On this week’s Heat Check: Any concerning Miami Heat signs during this recent stretch? How has Tyler Herro fit in? And more. By Pierre Taylor
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t caught off guard by much. But he couldn’t believe what Heat star center Bam Adebayo accomplished on Friday.
Adebayo made Heat history in Friday night’s 106-105 loss to the Orlando Magic at Kia Center, passing Glen Rice for sole possession of third place on the Heat’s all-time scoring list.
“Did he really?” Spoelstra said when told about Adebayo’s milestone following Friday’s defeat in Orlando.
Yes, really. With Adebayo’s 14th point on Friday, Adebayo passed Rice and only sits behind two franchise icons — No. 1 Dwyane Wade and No. 2 Alonzo Mourning —on the Heat’s all-time scoring list.
“That’s really incredible. What an achievement,” Spoelstra continued on Adebayo, with the Heat moving on to host the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night to complete the back-to-back set. “I had no idea. Wow, that’s awesome. I would have mentioned something to him, even though it was kind of a buzzkill there at the end [of the loss].
“But that’s just a testament to his consistency, his work ethic. He came in basically as a defensive player and he’s really honed his skills offensively to become so much more versatile. On a tough night and a tough loss, that’s one heck of an accomplishment. He’s going to keep going.”
With 9,259 career points after Friday’s 24-point performance against the Magic, Adebayo is just weeks away from passing Mourning (9.459) for second place. But Adebayo is still far from reaching first-place Dwyane Wade (21,556) on the Heat’s all-time scoring list.
“I can’t really put that into words, man,” Adebayo said of moving into third place on the franchise’s all-time scoring list. “I would have liked to have done it in a win, but having the opportunity to pass some of these greats. Obviously, being able to pass them and bring them back into the present day. I’m pretty sure at some point when I see Glen, he’s going to give me a big hug. That’s my guy.”
Friday’s achievement is just part of Adebayo’s journey to becoming one of the greatest Heat players ever.
Adebayo is on track to finish alongside Wade as No. 1 and No. 2 as the Heat’s all-time career leaders in categories like two-point field goals made, free throws made, assists, steals and points, among others. Adebayo is also on his way to overtaking Udonis Haslem as the Heat’s all-time leading rebounder within the next two seasons.
Along with now ranking third in points, he also already ranks fourth in games played, third in minutes, third in field goals made, fourth in free throws made, fourth in offensive rebounds, second in defensive rebounds, second in total rebounds, third in assists, fourth in steals and fifth in blocks on the Heat’s all-time lists.
Adebayo, 28, is in his ninth NBA season after being drafted by the Heat as a 19-year-old with the 14th overall pick in 2017. He’s also in his third season as the Heat’s captain.
“I came into this league as a defender,” Adebayo said. “To be third in points is an incredible feeling for sure.”
BOTCHED FINAL PLAY
Despite trailing by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter Friday’s one-point loss to the Magic in Orlando, the Heat had a chance to escape with the victory.
But with possession of the ball while trailing by one point and 3.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Adebayo caught the inbounds pass at the top of the three-point line. What followed was a case of costly miscommunication between Adebayo and guard Norman Powell that led to a botched play on the final possession.
After Adebayo caught the inbounds pass with just about three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, his plan was to attack his defender in an isolation situation and hit a game-winner. But Powell ran into the action and brought his defender into the play.
“Usually the last set is like, in that situation – Norm hasn’t been here long enough – it’s usually my iso play to go get a bucket,” Adebayo said. “But, throughout the game, it’s run for a backhammer [screen] and he comes running off. So, just miscommunication on the last play.”
Powell’s decision to run to Adebayo threw the spacing off, forcing Adebayo to put up a desperate three-point heave that had no chance of going in as the final buzzer sounded. That ended the Heat’s hopes of completing the comeback.
“It was just a little messed up on the last play, and I feel like it’s on me,” Powell said. “I hate messing up at the end of games. I should have spaced out and gave him some room to work.”
Spoelstra added: “That stuff happens. Norm was zigging while Bam was zagging. We’ll get that all sorted out. It was a tough loss.”
A NEGATIVE?
With starting guard Tyler Herro missing his first game because of a toe injury, the Heat opened Friday’s game against the Magic with a double-big frontcourt of Adebayo and Kel’el Ware for the first time since a Nov. 24 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
But the Adebayo-Ware pairing continues to produce negative results, as the Heat was outscored by the Magic by 14 points in the 14 minutes they played together on Friday.
It was bad enough that Spoelstra benched Ware for the entire fourth quarter. Ware finished Friday’s loss with four points, eight rebounds and one block in 22 minutes, but he did not re-enter the game after being subbed out with 2:06 left in the third quarter.
“That starting group was a little bit uneven tonight,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve got to continue to work on that. I just want to see that group, when we play bigger, just for it to be a plus. So we have some work to do there. It should be a very good defensive group, but that’s a group that hasn’t been able to defend so far. We’ve got to continue to work at that.”
The Heat has now been outscored by 10.8 points per 100 possessions in the 117 minutes that Adebayo and Ware have played together this season.
“You take it personal,” Adebayo said when asked for his response to Spoelstra’s criticism of the double-big frontcourt. “It’s one of those things when you hear situations like that, how your coaches feel, you take it personal and you make it work so he has no complaints about it and he doesn’t switch it up to where we’re the only big out there.”