Heat Notes: Jovic, Jakucionis, Herro, Health, Ware
Head coach Erik Spoelstra says Heat forward Nikola Jovic is working on his comportment when his shot isn’t falling, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. The 22-year-old has been in a season-long slump, with a subpar shooting line of just .370/.272/.687.
“It’s just something to work on and he is,” Spoelstra said of such visible exposure of fading confidence. “He’s working on it and you just want to have that strong face always throughout the course of competition. We like him shooting open shots, being aggressive offensively.
“You can’t control always whether the ball is going to go in or not. His process behind the scenes has been solid the last three weeks. He’s been putting in the time and that’s what you can control. He’s working on it, working on the strong face at all times.”
Jovic downplayed the issue, explaining that he remains internally confident despite how it might look from the outside.
“I think I’m just being true to myself,” he said. “Does it look good? Probably not. But I’m working on it. I think it’s a smart thing from them, telling me that I should maybe look better, and look better for the others, and help. So I’m just working on it. But I don’t think it’s any big issue.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Backcourt injuries have created playing time opportunities for rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis, who has been trending upward recently despite the team’s struggles, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The 19-year-old had 22 and 20 points earlier this week and has been extremely accurate from behind the arc this season (45.1%), though he has struggled from two-point range (30.4%). “I love Kas, man. He’s such a hard worker,” All-Star guard Norman Powell said. “I mean, he’s doing two, three workouts before shootarounds and before practice. I think the sky is the limit for him, just his approach, his mentality. He’s very mature for his age. He’s very focused and very locked in. I think it shows. He’s been put into the starting lineup when guys have been hurt. He’s been able to play and showcase his ability and why this organization loves him so much. I’m really excited for him.”
- Spoelstra was asked on Wednesday if Tyler Herro (rib injury) would return after the All-Star break, Winderman tweets. “He will be back. Yes, for sure,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t have a timeline exactly of when that will be. We’ll see. We’ll see how he progresses.”
- Miami remains confident that it can recapture the form that led to a 14-7 start to the season, rather than the 15-20 stretch that has followed, according to Chiang. Spoelstra was quick to point out that injuries have been a factor in the team’s inconsistency. “You just look at our defense, our defense is improving,” Spoelstra said. “It’s getting better, we’re third or fourth, depending on the metric you look at. It’s the same thing with our offense. The efficiency isn’t exactly where we need it to be, but we can explode on teams. We’re fourth in scoring. It’s a matter of doing it in those moments of truth when it really matters to push a win. Offensively, I think when we get our guys back, I think we’re going to be a really dangerous offensive team. We can be fourth in the league in scoring with large parts of our rosters on the sideline. Just wait until we get our guys back into the fold.”
- As Winderman notes, Spoelstra has been critical of second-year center Kel’el Ware multiple times this season, particularly after a December loss to Boston. It’s a small sample size, but Ware has fared better in two-big lineups alongside Bam Adebayo recently. “And I appreciate that,” Spoelstra said after Wednesday night’s win. “I also appreciate Kel’el’s process the last three weeks or a month, since whenever that game was, the infamous postgame quote. But his process really improved and you’re going to go through stretches where it’s up and down. But he just came in every day since then, just trying to work on getting better in the shootarounds and practices and film sessions. And it’s translating to the court. It doesn’t always guarantee that it will. But I appreciate his approach of late.”
Southeast Notes: F. Wagner, Bam, Spoelstra, Jovic, Risacher
Magic forward Franz Wagner will miss his third straight game on Monday at Cleveland, but his injury designation has changed from left ankle soreness to left high ankle sprain injury management, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
As Beede notes (via Twitter), Wagner missed five-plus weeks — a span of 16 games — due to the high ankle sprain before returning for a pair of overseas contests in Berlin (his hometown) and London. Head coach Jamahl Mosley said the German star did some light shooting ahead of Saturday’s game vs. Cleveland, but didn’t take contact (Twitter video link).
Asked by Beede whether Wagner may have rushed back from the injury, Mosley said he’s focused on the present and future and not the past.
“I can’t … Those are things that I’m not looking at,” Mosley said. “When he said he could go, he went. And when we thought he could go, he went. You can’t look back and say what we could or should have done at the end of the day. In that moment, it’s how he felt and then that’s what we’ve got to be smart [about] moving forward with him.”
