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Heat Notes: Comeback, Love, Role Players, Herro

June 11th, 2023 at 6:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat are facing a 3-1 deficit in the Finals. Only one team has ever won in the Finals after trailing by that margin but Miami’s coaches and players are unfazed by the odds, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.

“Everybody is counting us out. We’re used to that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But ultimately it has to be decided between those four lines. The crowd is not going to decide it. The narratives are not going to decide it. Whatever the analytics are about 3-1, that ain’t going to decide it. It’s going to be decided between those four lines, whose game can get to whose game and ultimately win at the end. That’s what our guys love. So we’re looking forward to it.”

Game 5 will be played in Denver on Monday night. If the Heat force a Game 6, it will be played on Thursday.

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Speaking of that one time a team rallied from a 3-1 Finals deficit, Kevin Love is well aware of how such a comeback could take place. He was a member of the 2016 Cavaliers that rallied to beat the Warriors in the last three games of the series, Chiang notes in the same story. Love sees similarities between those Cavs and these Heat. “I think there’s a lot to be taken from that situation,” Love said. “Naturally, when your back is up against the wall, you start to look for answers, solutions. But we’re a team that has been super resilient.”
Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Max Strus haven’t been able to impact the Finals the way they did the first three playoff series, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel points out. The Heat know they’ll need more from their role players and perimeter shooters to beat Denver three straight times. “(The Nuggets) definitely made an adjustment to try to stay at home on three-point shooters,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not the first time we have faced that. I think that’s a great compliment to them and how important they are to our offense. We just have to do it better.”
Tyler Herro is listed as out for Game 5, Winderman tweets. The 23-year-old sharpshooter still hasn’t received medical clearance to play in the remaining games, though he did undergo another contact workout on Sunday, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. Herro hasn’t played since breaking his hand in the opening round of the playoffs.

Heat Notes: Herro, Martin, Spoelstra, Butler

June 6th, 2023 at 10:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Tyler Herro has been listed as out for Game 3 of the Finals on Wednesday, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald relays. Herro, who is recovering from a broken hand, said over the weekend he’s still experiencing soreness when he shoots. The Heat guard hasn’t received full medical clearance to play, though he’s practicing with the team.

“He has not been cleared [by doctors to return to game action] yet, so that’s where we are,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But we’re encouraged by the work that he has been doing.”

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Eastern Conference Finals standout Caleb Martin said he’s feeling much better after battling an illness in the first two games of the series, Jackson reports in the same story. The forward said his condition affected his play. “Cold chills, body aches, heavy, heavy migraine,” Martin said of his symptoms. “I was just laying down pretty much in the dark.” He only scored three points in each game.
After guiding the underdog Heat to the Finals, Spoelstra has positioned himself to receive a lucrative extension, according to the Herald duo of Jackson and Anthony Chiang. Spoelstra reportedly has one year remaining on his contract and now has six Finals appearances on his resume in 15 seasons. The Pistons gave Monty Williams a contract averaging $13MM per season, driving up the market for proven head coaches. Spoelstra’s current salary is believed to be in the $8MM range.
Jimmy Butler is averaging 17 points in the series after posting 24.7 points per game in the conference finals. Butler says he’s “done great” in the series, contributing in other ways, Joe Vardon of The Athletic writes. “I’m not a scorer. Just because I score a lot of points one game, that doesn’t make you a scorer. I’m not a volume shooter. I don’t do any of that,” he said. “I don’t press to score. I only press to win. If I pass the ball every possession, if we win, I don’t care. If I shoot the ball every possession and we win, I don’t care.”

Caleb Martin Available, Tyler Herro Out For Game 2

June 4th, 2023 at 5:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Caleb Martin will play in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald (Twitter link).

The Heat wing had been listed as questionable due to an illness. He missed the team’s practice on Saturday. Martin averaged 19.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston but was held to three points on 1-of-7 shooting by the Nuggets in Game 1.

