MIAMI — The rebound barely escaped a few members of the Miami Heat.
After Chicago Bulls guard Coby White missed a 3, Caleb Martin got his hands on the ball, but it was all distract it from your teammate Jaime Jaquez Jr. The rebound went to Javonte Green, who threw it to an uncovered Andre Drummond for an easy basket.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called a timeout, slapping his hands together in anger. This would not hold: after a 26-2 series, the Heat had allowed a 2-0 explosion in Chicago. Unacceptable.
Roll your eyes at Heat Culture and all the hokey, hard-edged voodoo that comes with it, at your own risk. With Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier out of the lineup, eliminating two of the Heat’s three most dangerous creators from an already mediocre offense, let Spoelstra worry about everything except scoring. Essentially: if you defend, fight for rebounds and loose balls, and identify running opportunities when they present themselves, you can score well enough to beat a mediocre team. After coming within just 1 point of a playoff spot on Wednesday, the undermanned Heat eliminated the Chicago Bulls for the second straight year in the final game of the Eastern Conference half of the Play-In Tournament , winning 112-91. They will face the Boston Celtics, just about the best team in the NBA from start to finish of the regular season, starting on Sunday.
TYLER HERRO BEHIND THE BACK DIME 🤯 pic.twitter.com/qteSDMdTFN
– NBA TV (@NBATV) April 20, 2024
“For me it was simple: ‘If you have any doubt or fear, get a dog,'” Bam Adebayo said of his message to his teammates following the injury news by Butler. “Don’t run, because it does nothing but affect the people who truly believe we can win.” »
“We have a number of Type A competitors,” Spoelstra added. “I wanted them to accept it, to appreciate it, to be grateful to have a game like this.”
They embraced it, in an unsurprising way. For the second straight game, Spoelstra did something that seemed to surprise Miami’s opponent. Wednesday was all about zone defense once Adebayo was in trouble, challenging the Philadelphia 76ers to move the ball and find ways to involve Joel Embiid other than as a screener. The 76ers had enough talent and savvy to eventually catch up, if only just.
Not so much with the Bulls. To the surprise, Adebayo, as much an avatar of the Heat’s philosophy as anyone, started the game guarding DeMar DeRozan instead of center Nikola Vučević. By the time the Bulls got their feet under them, they were down 20. This didn’t completely remove DeRozan from the game, but made him more of a tertiary option instead of a primary decision maker.
If Butler had been on the floor, he likely would have guarded DeRozan, letting Adebayo patrol the paint. Without Butler, Adebayo spent more time on the perimeter and the Heat’s other players, especially Nikola Jović, rushed to fight with Vučević.
“Bam is absolutely incredible. But it just shows that we have had enough,” Jaquez said, repeating one of Spoelstra’s favorite phrases. “One guy goes down, Bam comes in, takes the challenge and meets it head on. It’s an inspiration to us, his teammates, that it’s something he rarely does, but he can do. And he comes out and shows it tonight. It inspires us as a collective.
“It’s another day at the office,” Adebayo said. “Obviously, the fact that your coach trusts you to defend his star player as a center says a lot about who you are and what you bring to the team.”
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Heat Culture is now in the hands of Bam Adebayo
As for the offensive part of the equation, Tyler Herro, who led the Heat with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, confirmed that the Heat are looking to play fast in the absence of one-on-one excellence. -Butler’s head. For the record, the Heat have played at the second-slowest pace this year.
But that’s what the Heat do: they find a way to destabilize their opponent even if it seems like they don’t have the talent or specific skills to do so. They had 35 different starting lineups this year. Jaquez took Butler’s place for this game and had 21 points, second only to Herro.
Certainly, there have been offensive droughts. The Heat only managed 13 points in the second quarter, but only lost 7 points of their 17-point lead after the first quarter. The Heat had a lot of disastrous possessions where they struggled to get a foot in the paint. At one point, Caleb Martin launched a 10-foot push shot that fell way short, but he put it away defensively, crushing Ayo Dosonmu in transition. It was a common sight in the frame, even though the Heat set the offense back 30 years.
A pair of major rejections in Miami ⛔️
The Heat leads 47-37 at the break! pic.twitter.com/zUwP9m5Eea
– NBA TV (@NBATV) April 20, 2024
Going from the laissez-faire Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday to the Heat on Friday was like getting on a plane in Ecuador and landing in Antarctica for the Bulls. The Heat will likely experience a similar shock to the system.
The Bulls have been a middling mess for two seasons now and have limped to 39 wins this season. Sure, Miami has a history of confusing the Celtics in the playoffs, but this Boston team had the second-best defense in the league. Miami had the 21st ranked offense this season, and that was with Butler playing 60 games. If the Celtics have a weakness, it’s offense late in games, and Spoelstra will surely try to find ways to test the Celtics’ willingness to keep moving the ball. However, the Celtics can rotate Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to Herro and not worry too much about any other perimeter options from Miami – as long as Butler and Rozier remain out.
As the game against the Bulls drew to a close, Miami fans began chanting, “We want Boston!” » There was a clear talent disparity between the two teams, and that was before Butler was injured. Beating the Celtics four out of seven times seems closer to an impossibility than an improbability.
“We always said, ‘We’re not a regular eighth seed,’” Adebayo said. “And people know that for some reason.”
The Heat have gotten pretty good over the last few years at convincing themselves they can accomplish just about anything.
(Photo: Rich History / Getty Images)