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- Head coach Erik Spoelstra and star big man Bam Adebayo had some heated words during a team meeting on Saturday morning ahead of the Heat‘s blowout victory over Utah, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Spo kind of went off on us, especially on Bam, which I think kind of set the tone,” Nikola Jovic said. “When you start talking to the captain first, we just knew we had to take more responsibility and be more locked in. So I think it’s simple as that. Just maybe we had a little more pressure on us and it helped.” Spoelstra was upset by the team’s defensive performance in Thursday’s loss at Portland. For his part, Adebayo downplayed the exchange, Winderman adds. “I mean, it definitely is clearing the air in the room,” Adebayo said. “All that being said, we like when coach confronts us. It’s just he’s gotta be prepared when we bark back. We’re all grown men at the end of the day, so we don’t like what he said, we can always have a man-to-man conversation.”
- Fourth-year forward Jovic is having a down season after inking a four-year, $62.4MM rookie scale extension in October. He says he’s still adjusting to Heat‘s new motion-based offense, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I’m adapting,” Jovic said. “Like I always say, whatever coaches need us to do, I’ll do it. I mean, I’m not a guy who you build a system around right now. We’re not going to build our offense around me. So for right now, it’s just whatever coaches need me to do and whatever playstyle they want to play, I just have to adapt. So I don’t think post-ups are going to be a big part of the game. Maybe at one point.”
- Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher has been assigned to the team’s G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, for a Sunday practice, tweets Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks. Risacher, the top pick in the 2024 draft, has missed eight straight games with a left knee bone contusion. The 20-year-old wing is expected to be reevaluated in the next day or two.
Heat Notes: Larsson, Jaquez, Jovic, Ware
During a light portion of the Heat‘s schedule last month, guard Pelle Larsson missed five games (over 11 days) due to a sprained right ankle. As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel writes, Larsson sprained his left ankle on Monday against Denver and could end up missing a similar amount of games — the team plays five times over the next eight days.
“Comparing how it was when it happened now and then, it’s much better. So I’m expecting less time out,” said Larsson, who didn’t require an MRI this time. “I mean, Doc kind of ruled that out pretty quick when we were already at the game. So, and I kind of felt that, too, just the way, the pain level and stuff.”
The 24-year-old was able to get some side work in during Wednesday’s practice but has been ruled out of Thursday’s contest at Detroit, Winderman adds.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., a contender for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, has improved as a play-maker in his third NBA season, Winderman states in another story. The UCLA product dished out a career-high 11 assists on Monday and is averaging 4.8 assists per game, nearly double his totals over his first two seasons (2.6 and 2.5, respectively). “He has an ability to get downhill, get into the paint, use his physicality,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But, you know, the next layer of it is understanding that teams adjust and they bring a second defender, and he’s really been working at understanding where the open guys are and not predetermining anything. He’s been watching film on it, and he’s really improved quite a bit since last year.” Jaquez will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
- After struggling in his first 19 games of the season, Nikola Jovic has looked like a different player over the past three games since he returned from an elbow injury, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Jovic has been far more aggressive of late, averaging 17.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 5.3 APG while shooting 40.9% from long distance over that three-game span (24.0 MPG). The Serbian forward credited his family and a shift in his mentality for his improved play. “For me, it was to stop looking at basketball as a hobby and something that I love and look at it more as a job, as a profession because that’s who I am now,” Jovic said. “So, I come in every day with a different approach now, and I guess it has to stay that way.“
- While it’s a relatively small sample size, Kel’el Ware has been scorching hot from three-point range lately, pushing his season-long average up to 47.3%, per Chiang. The 21-year-old big man has converted 43 of his 91 outside looks thus far in his second season. “We just want to be open to the possibilities with Kel’el,” Spoelstra said. “He has great potential. He’s getting better. It’s not a linear improvement. Sometimes there are big jumps. Sometimes it’s a step back. And that’s what typically happens with young players. But I just really appreciate his approach every day. He comes in everyday open to the coaching and us driving him to get to a higher level.”
