Kyle Lowry returns Saturday vs. Magic. And Jimmy Butler ‘the epitome of efficiency’
The Miami Heat has played without point guard Kyle Lowry for more than a month. But life without Lowry appears to be coming to an end.
Lowry, who has missed the last 15 games because of left knee soreness, traveled with the Heat to Orlando and will make his return in Saturday night’s matchup against the Magic at Amway Center.
The Heat announced 90 minutes before the game that Lowry would be available against the Magic.
But Lowry, on Saturday, came off the bench for the first time in a decade. The Heat announced that Gabe Vincent would start at point guard on Saturday, ending Lowry’s streak of 677 consecutive starts, which had been the sixth-longest among active players.
Erik Spoelstra said there would not be a minutes restriction, but he will be “mindful” of Lowry’s minutes.
Spoelstra said he’s “excited to have him back in the mix. We could use another spark right now, during the stretch run.”
“Kyle is a Hall-of-Fame player,” recently acquired Heat forward Kevin Love said. “If he’s healthy, we know what he’s capable of. He makes great decisions and he is Kyle Lowry. We know what he brings to the table. Multiple time All-Star. All-NBA. Can still get it done in Year 17.”
While Lowry was poised to return on Saturday, forward Caleb Martin was ruled out for Saturday’s game because of knee soreness. Duncan Robinson (health and safety protocols), Orlando Robinson (G League) and Nikola Jovic (G League) also have been ruled out for Miami.
As for Lowry, he has not played in a game since Feb. 2 and was at the center of trade speculation ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline but a deal ultimately never materialized.
Lowry has ramped up his work behind the scenes in recent weeks in preparation for his eventual return.
“That’s my brother. I’m glad to have him back,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said of of Lowry. “He’s going to change the game in so many ways for this team. He’s going to help us get in a groove, he’s going to help us win some games down the stretch moving into the most important part of the season.”
Lowry, who turns 37 on March 25, has battled through left knee pain for the last few months. He missed two games because of left knee soreness in December and four games because of left knee discomfort in January before this latest 15-game absence because of left knee soreness. The injury has required ongoing treatment to manage the pain.
In addition to working through his left knee issue, Lowry has not produced his usual results so far this season. He entered Saturday’s game against the Magic averaging 12 points and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 39.6 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point range in his 17th NBA season.
The last time Lowry averaged fewer than 13 points per game in a season was in his first year with the Toronto Raptors in 2012-13, the last time he shot worse than 41 percent from the field in a season was also in 2012-13, the last time he shot 34 percent or worse on threes in a season came in 2014-15 with the Raptors, and the last time he averaged fewer than six assists in a season came in 2009-10 with the Houston Rockets.
But one thing Lowry has done this season is help reduce turnovers. The Heat has committed a turnover on just 13 percent of its possessions with Lowry on the court compared to 14.6 percent of its possessions when he’s off the court.
“Just stability,” Heat forward Max Strus said what Lowry brings to the team. “A vet who has been around. A point guard who is going to keep everybody in order and just making us play the right way. Kyle has been around for 17 years. He knows how to play the game. He does it the right way every single time and he’s easy to play with and makes everybody better around him.”
Lowry has started in each of his first 44 appearances this season and has not played off the bench since the 2012-13 season with the Raptors. It remains to be seen if Lowry will be the Heat’s starting point guard when he returns, or whether coach Erik Spoelstra continues starting Gabe Vincent.
Vincent started in Lowry’s place during this 15-game stretch, averaging nine points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 34.1 percent from the field and 27 of 91 (29.7 percent) from three-point range during this span. Miami posted a 7-8 record while Lowry was out over the last month.
The Heat entered Saturday with the most missed games in the NBA (266 missed games) this season due to injury, according to Spotrac.
“I just want to have everybody healthy and available, and figure out where we’re going, who is going to be doing what and what roles,” Martin said when asked about Lowry’s imminent return, before Martin himself was ruled out. “The more time we spend together as a whole, it’s going to be better for everybody. I just love when everybody is available to play and I love when everybody is healthy.”
BUTLER’S BEST SEASON?
While the Heat is not where it wants to be in the standings as it fights to avoid the play-in tournament, Butler is in the middle of one of the best seasons of his NBA career.
Butler entered Saturday averaging 22.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game while shooting a career-best 52.7 percent from the field. The only time he’s averaged more points in a season was when he averaged 23.9 points per game in 2016-17 as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
In the Heat’s first nine games since the All-Star break, Butler has averaged 25 points per game while shooting an ultra-efficient 64.5 percent from the field.
“It’s the epitome of efficiency,” Spoelstra said. “Players coming in should study Jimmy Butler. You don’t need to be a volume shooter. You don’t need to have the ball in your hands all the time to be able to impose your will offensively. He just is a really smart basketball player and he knows how to win games, particularly when games are competitive and close.”
The advanced metrics say Butler has again been one of the NBA’s best this season. He entered Saturday with the league’s third-best estimated plus-minus (estimated impact per 100 possessions) behind only Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, and ranked second in win shares per 48 minutes (an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes) behind only Jokic.
“He’s the anchor,” Martin said of Butler. “He’s been holding it down for us. He’s put us in positions to win night in and night out. I just think that with what he brings and how he plays, he’s always going to give us an opportunity to be in a position to win games.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2023 at 11:33 AM.
