Winderman’s view: Trust grows thin in Heat win in thick of playoff race
Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’ s 112-100 victory over the Detroit Pistons:. –Now, with Kyle Lowry back on Sunday night, Victor Oladipo was shuffled out of the mix. –So Spoelstra rides with hope in Kevin Love.
Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 112-100 victory over the Detroit Pistons:
– One thing about a playoff race is it shows you who a coach trusts.
– We’ve already seen Duncan Robinson disappear from the rotation.
– Now, with Kyle Lowry back on Sunday night, Victor Oladipo was shuffled out of the mix.
– Just as he was on Wednesday night, when he did not play.
– And yet another night when Omer Yurtseven’s initial cameo was his only opportunity of substance.
– With Haywood Highsmith getting the second-half call, instead.
– Albeit briefly.
– And one has to wonder what Erik Spoelstra truly thinks about Tyler Herro’s shot selection.
– So Spoelstra rides with hope in Kevin Love (until he starts to bleed out).
– While hoping for a quick return from Cody Zeller.
– All as the play-in clock ticks.
– It’s as if an entire regular season has come down to when Jimmy Butler returns in the fourth quarter.
– Even with Lowry back, Gabe Vincent again started for Heat, along with Bam Adebayo, Love, Butler and Herro.
– The Heat’s lone inactives were Zeller and Orlando Robinson.
– The Pistons opened with Killian Hayes, Jaden Ivey, Rodney McGruder, Marvin Bagley III and James Wiseman.
– Among Detroit’s inactives were Cade Cuningham, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Hamidou Diallo, R.J. Hampton, Isaiah Stewart and Isaiah Livers.
– Yurtseven played as the Heat’s first reserve.
– Caleb Martin as the second.
– Lowry then entered with 2:04 left in the first period, his first action since Wednesday.
– But when Adebayo went out for his second rest, it was Love inserted as center, rather than Yurtseven returning.
– Later, it was Highsmith in for Adebayo.
– Remember that talk of Heat depth?
– And this is with the Heat mostly healthy.
– Butler scored in double figures for the 211th time with the Heat, tying him with Mario Chalmers for 15th on that franchise all-time list. Kevin Edwards is up next, at 14th on the list, at 226 such games.
– Butler’s third free-throw attempt moved him past Ray Allen for 89th on the NBA all-time list.
– Butler’s ninth free-throw attempt moved him past Elton Brand and Ed Macauley for 87th on the NBA all-time list.
– Adebayo’s fifth free throw was the 1,400th of his career.
– Strus’ second 3-point attempt was the 1,100th of his career.
– Vincent’s second 3-pointer tied him with Shane Battier for 21st on the Heat all-time list.
– Spoelstra pushed past a pregame question about his video review of Saturday night’s loss in Chicago.
– “We’re much better than that,” he said. “We’ll be better tonight.”
– Or not.
– He also downplayed the Pistons often going with bigger front lines.
– “We’re fine,” he said. “Whatever it takes.”
– Pistons coach Dwane Casey was effusive pregame about what former Heat guard McGruder has offered with Detroit sitting many veterans amid the unspoken prioritizing of the lottery.
– McGruder then went out and outhustled everyone.
– Just like in his Heat days.
– The legend of The Scavenger lives on.
– Casey also spoke of how Adebayo is a role model for Pistons first-round pick Jalen Duren.
– “Bam’s at the same stage where Duren was, maybe a little ahead of him but not much,” Casey said of how the two entered the NBA. “He was not the offensive player he is right now. He’s worked at it. He’s developed an offensive game. He wasn’t bringing the ball down the floor in transition when he first came into the league. But he kept working and working.”
– Casey added, “The one thing Bam does, Bam runs. He probably learned it at Kentucky. But he runs. He runs both ends. Defensively he gets back and runs that way, and he runs the other way.”
–The scoreboard in the first quarter credited the points to the wrong team, with a chant breaking out of, “Fix . . . the . . . scoreboard!”
– It was, by the start of the second period.
– Former Heat guard Voshon Lenard was among those in attendance.
()