Heat Notes: Larsson, Jovic, Adebayo, Herro, Trade Deadline
Pelle Larsson scored a career-high 21 points Friday night as he returned to the Heat’s starting lineup after missing the previous five games with a left ankle sprain, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only story. Larsson’s shooting didn’t suffer from the layoff, as he connected on 9-of-13 attempts from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range.
“You should have seen his rehab sessions, whether it was on the bike initially, it was just all out,” coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. “Almost a level of throwing up. I walked in on one of those sessions, and then also his court sessions. He just pushes the envelope. And so, he had the conditioning. It’s different than game conditioning. But he was able to handle those 29 minutes. And you just see the glue intangibles that he provides.”
Larsson admitted being “pretty gassed” after his first game action in more than two weeks, but the Heat were glad to welcome him back, not just for his scoring but for the other things he does on the court. He brings a lot of intangibles that the team missed while losing eight of its previous nine games.
“We’re so happy to have him back in this lineup,” Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. “He’s the ultimate energy guy, really just gives everybody life and the spark that we desperately needed. So the fact that he was able to come in after so many games missed and just play like that just shows how hard of a worker and how great of a player he is.”
There’s more on the Heat:
- Also returning Friday was Nikola Jovic, who was sidelined for four games due to a right elbow contusion/laceration, Chiang adds. Wearing a protective sleeve on his injured arm, Jovic suffered through a rough shooting night, going 3-of-14 from the field and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, but he contributed seven rebounds, four assists and a steal and finished as a plus-12 for the game. “I’m someone who when I miss shots, I get pretty mad,” Jovic admitted. “I’m pretty fired up. But during this time that I was injured, I talked a lot to assistant coaches and some of the people from the Heat and they helped me find a way to get back into (the game) quicker. … So, yeah it for sure helps and I think it helped me tonight. Even though I didn’t make a lot of them, I still felt great even shooting them.”
- Bam Adebayo will miss his second straight game tonight with soreness in his lower back. “He clearly is not moving well enough to compete. … He really needed this time,” Spoelstra said, per Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). “He’s definitely making progress. He really needed this time just to get … he was dealing with some deals because of overcompensation. I think he’s feeling a lot better each day.” Tyler Herro, who has played just once in the last nine games due to a right big toe contusion, is “definitely making progress,” Spoelstra adds (Twitter link).
- In a full story for The Sun Sentinel (subscription required), Winderman makes the case for why the Heat should be sellers at the trade deadline and argues that Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell should be moved to improve the team’s draft assets.
Heat Notes: Ware, Larsson, Jovic, Adebayo, Jaquez
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra seems to deliver far more criticism than praise in his public comments about Kel’el Ware, but the second-year center is used to that, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Ware got the same feedback in college, first from Dana Altman at Oregon and then from Mike Woodson at Indiana, so he has learned how to handle it.
“I’ve been getting coached like that,” Ware said. “So it’s not much of a big thing to me, I would say. I just take it as they want to see me be better and be a better version of myself.”
Spoelstra challenged Ware over the summer to “improve his professionalism” and has stated that he needs to find ways to impact games rather than just collecting stats. Ware’s numbers have improved this season, but Spoelstra still wants more, especially on defense.
”He’s handling it appropriately when he’s being held accountable to winning things,” Spoelstra said. “It doesn’t have to be like a negative thing. We all want the same thing. We want a better result. We want growth faster. I want him to be like he’s 28, and that’s not realistic. And a little bit of impatience is good, as long as everybody handles it appropriately. But his play, obviously, is improving, and I want to feel that.”
There’s more from Miami:
- The Heat are getting closer to having a healthy roster, as Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jovic are both listed as probable for Friday’s game at Atlanta, Chiang adds. Larsson has missed the past five games with a sprained left ankle, and Jovic has sat out the last four with a right elbow contusion/laceration.
- Bam Adebayo has been downgraded to doubtful for the contest due to lower back soreness, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link). That could help explain Adebayo’s recent slump, as he’s averaging just 11.8 points over his last four games while shooting 37.5% from the field.
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. is scoring consistently again after his production stagnated for a while in late November and early December, Winderman notes in a full story (subscription required). Jaquez delivered 23 and 21 points off the bench in his last two outings. “I think it’s just playing confident, understanding now it’s my third year, there’s going to be ups and downs and just got to continue to play confident, play with the same tenacity of whether you’re playing well, playing not so well,” he said. “So that’s just really my mentality.”