Big man Cody Zeller, who was initially listed as questionable due to a sprained right foot, will also be available off Miami’s bench.

Tyler Herro will remain sidelined as he recovers from a broken hand, though there’s legitimate hope he could return for Game 3 on Wednesday. Herro, who suffered the injury in the opening game of the first-round series against Milwaukee, has ramped up his workouts in recent days.

Heat Notes: Highsmith, Herro, Injuries, Strus, Love

June 3rd, 2023 at 8:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

Haywood Highsmith may see consistent minutes throughout the NBA Finals after scoring 18 points in the series opener, writes Peter Baugh of The Athletic. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra played Highsmith more than 23 minutes off the bench in Game 1 and trusted him to share the responsibility of guarding Jamal Murray.

Earning playing time hasn’t been easy for the third-year swingman, who was barely used for most of the Eastern Conference Finals. He had a breakthrough performance when he scored 15 points in 36 minutes in Game 5 against Boston.

The 26-year-old has taken an unconventional road to the NBA Finals, playing at a Division II college and then being waived three times by the Sixers. Miami gave him an opportunity with a 10-day contract last season, and he earned two more before signing a three-year deal. He takes pride in being one of seven undrafted players on the team’s roster.

“(The Heat) see something in us that nobody else saw in us as undrafted guys, kind of like hidden gems,” Highsmith said. “They believe in us, and they do a great job with developing us and taking us up under their wing and just making us be the best players we can be.”

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Tyler Herro has been declared out for Game 2, but that doesn’t mean it’s certain that he won’t play, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jackson states that NBA rules allow teams to change the status of injured players, so Herro could be activated before Sunday night if he continues to make progress in his recovery from hand surgery. Jackson adds that Caleb Martin is listed as questionable with an illness that the team describes as a head issue, and Cody Zeller is questionable with a sprained right foot.
Jimmy Butler hasn’t lost faith in Martin and Max Strus, who combined to shoot 1-of-17 in Game 1, Jackson adds. Butler said he’ll still set them up for the same shots, and Strus remarked that he’s eager to put his scoreless night behind him. “You can’t dwell on it,” he said. “Luckily, it was only Game 1 so we got more to play. But I’m ready. I wanted to play right after the game was over.”
In an interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic, Kevin Love offers his perspective as a relative newcomer to Heat culture after signing with the team in February. “I think it’s definitely a level of focus and professionalism, attention to detail and winning at all costs, that is not always the case (with other teams),” Love said. “Or there’s moments throughout the season (where you have that focus with other teams), but this is all-in for all 82. And then after that, it’s taking it up even another notch. And I’ve felt that, and understood that, and I’ve only been here for three months.”

Heat Notes: Robinson, Vincent, Strus, Love, Haslem

June 3rd, 2023 at 10:26am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat‘s unexpectedly deep playoff run has improved the league-wide perception of several of the team’s key contributors, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

According to a scout who spoke to Jackson, Duncan Robinson‘s contract – which has three years and $57MM left after this season – now looks more tradable as opposed to being a “complete albatross.” Meanwhile, players like Gabe Vincent and Max Strus, who are headed for unrestricted free agency, are poised to cash in nicely this summer.

“I’ve gone from thinking (Vincent) is a good $3MM backup to a $10MM, $11MM player; he’s worth that in today’s NBA,” the scout said. “The guy has produced when it counts, and that’s what teams are looking for. He has risen to the occasion. … He’s never afraid of the moment. You get high effort defensively. Decent play-maker, has toughness. To me, his value correlates a lot to his scoring, but he does do other things that teams value.”

Ira Winderman explores the same subject in a story for The Sun Sentinel, noting that ESPN’s Bobby Marks believes both Vincent and Strus could get starting salaries around the full mid-level exception ($12.2MM) when they hit the market in a few weeks.

