How did Adebayo and Jovic’s first regular-season minutes together in Heat frontcourt go?
The list of positives from the Miami Heat’s four-game trip is short. Injury issues have helped lead to losses in the first three games of the trip, but the rash of injuries did create an opportunity for an intriguing frontcourt combination to play its first minutes of the regular season together.
With just 10 available players, the Heat opened Sunday’s game in Cleveland with a frontcourt that included established starting center Bam Adebayo and skilled 19-year-old rookie Nikola Jovic. As expected in a 113-87 blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, their results together weren’t great but there were moments that their potential as a duo flashed.
“I feel like with two passing bigs, we can feed off each other,” Adebayo said ahead of the Heat’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night to close its four-game trip. “As you can see, [Jovic is] showing he can get in the gaps, he can see stuff. Just working with two guys that can pass, who are versatile, I feel like it makes our offense better.”
In Adebayo and Jovic’s first regular-season action together, the Heat was outscored by four points in their 17 minutes Sunday.
The Heat’s offense was clunky during that time, scoring just 100 points per 100 possessions with Adebayo and Jovic on the court together for an offensive rating that would rank last in the NBA among teams for the season. The defense wasn’t good either, allowing 112.5 points per 100 possessions in their limited time together for a defensive rating that would rank 21st in the NBA among teams for the season.
“Growing pains,” Adebayo said. “The kid is young, and this is our first time being on the court together. So, as time goes on, we’ll be better and he’ll figure out how to pick his spots to cut and his tendencies.”
The best stretch Adebayo and Jovic had together on Sunday came in the opening minutes of the game. The Heat outscored the Cavaliers 17-11 in the tandem’s fist stint together over the first 7:21 of the contest.
“It’s tough to say,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked to evaluate Adebayo and Jovic’s minutes together on Sunday. “The first probably five or six minutes of the game looked OK. Then from there, it was uneven and it wasn’t any one player or lineup in particular. It was just pretty much across the board.”
One of Adebayo and Jovic’s best possessions as a unit came in the first minute of the game when Jovic caught a pass from guard Kyle Lowry on a short roll to the basket that drew Adebayo’s defender into the paint. Jovic then took advantage and quickly found Adebayo for an open baseline midrange jumper for the Heat’s first points of the night.
“My passing ability, for sure,” Jovic said when asked how he can complement Adebayo’s game. “So when Bam is under the basket and I’m the one who’s setting the screen and I got to pass on the short roll, I can just help him get those easy baskets.”
But there were also moments that showed the duo’s room for growth.
“Nikola has got to stay out on the wings,” Lowry said. “Bam has got to be our roller. Nikola can shoot the ball. Bam is our guy, he’s best in the paint getting rolls, getting to his spot, kick out, rolling and getting layups. That’s what I see out of it. But we just got to find spacing a little bit.
“There was a possession where [Jovic] cut from the corner. I was like, ‘Just stay wide, kid. Just stay wide and you’ll get a wide open shot.’ Me and Bam are going to make them collapse two or three and we’ll figure it out from there.”
Adebayo believes some of the issues can be corrected through more game minutes together and film work.
“Watching film and obviously going through the routine, being in the starting lineup, when I’m talking to him, I feel like he’ll get a great feel for the game when I’m out there,” said Adebayo, who returned to play in Sunday’s loss to the Cavaliers after missing the previous two games because of a left knee contusion. “He’ll start to realize when he can cut, when he shouldn’t. And we’ll fall in line from there.”
Whenever star Jimmy Butler returns from injury, Jovic will likely return to the bench and his minutes with Adebayo could again be limited.
But the injuries have provided an opportunity for a glimpse at the Adebayo-Jovic frontcourt. The injuries have also given Jovic a chance to play extended minutes during the trip.
Jovic entered the four-game trip with just 24 minutes of NBA playing time under his belt this regular season. He logged 86 minutes during the first three games of the trip, with Jovic averaging 12.7 points on 37 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent shooting from three-point range, 4.3 rebounds and two assists per game during that time.
“The kid can go. He can play,” Adebayo said of Jovic. “There’s no doubt about it. Just keep building those reps and seeing him, we’ve got to get him to communicate more. That’s his next step. If you keep doing that, sky is the limit for him.”
NOT IN THE ZONE
The short-handed Heat relied heavily on its zone defense for the second game in a row Sunday and the results were not good.
After using its 2-3 zone on 63 defensive possessions in Friday’s loss to the Washington Wizards, the Heat went with zone for 49 defensive possessions in Sunday’s loss to the Cavaliers, according to Synergy Sports. The difference was that the Cavaliers scored an ultra-efficient 1.1 points per possession against the Heat’s zone compared to the Wizards’ 0.84 points per zone possession.
“I think every team will get more prepared,” Spoelstra said when asked about Cleveland’s success against Miami’s zone defense. “I don’t see us playing 60 possessions of zone once we have a little bit more depth. We’ll be able to use it a little bit more strategically. But of course, I’m sure they watched our last game where we played 70 possessions. Yeah, they were very prepared and I think that’s good for our zone also to be able to drill against that and adapt.”
INJURY REPORT
The Heat, which had 10 available players in Sunday’s loss to the Cavaliers because of injury issues, is expected to have just nine available players on Monday against the Timberwolves.
That’s because Butler (right knee soreness), Udonis Haslem (personal reasons), Tyler Herro (sprained left ankle), Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis), Duncan Robinson (sprained left ankle), Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) have been ruled out.
Adebayo (left knee contusion) and Dewayne Dedmon (left foot plantar fasciitis), who were both listed as questionable, are expected to play on Monday.
Along with Adebayo and Dedmon, Jamal Cain, Haywood Highsmith, Jovic, Lowry, Caleb Martin, Orlando Robinson and Max Strus are expected to be available for the Heat against the Timberwolves.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves are expected to have their entire roster available for Monday’s game against the Heat after recalling three players from the G League.
This story was originally published November 21, 2022 at 10:35 AM.
