MIAMI – For the most part, the Heat didn’t want to use their countless injuries as an excuse to lose twice in a row in the Eastern Finals, including the crucial game 5, and are now on the brink of collapse. elimination.
“We’re not going to make any deviations or make any excuses: Boston beat us tonight. And let’s be clear,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday after Miami broke up the second half of a 93-80 loss to the Celtics.
Well. But using the injuries as an excuse for what Spoelstra has to do for Game 6 would help him get down a little smoother.
You probably have to put Kyle Lowry and Max Strus on the bench. It is unreasonable to say, or even think, about a player with a pedigree as excellent as Lowry, and about another who came out of anonymity to face every challenge that has been posed to him, such as Strus. But viable alternatives are few, the Celtics clashes are complex and the season will end in Boston on Friday if the Heat have nothing.
In the last two games, Lowry and Strus are 1 in 28. A basket. Twenty-eight attempts. Strus is a 0-do in this stretch, 0-of-16. Lowry, on the other hand, played 25 minutes in Game 5 and recorded no assists. He picked up five fouls, made three losses and picked up a single rebound.
OK, now can we talk about injuries?
Lowry, 36, has left hamstring injury. Even casual fans of the Heat or the NBA playoffs are aware of this. Since returning to Game 3 against Boston, his performances have progressively worsened. He was good in that first comeback game (11 points, four assists) playing against a Marcus Smart, and the Heat won. But it hasn’t hurt in the last two games, and since everything goes wrong with Miami, the Heat can’t afford to literally take anything out of their starting lineup.
“If I’m out there, I have to play and play better, it’s as simple as that,” Lowry said.
If I’m out there. Lowry used the phrasing (or something very close) three different times during his post-game observations. It may be a guess from this writer, but it seemed like Lowry was trying to say something without saying it, like: yes it hurts and it’s costing meo, maybe i’m not the best option right now because i can’t move.
Lowry won an NBA title in 2019 with the Raptors. It’s six times All-Star. He has been hailed for years as an excellent and disruptive advocate. And most importantly, the Heat signed him with a three-year, $ 85 million contract last summer for that exact moment, for being the missing piece in Miami alongside Jimmy Butler with everything at stake.
So sitting in the most important game of the season is not a decision to be taken lightly, and the star of Lowry, the fighter, the champion and the ego that accompanies all these things, s ‘would oppose (vehemently) the idea.
But playing with a hamstring injury is such an exposing and degrading experience. Lowry, like those who have tried it before him, is moving much slower than usual, trying to make cuts, zoom through screens, push in transition, and fight defensively. What does the star, fighter, Lowry champion of shot 1 of 12 think in the last two games? It’s a stifling feeling to know how he appears on the track, and the numbers next to his name on the statistics sheet aren’t real. They are the hamstrings talking.
“I have to play better overall, no matter what happens,” Lowry said. “It’s a team game and we’re together. For me, just being in the right places defensively and setting up guys offensively.
“I played terribly,” he said. “That’s what it is. I’m out there, so I have to do a better job.”
Lowry’s replacement is not Isiah Thomas, but Gabe Vincent has been pretty well acquitted in these playoffs. With Lowry dragging, Vincent came off the bench by 15 points on 6 of 12 shots. He missed a lot of 3, but Vincent was able to beat Smart and others in the dribble. He competed on defense and on loose balls and moved without the ball in his attacking hands.
Vincent had a bad 4 game in Boston, where he shot 2 of 10, but otherwise he has made eight starters, averaging 8.6 points per game and is second in assists to the Heat.
And she’s healthy.
It was argued earlier in the playoffs, in this space, in fact, that the Heat were better with a healthy Vincent than with a Lowry playing far, far less than 100 percent. Lowry’s return to Game 3 of this series, after missing Miami’s previous four games, made sense at the time, especially if he was in a better position to make an impact than when he attempted his first comeback during the series. of Philadelphia.