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Five undrafted Heat players – Vincent, Strus, Robinson, Caleb Martin, and Haywood Highsmith – played at least 20 minutes in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. While those players appreciated Erik Spoelstra‘s recent assertion that the fixation on their undrafted status is “disrespectful,” they also don’t want to dismiss the obstacles they had to overcome to become rotation players on a Finals team, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “You want to be labeled as an NBA player, but you don’t forget the road you took to get here, you don’t forget where you started and where you came from,” Martin said. “That’s what makes it also very special. I think that’s why our connection is so great, because near half our team went through the same stuff. I think the fact that’s the case has also helped us get to this point. So just as much as it can get old, it’s also very special.”
Kevin Love‘s numbers since he joined the Heat have been modest and his minutes have fluctuated, but teammate Duncan Robinson believes the veteran forward has been a difference-maker off the court for the club. “I think he totally changed the whole dynamic of our locker room,” Robinson said of Love on The Old Man and the Three podcast (hat tip to Jackson at The Miami Herald). “Just his character, his levity, what he brought in terms of just connecting people, having a sense of humor. When you have a guy who’s played in four NBA Finals, won a championship, gets pulled from a rotation in the middle of a series and his immediate reaction is uplifting the guy that’s replacing him — that alone sets the tone down the line for everybody else.”
While Udonis Haslem admits it would be an “amazing” ending to his own career if the Heat win a championship this spring before he retires, he said this week that he wants a title more for his teammates than for himself. “I want it for the guys that haven’t won any,” Haslem said, according to Chiang. “I want it for Jimmy Butler. I want it for those guys more so than anything.”

Heat Notes: Herro, Butler, Haslem, Culture, Martin

May 30th, 2023 at 7:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Tyler Herro, who reportedly could be back as soon as Game 3 of the Finals after undergoing hand surgery last month, said he’ll do everything possible to get back in action, Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald report. The Heat guard suffered the injury during Game 1 of Miami’s first-round series against Milwaukee.

“I’m going to be working out every day, twice, two, three times a day from here until the day I hopefully come back,” he said. “So I’m always going to continue to work hard and see how my body responds day by day and try to come back as soon as possible.”

“There’s a little soreness in my hand still,” Herro added. “But it’s all just post-surgery scar tissue and stuff like that, that I’m trying to work through right now. I would love to come back for the Finals, but we’ll see how my hand feels.”

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The way the team overcame Herro’s injury during the postseason is an example of its culture, according to Heat star Jimmy Butler (story via ESPN’s Nick Friedell). “When a guy goes down, the next guy could fill in that gap and do exactly what that guy that went down did — and do it at a high level,” he said. “Then be humble enough to know that when that guy comes back, you’ve got to take a step back and get back in your role. Nobody ever complains. They always do exactly what you ask of them to do, which is why you want to play with guys like that, which is why they are the reason we win so many games.”
Speaking of that culture, Udonis Haslem expounded on that subject in a feature from Marc J. Spears of Andscape’s. “I would like to say I am Heat culture. If you do it right, and you stay committed to the process, you don’t just speak it but it becomes a lifestyle,” he said. “And this is where you can end up. I have businesses around the city. I’ve played 20 years in the NBA. I put myself in the opportunity in a position where I can at least have the conversation about ownership. So, I think Heat culture applies in all walks of life.”
Caleb Martin came up one vote short of being named the Most Valuable Player of the conference finals. He’s come a long way from getting waived by the Hornets two years ago. That was the low point of his career, he told Spears. “That was worse than not getting drafted,” Martin said. “That was the first time where I felt that I wasn’t good enough. Being drafted or undrafted, there are only a certain amount of spots for [60] kids. But a team deciding to cut you because they feel like you can’t contribute to what they are trying to do, that hurt.”

Jimmy Butler Named Eastern Conference Finals MVP

May 29th, 2023 at 10:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jimmy Butler has been named the Most Valuable Player of the Eastern Conference Finals, according to the NBA (via Twitter).

