its prep Monday, according to Chiang, who notes that Butler has an ankle sprain that kept him out of the Heat’s Game 2 loss to New York while Adebayo has been dealing with a left hamstring strain and left shoulder discomfort.

“When you want to win that bad, I feel like you’ll do anything,” Adebayo said. “You’ll put your body through a lot for wins and a series win.”

The Heat, who as the East’s eighth seed have been underdogs in both of their playoff rounds thus far, will face off against the winner of today’s Game 7 semifinals matchup between the Celtics and 76ers.

There’s more out of South Beach:

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra believes that the team’s improbable 2023 postseason run can be seen as a teachable moment for the future, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “These are the kinds of lessons that hopefully that we impart on our children, that you can develop perseverance and grit when things are tough and when people are criticizing you,” Spoelstra said. A year removed from being the East’s top seed, the Heat started off with a 12-15 record before eventually finishing at 44-38. Even still, Miami barely snuck into the playoffs thanks to a fourth quarter play-in game rally. Now, the Heat find themselves just four wins away from a return to the NBA Finals. “I’ve said many times about our regular season, there was nothing easy about it,” Spoelstra said. “But the guys came in with a spirit every single day to try to get better and not make excuses for everything. “We were well aware of all the injuries and moving parts and changing lineups. I think we got better in a lot of areas, and finding different solutions. But we had to do a lot of things the hard way.”
Although the Heat are returning to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in four seasons, the club’s circuitous route back has resonated in a new way, given Miami’s perennial underdog status this year, Chiang notes in a separate piece. “It’s a crazy story being written,” Adebayo said. “Through all the ups and downs of this season, a lot of people counting us out and saying we weren’t even going to make it past the first round and now we’re in the Eastern Conference finals. It just shows the determination and the will that this team has.”
As the Heat wait to discover the identity of their opponent in the next round, one rival scout is convinced that Miami should hope to face the Sixers instead of the deeper, more consistent Celtics, Winderman writer in another Sun Sentinel article. “[MVP Philadelphia center Joel Embiid] is a given,” the scout said. “How is Bam going to do against him? As well as anybody. He’s going to get his 29. But [James] Harden is defensible. Miami’s got a bunch of guys who can guard him. And they’re too dependent on him. And then the rest, [Tyrese] Maxey is great. But you’re seeing what’s happening with Tobias Harris. When it counts, he’s a no-show.”

Southeast Notes: Lowry, Heat, Hawks, Lang, Wizards

May 12th, 2023 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

When the Heat explored the trade market for Kyle Lowry at the trade deadline, teams reportedly sought at least one first-round pick just to take on the veteran guard, who is on a pricey multiyear contract and was dealing with a knee injury at the time. But Lowry is rebuilding his value with his performance so far in the postseason, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Four years removed from being the starting point guard on a Toronto team that won a championship, Lowry has accepted a bench role during this season’s playoffs and has registered no complaints, having told reporters that as long as the Heat are winning, he doesn’t care what his role is.

“He is an ultimate winner,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So what drives him more than anything is winning. And there were just unfortunate circumstances how we got to this. His injury shut him down for five weeks and the plan, as we’ve talked about quite a bit, it just made the most sense initially to bring him off the bench.

“And then it just got so late, we didn’t have a lot of time. He’s been fantastic about it. One of the things we found, you’re bringing a Hall of Fame mind off the bench. And our second unit was struggling for much of the year. You shift him into there, a lot of these things that we were working on endlessly just kind of get taken care of.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

Brian Lewis of The New York Post takes a look at how the Heat‘s ability to turn undrafted players into rotation pieces has helped the team withstand injuries and given Miami an advantage in its second-round series vs. New York. As Lewis notes, the Heat have seven undrafted players on their roster, the most of any team in the playoffs.
The Hawks will hire Antonio Lang as one of Quin Snyder‘s lead assistant coaches, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). A Cavaliers assistant for the last four seasons, Lang previously worked on Snyder’s staff in Utah from 2014-19.
If the Wizards were to win Tuesday’s draft lottery and the rights to French phenom Victor Wembanyama, it wouldn’t just change the direction of the franchise — it would alter the entire D.C. sports landscape, according to David Aldridge and Josh Robbins of The Athletic. While Wembanyama wouldn’t necessarily make the Wizards an instant contender, he’d provide much-needed hope for a “depressed fan base,” The Athletic’s duo writes.