Heat Notes: Slump, Adebayo, Herro, Larsson, Jovic, Ware
While head coach Erik Spoelstra thought the Heat showed some positive signs in consecutive road losses in Boston and New York, he was left searching for answers following the team’s third straight defeat on Tuesday, a lopsided home loss to Toronto, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“This is not what I would have predicted,” Spoelstra said following Tuesday’s 21-point loss. “I thought we were ready. I thought we had a good session this morning. I thought coming off of our last two games, on the road, even though there were losses, there were way more good things than negative things. In the New York game, we competed with a great spirit. That kind of game, you win a lot of games. But I don’t even know right now.”
As Chiang details, Miami entered December with a 13-7 record and the NBA’s 13th-ranked offense and third-ranked defense. But the team has gone just 2-8 so far this month, the worst mark in the league, with an offensive rating that ranks 27th and a defensive rating that ranks 18th over that stretch to fall back to .500 (15-15).
Third-year wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. said each player on the team needs to take accountability for his performance, starting with himself.
“I think it all starts individually,” Jaquez said. “We all got to look ourselves in the mirror. I know I can do a lot more. There’s a lot more that I know I can bring to this team. And just got to go dig deep and find it, bring it out. That goes for every one of us. It’s a tough stretch right now, and we’re really going to discover who we are in this time. And I’m confident in this team, I’m confident in this locker room. It’s something that we’re just going to have to battle through.”
Here’s more from Miami:
- Bam Adebayo has been in an offensive rut that coincides with the Heat’s slide down the standings, Chiang writes in another story. While the team’s new free-flowing offense earned praise early in the season, it has limited some of the go-to actions the Heat used to run for the three-time All-Star big man. Adebayo is taking fewer shots at the rim and more from long distance, but he has only converted 31.4% of his three-point looks, one of the worst marks in the league among players with four-plus attempts per game, Chiang notes. “It sucks,” Adebayo said of his ongoing shooting slump. “But it’s part of the NBA, it’s a long season. So fighting through whatever I’ve got to fight through, figure out how I can impact winning and do that instead of focusing on shots not falling. Just play basketball and shots will eventually start falling.”
- Adebayo is dealing with lower back soreness and is questionable for Friday’s matchup at Atlanta, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays. Guard Tyler Herro will miss his sixth straight game due to a right big toe contusion, but Pelle Larsson (left ankle sprain) and Nikola Jovic (right elbow contusion/laceration) are probable to suit up against the Hawks, Winderman adds. Larsson has been out for the past five games, while Jovic has been sidelined for the past four.
- Knicks head coach Mike Brown was effusive in his praise of Kel’el Ware after Sunday’s loss in New York, according to Chiang. The second-year Heat center had one of the best games of his career, finishing with 28 points (on 11-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-7 from long distance) and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes. “I’ll tell you, Kel’el Ware, he was a beast tonight on the glass,” Brown said at the start of his post-game press conference on Sunday. “This is one of the very few times we got our behinds kicked on the glass, and a lot of it is attributed to him and the way he rebounded on both ends of the floor, and then he shot the mess out of the basketball. We told our guys he’s been shooting it really well. We just didn’t get to his body. It’s a little tough because he’s seven feet. So, with a guy like that, you almost got to close all the way to his chest just to try to hopefully make him put it on the floor.”
Injury Notes: Herro, Jovic, Trae, Magic, Wolves, Dosunmu
Tyler Herro (right big toe contusion) is traveling with the Heat on their three-game road trip that begins in Brooklyn on Thursday and hopes to return to action at some point on that trip, but admitted there’s “a lot of swelling” in his toe, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Herro, who has missed three of the past four games due to the toe injury, played last Tuesday after taking a Toradol shot, then practiced during the team’s five-day break before being ruled out of Monday’s contest.
“I probably shouldn’t have practiced,” Herro said today. “That kind of like sparked things back up. So I’m just trying to control the swelling and the inflammation, and then from there I can kind of decide what I want to do from there.”