The Heat stymied the Celtics’ bid to become the first NBA team to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-0. Butler had 28 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals as Miami thumped Boston on the Celtics’ home court by a score of 103-84.

For the series, Butler averaged 24.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists as the eighth-seeded Heat continued their improbable postseason run. The only other No. 8 seed to reach the Finals was the 1999 Knicks. This year’s Finals will begin at Denver on Thursday.

Caleb Martin certainly made a strong case for Eastern Conference MVP with his 26-point, 10-rebound performance in Game 7. Martin averaged 19.3 points and 6.4 rebounds while making 48.9% of his 3-point attempts over the course of the series. Butler edged out Martin 5-4 in the voting by the media panel (Twitter link).

Gabe Vincent To Play, Malcolm Brogdon Out For Game 6

May 27th, 2023 at 7:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

Heat guard Gabe Vincent, who missed Game 5 due to a sprained left ankle, has been cleared to play on Saturday, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Vincent will be back in the starting lineup, Jackson adds, and Miami has made another change, starting Caleb Martin in place of Kevin Love.

Vincent injured the ankle on an awkward landing after a jump shot late in Game 4. He sat out Thursday’s contest in Boston as the Celtics cruised to a 13-point win.

Vincent took over as the team’s starting point guard in February and has maintained that role throughout the playoffs. He has averaged 13.1 points and 4.1 assists in 15 postseason games while shooting 41.7% from the field and 37.5% from three-point range. He poured in a career-high 29 points in Miami’s Game 3 victory.

The Celtics will try to stay alive without guard Malcolm Brogdon, who suffered a right forearm strain in the second half Thursday, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Brogdon tried to go through his normal pre-game routine tonight, but Boston’s medical staff determined that he’s not able to play.

Brogdon, who also has a partially torn tendon in his right elbow, has come off the bench in every Celtics playoff game so far, averaging 12.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 25.9 minutes per night.

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.

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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.

Heat Notes: Martin, Lowry, Herro, Defense

May 8th, 2023 at 9:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Caleb Martin is listed as questionable for Monday’s Game 4 with a back contusion, but there’s little doubt that he’ll be ready when the Heat call on him, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Martin was also questionable on Saturday after hurting his back when he slid into the Knicks’ bench while chasing a loose ball in Game 2. He managed to play 23 minutes, even though he was seen grabbing his back in pain a few times.

“You kind of got to,” Martin said. “I think you don’t really have a choice. We’re going to do everything in our power, especially me. If you can play and if you can go, then that’s what you got to do. It’s that point of the season, everybody is banged up.”

Chiang notes that Martin missed 10 regular season games due to injuries, but nine of those were concentrated in a 14-game stretch starting in mid-December. Coach Erik Spoelstra indicated that even when Martin was most banged up, the team “had to take that decision out of his hands” to prevent him from trying to play.

“He’s such a competitor,” Spoelstra said. “He doesn’t want to miss time and he doesn’t have an off button except for like off the court, he’s pretty chill. It’s a pretty good balance he has there. But once he steps in between those four lines, he’s a savage competitor. That’s what we love about him.”

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Kyle Lowry has become a valuable part of the Heat’s reserve unit since Spoelstra decided to bring him off the bench when he returned in March after sitting out time with knee pain, per William Guillory of The Athletic. Lowry had started 677 straight games when he was active, but he was so effective in the new role that it became permanent. “One of the things we’ve found is you’re bringing a Hall-of-Fame mind off the bench,” Spoelstra said. “Our second unit was struggling for much of the year. Shift him (to the bench) and a lot of the things we were working on endlessly just kind of get taken care of. … He is an ultimate winner. What drives him more than anything is winning.”
Tyler Herro could also find himself in a reserve role if the Heat are able to keep playing long enough for him to return from a broken right hand, suggests Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Herro underwent surgery April 21 and is expected to be sidelined until early June.
Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald examines how the Heat’s defense has shut down the Knicks through the first three games of their series, holding them to 99.3 PPG on 42.1% shooting from the field.