Short-handed Heat keeps winning, but ‘better days are right around the corner’
Some of the best nights of the Miami Heat’s season have come in recent weeks, but coaches and players know there are even brighter days coming.
“We know better days are right around the corner,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said to the Miami Herald.
With Bam Adebayo’s recovery timetable from December surgery on his right thumb bringing him back at some point in January and Jimmy Butler’s return from a sprained right ankle considered imminent, the Heat could have its leading trio of Adebayo, Butler and Kyle Lowry available in a game for the first time since Nov. 27 in the coming weeks.
While Adebayo’s return may still be a few games away, he has been doing more behind the scenes and has traveled with the team for its recent trips. Even with his thumb still wrapped and protected, he has been getting shots up and dribbling with his injured hand.
In addition, Dewayne Dedmon has missed the last seven games with a sprained left knee, Markieff Morris has been unavailable for 30 straight games because of whiplash, KZ Okpala has sat out the last five games with a sprained right wrist and Victor Oladipo has yet to play this season as he continues to rehabilitate from May surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee. There’s hope that Dedmon will be back soon, and the others are also moving closer to potential returns.
Morris is the only Heat player in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, which is a big improvement from the seven players Miami had in protocols just over a week ago. Two-way contract guard Marcus Garrett is going through a “reconditioning” process after recently clearing health and safety protocols.
“You can feel it, you can sense it, you see it,” Spoelstra said with the Heat in the middle of a three-day break before Wednesday’s matchup against Hawks in Atlanta. “The guys are all doing more and getting healthier and that gives you a great sense of hope. But while we’re in it right now, we’re not daydreaming too much about that. We want to make sure that everybody else is confident and comfortable in their role, and everything just keeps on moving forward.”
After returning to Miami following Saturday’s night’s blowout win over the defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns, the Heat took Sunday and Monday off and is expected to return to the practice court Tuesday before flying to Atlanta.
Even while dealing with a long list of injury and COVID-19 issues and playing an NBA-high 24 road games up to this point, the Heat has managed to post a 12-7 record since Adebayo went out and 10-4 record without both Adebayo and Butler this season. By surviving this short-handed stretch, the Heat (25-15) entered Monday in third place in the Eastern Conference and just 2.5 games behind the first-place Chicago Bulls.
Mixing and matching through combinations because of so many absences throughout the last month, the Heat has used 17 different players and nine different starting lineups since the start of December.
“We’ve tried to approach this as an opportunity for us to get better as a coaching staff,” said Spoelstra, who was the named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December. “New experiences, having to put together game plans based on who’s available for that night and quite often that has been a different group than it was just the game before. That has been a really fruitful experience for us. It forces us to be able to adapt and find different solutions.”
Those solutions have included the best three-point shooting stretch in franchise history, the emergence of Omer Yurtseven, Max Strus and Caleb Martin, and the stabilizing force of veterans Lowry and P.J. Tucker.
When Adebayo and others do return, the Heat will again need to adapt.
“It’s going to be an adjustment period,” guard Tyler Herro said. “Just because they’ve been gone for so long. We’ve had so many games now without Kieff, without Bam and Dedmon. But I think we’re obviously a veteran savvy team with a bunch of vets, so I think it will be easy to get them back into the rotation and get them back into the swing of things.”
Will Yurtseven again fall out of the Heat’s power rotation when Adebayo and Dedmon return? Where does Morris fit if he can come back? What will Oladipo’s role if he can eventually return?
“I don’t know,” Lowry said as he shook his head when asked about the rotation decisions that await the Heat’s coaching staff. “That’s why I’m glad I don’t coach.”
Spoelstra isn’t worried, though. He considers these good problems because they’re a sign of quality roster depth.
“Look, we have the highest aspiration for this team,” Spoelstra said. “If you’re really trying to accomplish that, which is the toughest thing to do in team sports is compete for a championship, you’re going to need all of your weapons and you need as much talent as possible. That requires a group sacrificing and playing for something greater than just the individual.”
The Heat’s potential, when finally healthy, has grown more intriguing with each short-handed win during this stretch. Players and coaches are ready to learn just how good they can be.
“We got to get everybody together,” Lowry said. “It’s kind of just like a tricky thing when you get everybody back because everybody’s role changes, every situation changes. I mean, the potential is grand. It’s crazy with the talent and the potential, but you still got to put it together.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 12:25 PM.