Forward Nikola Jovic, who was diagnosed with a right elbow contusion/laceration after taking a hard fall on Monday, told reporters on Wednesday that he considers himself week-to-week. However, he’s optimistic his absence won’t be a lengthy one and said he was relieved that his injury wasn’t worse.
“I was scared I broke my arm, because I didn’t feel anything and I just saw a lot of blood,” Jovic said. “And they were really scared, too, because I had a pretty deep and a big cut, too. I have stitches now. But it didn’t look good as soon as I went back, because I started feeling my arm. It feels good now. I can’t do a lot of stuff. I can’t really hold stuff right now. But it’s not broken, so I guess that’s the most important thing and I think I’ll be back really soon.”
We have more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Hawks guard Trae Young, who has been out since October 29 due to a sprained MCL, appears to be nearing his return. Young was assigned to the G League on Tuesday to practice with the College Park Skyhawks, then recalled on Wednesday for a practice with the NBA squad, according to the team (Twitter links).
- Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain) and Moritz Wagner (ACL recovery) aren’t traveling with the Magic on their four-game Western Conference trip that begins Thursday in Denver, reports Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter links). While the Wagner brothers remain in Orlando to focus on their rehab work, Jalen Suggs (left hip contusion) will join the team on its trip, though head coach Jamahl Mosley said the guard “wasn’t able to go and do much in practice” on Wednesday.
- After missing the Timberwolves‘ past two games, star guard Anthony Edwards (right foot injury maintenance) is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s matchup with Memphis (Twitter link). Veteran point guard Mike Conley, meanwhile, has been ruled out for a third straight game due to right Achilles tendinopathy.
- Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game vs. Cleveland and hopes to be active following a two-game layoff, but both of his thumbs are sprained and taped up, and he has a bone bruise in his right thumb. Those injuries would eventually heal with rest, but Dosunmu intends to play through them, referring to it as a “pain tolerance thing” (Twitter links via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network and Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic).
Heat’s Nikola Jovic Day-To-Day With Elbow Injury
December 16: After undergoing MRIs, both Jovic (elbow contusion/laceration) and Herro (big toe contusion) are being considered day-to-day, tweets Winderman. As Reynolds notes (via Twitter), that’s especially good news for Jovic, given how scary his fall looked.
December 15: Just 12 seconds into his return to the rotation, Heat forward Nikola Jovic was forced to exit Monday’s game vs. Toronto due to a right elbow injury, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays.
Jovic, who was getting an opportunity to play in part because Tyler Herro was a late scratch due to a toe injury, went up for a dunk attempt on a fast break and was fouled by Toronto rookie Collin Murray-Boyles (YouTube link). Jovic fell extremely hard, with most of his weight appearing to come down on his elbow and lower back.
While there was no ill intent from Murray-Boyles, it was still a scary-looking play. After Jovic was down on the court for a few minutes, a stretcher was brought out. He didn’t end up needing the stretcher, but he was helped off with assistance, with his arm being held up by a trainer in some type of protective brace.
X-rays on Jovic’s elbow were negative and he will undergo an MRI on Tuesday, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
A former first-round pick (27th overall in the 2022 draft), Jovic is off to a disappointing start to his fourth season, averaging 7.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists on .390/.283/.718 shooting in 18 appearances (19.3 minutes per game) heading into Monday’s contest. The 22-year-old Serbian is earning $4.45MM this season before his four-year, $62.4MM rookie scale extension begins next summer.
Southeast Notes: Suggs, Jovic, Knueppel, Miller
An MRI conducted on Monday confirmed that Magic guard Jalen Suggs suffered a left hip contusion during Saturday’s NBA Cup game against the Knicks, the team’s PR department tweets. His return will depend on how he responds to treatment.
Suggs had 26 points and seven assists in 29 minutes on Saturday. The fifth-year guard, who suffered the injury while driving to the basket during the third quarter, is averaging 15.4 points and 4.8 assists per game this season. Tyus Jones, Anthony Black and Jett Howard could all see an uptick in minutes during his absence.
