‘We have enough’ a Heat mantra that has paid off this season: ‘It’s just like a mindset’
Injuries have been a problem for the Miami Heat this season, but they have not been an excuse.
That’s because the Heat is led by a coach who is known to say, “We have enough,” regardless of who’s unavailable for any given game.
“Nobody cares if we have guys out and we’re not making any excuses for it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after a recent loss.
“Our injuries have been, in my mind, minor ones where guys haven’t been out for an extended period of time,” Spoelstra said recently, minimizing the Heat’s injury issues.
But the reality is the Heat has been among the most injured teams in the NBA, entering Saturday with the fourth-most missed games in the league this season due to injury at 113 games, according to Spotrac’s injury tracker. And among the five teams (the other four being the Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers) with the most missed games this season because of injury, the Heat is the only one with a winning record at 20-15.
It’s been so rough that the Heat’s leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro have all been available and played together in just eight of the first 35 games this season. And they’ve only finished six games together, as Herro left one of the eight games early because of a sprained ankle and Butler left another early because of pain in his foot.
The Heat, which entered Saturday in fifth place in the Eastern Conference after playing 20 of its first 35 games on the road, has also already used a league-leading 19 different starting lineups this season. The Dallas Mavericks are the only other team in the NBA that has used 19 different starting units this season.
“Spo is never going to lower himself to blame guys being out on why he’s not winning,” Adebayo said. “That’s just not Spo. You got 15 guys on the roster for a reason and I feel like Spo tries to maximize all 15 guys.”
It didn’t work out for the Heat in a 113-97 loss to the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center on Friday night to wrap up its season-long five-game West Coast trip at 2-3.
The Heat again was missing a chunk of its rotation, with rotation regulars Jimmy Butler (right toe MP joint irritation), Haywood Highsmith (concussion protocol) and Caleb Martin (right ankle sprain) unavailable. Orlando Robinson (G League) and Dru Smith (right knee surgery) also were not with the team in Phoenix.
But it did work out for the Heat in Wednesday’s win over Anthony Davis, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena despite again not having three rotation players. Butler, Highsmith, Martin and Smith missed that contest for the Heat, while the Lakers also played without three rotation players in Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell and Gabe Vincent because of injuries.
In direct contract to Spoelstra’s approach, that loss led Lakers coach Darvin Ham to point to his team’s injuries when discussing the result of that game.
“We can’t find any consistency until we get healthy,” Ham said after the Lakers’ home loss to the Heat. “It’s as simple as that. I mean, we got to get healthy. We got to get healthy. Once you get healthy, guys got to get back in rhythm and we got to find a cohesive unit, a total cohesive rotation that we can go with.
“When you’re dealing with different guys being in and out of the lineup that frequently, it’s damn near impossible to find a rhythm. That’s just being real.”
Spoelstra’s way of handling injury-filled stretches isn’t new. It’s been part of his coaching style for years and players say it works.
“I think it gives everybody confidence,” Heat veteran Kevin Love said, with the team now in the middle of a two-day break before opening a four-game homestand on Monday against the Houston Rockets. “I feel like every game that we approach, every time we step out on the floor, every time we prepare and go through walk through, we know that we can win. We feel like we are the better team. I think that goes into the ethos and the idea that we do have enough.”
“It’s just like a mindset,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said. “There’s never an excuse about who’s in the lineup, who’s out of the lineup. We see how those guys work and they might not be in the rotation, the same way a lot of us worked when we weren’t in the rotation. So there’s a lot of confidence that no matter who’s in the lineup, we can still get a win.”
Among those who were thrown into bigger roles and stepped up for the Heat during the recent trip include Jamal Cain, who tied a career-high with 18 points while also grabbing six rebounds in a Dec. 28 road win over the Golden State Warriors to begin the trip, and Nikola Jovic, who recorded season highs in points (15), made field goals (6), made threes (3) and minutes (28) to go with eight rebounds in Wednesday’s win over the Lakers for the Heat’s second and final victory of the trip.
“How I articulate it is basically just because we got guys out doesn’t mean we can’t get a win,” Adebayo said. “It makes you value all 17 guys, it makes you value everybody who’s on the roster because you need to have all 17 guys believing that. Even though somebody is out, you can still win.
“That’s when you get in those moments of truth like a playoff series when a starter might go out like we had last year. Tyler goes out, but we still keep the same mentality and go to the Finals. It just makes everybody believe that obviously we can trust one another, but believe in one another as well, one through 17.”
The Heat’s ability to turn to zone defense and pivot on offense to run actions through other players are also advantages over other teams in short-handed situations. Miami’s impressive depth also helps.
“We’re able to do different things to kind of play to our strengths with whatever group we have,” Robinson said. “We’re pretty versatile in that way. We’re able to play through different people offensively if we need to. I think it just makes us difficult to prepare for, especially in moments like these with guys out of the lineup.”
But the Heat also knows it must get healthy to get a better read on the roster and gauge what its full potential is. The good news for the Heat is none of the new injuries appear to be long-term ones.
Highsmith, who has missed the last three games, is making his way through the NBA’s concussion protocol.
Martin, who has missed the last five games, already started on-court work and put up shots after the Heat’s morning shootaround Friday.
Butler, who has missed the last three games, avoided a serious foot injury and is considered to be day-to-day. X-rays returned clean and there’s cautious optimism that he’ll be able to return this upcoming week during the Heat’s four-game homestand.
As the Heat returns to Miami for a month-long stretch that includes 13 of the next 18 games at Kaseya Center, the hope is the roster will continue to get healthier. But one thing is for sure, if that doesn’t happen, Spoelstra won’t be using it as an excuse.
“We understand the four games, who we’re playing and it will be a very important week for us,” Spoelstra said of the upcoming homestand that includes matchups against the Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets. “But first things first, we need to get home, get some rest, get guys healthy and see where we are Monday morning.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2024 at 12:29 PM.
