The Heat’s message to Duncan Robinson? ‘Shoot it!’ Also, more Bam Adebayo praise
As starting forward Duncan Robinson spoke to the media via Zoom following Wednesday’s practice, Miami Heat teammate Solomon Hill screamed an important message as he walked by.
“Shoot it!” Hill yelled as he walked by Robinson at the Disney complex.
Robinson smiled because he has heard that message many times before in his first two NBA seasons with the Heat, and he took that advice in the regular season as he attempted the fourth-most threes in the league at 606. It’s the most threes ever attempted by a Heat player in a single season in franchise history.
Robinson finished the regular season tied with Portland’s Damian Lillard for the third-most made threes in the NBA at 270. Only Houston’s James Harden (299 threes) and Sacramento’s Buddy Hield (271) finished with more.
But after attempting 8.3 threes per game in the regular season, Robinson, 26, entered Thursday night’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals averaging 6.8 three-point attempts in the playoffs. He’s also shooting 38.2 percent from deep this postseason after making 44.6 percent of his threes in the regular season at a higher volume.
“It’s every player’s dream,” Robinson said in advance of Game 2 against the Boston Celtics when asked about being constantly pushed to shoot more. “I’m thankful to have everybody in my corner. I’m just going to continue to go out there and try to do my job to the best of my abilities.”
One of the reasons that Robinson hasn’t gotten as many threes up as usual recently is because his playing time is down. Entering Game 2 of the East finals, he was averaging 25.4 minutes per game in the playoffs after averaging 29.7 minutes in the regular season.
Robinson played just 17 minutes in the Heat’s Game 1 win over the Celtics because of foul trouble. He picked up his third foul just 30 seconds after entering in the second quarter, and he was called for two quick falls in the first three minutes of the game.
“That’s something that I certainly take responsibility for,” Robinson said. “I got to just have a little bit more maturity in those instances to just be smarter. Obviously, it’s frustrating in a game to just have your flow disrupted like that. But at the same time, not everything is going to be perfect. You just got to learn to adjust and learn from it. That’s the key for me right now, to learn from it.”
Opponents also have more time in the playoffs to game plan against Robinson’s elite three-point shooting. According to the NBA’s tracking stats, he’s averaging 3.8 open to wide open three-point attempts per game this postseason compared to 5.5 per game in the regular season.
“Obviously, there’s going to be additional attention, game plans, adjustments and all that sort of stuff,” Robinson said. “Truthfully, I feel like I’m getting good shots, I feel like I’m taking good shots. Sometimes you do all the right things and the ball doesn’t go in. It requires adjustments out of myself, also, to be more aggressive and also to make some. I’m just excited for the challenge, to continue to have the opportunity. In adversity, there’s growing pains. So I’m just trying to embrace it and learn from it and grow from it.”
For Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, it comes down to being relentless.
“He just has to continue to run his routes with purpose and incredible persistence,” Spoelstra said Wednesday. “I think he could have been a lot more persistent [in Game 1], but he typically finds ways to have a better impact as a series goes on.”
A BAM SNUB?
While wing Jimmy Butler was voted onto the All-NBA Third Team, the Heat’s other All-Star did not make the cut.
Among centers who did not make any of the three All-NBA teams, Miami’s Bam Adebayo received 26 third-place votes and finished behind only Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid among centers who were not honored. The centers on the three All-NBA teams were Los Angeles’ Anthony Davis (first team), Denver’s Nikola Jokic (second team) and Utah’s Rody Gobert (third team).
“How did Rudy Gobert make it over Bam Adebayo?” ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins said during Wednesday’s episode of “The Jump.” “That doesn’t make sense to me. The best big men in the league right now are Anthony Davis and Jokic, and the next one is Bam. Bam is the most versatile after those two. I don’t understand for the life of me, how did he not make an All-NBA team? He should have at least been third in place of Rudy Gobert.”
Voting for All-NBA teams were conducted before the July 30 resumption of the season.
JIMMY BUTLER THE DJ
Butler will take over SiriusXM’s The Highway on Friday at noon, with a guest DJ session featuring Butler’s top country song picks.
Titled his “Chores Playlist,” Butler picked songs from Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Kane Brown, Tim McGraw and more. Butler’s DJ session will also be available on demand and will rebroadcast throughout the weekend.
“I chose ‘Chores,’” Butler said in a statement issued by SiriusXM. “Because, even though I don’t have too many chores nowadays, I feel like as a kid you’ve always gotta do your chores no matter what, or you’re gonna get in trouble and something bad is gonna happen. To me, that’s what working out is like, which is what this playlist is for. I have to work out. Even if I don’t want to do it, you still should work out because sooner or later your time is gonna come. You’re gonna have to hoop. You’re gonna have to be strong. And if you ain’t been doing it, something bad’s gonna happen.”
▪ The only Heat player on the injury report for Game 2 is rookie center Chris Silva, who remained out because of a groin injury.
Celtics forward Gordon Hayward (right ankle sprain) also remained out Thursday. He has missed most of the playoffs after spraining his ankle in Boston’s postseason opener.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 12:18 PM.