Here’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Nikola Jovic signed a four-year extension in October. The Heat forward has financial security but not a spot in the rotation — he has been a healthy scratch in five of the last nine games in which he was available. He’s also logging fewer minutes when he does play (19.3 MPG, compared with 25.1 last season), the Miami Herald’s duo of Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson note. Jovic admits it’s a frustrating situation. “The way my minutes fall is really sad. I’m not trying to think about what they’re thinking because I know it’s hard for them, too. I’m just trying to stay positive and help these guys develop,” he said.
- The Hornets don’t feel pressed to make any major trades despite their 8-18 record, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. In an appearance on the YES Network (Twitter video link via Hornets Reddit), Scotto said that Kon Knueppel “has essentially become the face of the franchise” as a rookie. “They still want to see what it looks like with LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel and Miles Bridges,” Scotto said. “They think if they’re healthy, they could be a play-in team.”
- Miller briefly departed the Hornets’ game against Cleveland on Sunday due to an apparent shoulder injury, then returned and hit a key three-pointer late in regulation. Charlotte pulled out an overtime victory against one of the East’s premier clubs. “It was a huge growth moment for us,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said, per Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer. “Responding, we felt like we gave up too many offensive rebounds, especially as they kind of got back into the game. And then I thought we had multiple people hitting and crashing, and trying to come up with every 50-50-ball and defensive rebound that we could. “And to see Brandon with 13 rebounds just shows he can give it to us on both ends. He’s an offensive great, but he can be an elite two-way player. And it becomes contagious when you see one of our best players doing that.”
Heat Notes: Losing Streak, Threes, Herro, Wiggins, Jovic
The Heat were grateful to have an extended break after losing their fourth straight game on Tuesday, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Miami has spent the past three days practicing after taking a couple of rest days in the middle of the week.
“Look, we don’t like losing,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have a very competitive group in the locker room. We’re just focused on getting better, not getting caught up in all the panic and narratives that potentially can be out there, just have to rally around each other.
“Look, it’s a competitive league. There’s so much parity right now. You have to play well and then you have to find different ways to win games. There’s going to be a lot of teams that are going through what we’re going through right now. You can’t panic for all the noise. You just have to focus on, ‘How do we get better?’”
As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald notes, the Heat had gotten pretty lucky during their 14-7 start to the season, as opponents were converting three-pointers at a much worse rate than expected, while the Heat were one of the top outside shooting teams in the league. Both of those trends have reversed during their recent stretch of poor play.
“They’re doing a great job of scouting how we play our offense,” guard Norman Powell said. “They’re up higher. They’re two, three steps up above the three. They’re denying passing lanes. They’re trying to make us play one in the half court and then two inside the line.
“So we’ve just got to be better collectively, really working the offense like we were at the beginning of the season. We’re all on everybody’s scouting report in how we want to play, the pace, and trying to slow us down. So individually, we can all be better in how we navigate the offense, attack, kickouts, not taking so many tough two-pointers once we get into the paint.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Spoelstra strongly pushed back on the notion that having Tyler Herro back has disrupted the team’s offensive rhythm, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “It’s just a total overreaction that’s misguided. We need Tyler,” Spoelstra said Friday. “And it will be a little bit of a process working him back into the mix. But to get where we need to go, we need Tyler’s skill and talent. We need our guys healthy, and that’s what we’re working on right now. We can be very dangerous when we get guys on the same page, committing to our identity, and Tyler’s a big part of that.” The Heat are just 3-3 when Herro plays, but they’ve been better when he’s on the court than when he’s off, Chiang observes, and the 25-year-old guard is once again putting up big offensive numbers.
- While he admits there are pros and cons to the role, veteran wing Andrew Wiggins has grown accustomed to spending most of his time as a small-ball power forward, per Winderman. “It hasn’t been weighing on me at all. I’ve been feeling pretty comfortable,” he said. “It was more so newer at the beginning of the year. But, like I said, I feel comfortable now and I feel like I’m doing a solid job being the power forward. I mean, it has its advantages and disadvantages.”
- Spoelstra says fourth-year forward Nikola Jovic will have an opportunity to play rotation minutes again at some point, Winderman adds, though when exactly that will take place is still up in the air. “He just has to stay with it,” Spoelstra said. “And each day is an opportunity for him to get better and to make an impression. That’s good that he has practice days, to show us. But he’s been working behind the scenes and he’ll get his opportunity again.”