But now that it’s clear that Lowry isn’t himself, and there are other injuries to deal with as well, the Heat need maximum production off this ground.
Strus is actually on the report of injuries with a hamstring problem, but it’s not something the Heat ever discuss, and no one has even mentioned it when trying to figure out what’s going on with him.
What is happening to him is a terrible drop in shots at the worst possible moment. Whether Strus is injured or not, the other injuries suffered by the Heat leave little room for them to wait for Strus to emerge from this crisis.
Butler had another stinky game, and it hasn’t looked good or produced near the Jimmy playoff that we know it’s been since the Heat indicated he had irritation in his right knee. After scoring 70 points in Games 1 and 2 of this series, and posting six games of 30 or more points in those playoffs, Butler has shot 10 of 35 in the last three games. He is not able to make his own shot. He’s not cutting in the hoop. Shooting 3 seems like a serious undertaking.
“If I’m out there, I have to do better,” Butler said. “I have to find a way to help us win, and I haven’t been. I am OK. My knee is fine. I just need to do better. There is no excuse. “
With Butler down, Bam Adebayo, the Heat’s other big name, has led them to score in two of the last three games. He was great in game 3, with 31 points. On Wednesday, his 18 was the best any Miami player could do. The Celtics did not have Robert Williams III in Game 3, and Adebayo took advantage. With Williams and Al Horford together in the lineup, Adebayo has much less room to go to work with the ball. If his shots are hard to get and Butler can’t get his own shot and the base position is compromised, the next answer is to take the roof off Boston’s defense with 3s.
Strus is a starter in the playoffs because Spoelstra changed him to Duncan Robinson – a $ 90 million man who has led the Heat in 3-point shots for a couple of years, but who has actually dropped out of rotation this postseason. Robinson is back, scoring 3 sets and scoring 25 points in the last two games.
Again, Strus has had his moments. His triple near the end of the third game prevented a furious comeback from Boston. Even with these last two clunkers, he is still third in the Heat at 3 points in the playoffs (PJ Tucker is No. 1; Robinson is No. 2). The Heat believe Strus is the best defender between him and Robinson, and it can be argued that at this point, Strus can contribute without scoring, while Lowry has been totally ineffective. But Strus seems unable to break free from the Celtics’ staunch supporters and use screens for proper separation. When he does, he is missing open shots, allowing the Celtics to swarm Butler and chase Adebayo. It is unsustainable for Miami.
Tyler Herro is another injured Heat star we haven’t talked about yet. He has lost the last two games with a tension in his left groin, and even if Herro plays the sixth game, he will not be 100 percent. Anything you give will be greatly appreciated, but the Heat will need the other players used in the rotation to run at full capacity.
Spoelstra, a two-time champion who has never missed a conference final in five previous series, was not about to sit on the podium and declare that he was giving the bench to anyone. The immediate aftermath of Game 5 was not the time for that. He asked for time to watch the movie to better understand himself, but said he thought the Heat were making good shots in the first half, competing defensively and were in a position to win the game in the third quarter (this is true: Miami led for five at rest). He said the wrong shots that were mounted in the third caused some defensive lapses.
Journalists tried to ask Spoelstra a couple of different times (and ways) about Lowry and Strus. I just wouldn’t accept the narration.
“I don’t think any of them have played outside of themselves,” Spoelstra said. “Even many of our actions and how the attack worked, I thought, were much more at our helm. We were much more determined and intentional. If you remove the excitement of the misses …”
Spoelstra then looked at the scoreboard in Game 5. He saw the numbers next to Lowry and Strus. And the team’s overall 3-point shooting percentage (.156). His eyes transmitted to his brain the point that the point he was trying was not adding up.
“Okay, yeah, it’s not a big 3-point percentage,” he said, as the room burst out laughing. “We all heard it. We all saw it.”
We can also see the next step.
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(Photo: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)