Heat’s Nikola Jovic takes positive step after falling out of rotation: ‘He stayed with it’
Since falling out of the Miami Heat’s rotation last month, forward Nikola Jovic has been working behind the scenes to regain the coaching staff’s trust.
Jovic took a step in the right direction in the Heat’s 114-104 win against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night at Kaseya Center to wrap up its perfect 4-0 homestand. He made the most of his first opportunity to play in a game since Nov. 24, finishing the Heat’s fourth victory in a row with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range, four rebounds and one assist in 24 minutes off Heat’s bench.
“He gave us a really important spark,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Then Spoelstra paused and acknowledged how challenging the last three weeks were for Jovic, who watched full games from the bench after beginning the season less than two months ago as a Heat starter.
“Look, it’s not easy necessarily being a young guy and you’re in the rotation, then you’re out of the rotation,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat (13-10) now in the middle of another three-day break before resuming its schedule on Monday against the Pistons in Detroit. “It’s a lesson you don’t necessarily understand or want to hear at this point. You have to win each day.
“If you’re not playing, how do you win the day? At least you have a staff that’s looking and valuing prepractice, film sessions, practice, shootarounds, walkthroughs and that’s how you can earn trust. But then you also stay ready, so that when you get your opportunity that you can make the most of it and then you can impact winning.”
While Jovic has struggled to impact winning at times this season, he made a positive impact in his minutes against the Raptors.
Jovic, 21, entered Thursday averaging 7.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 14 of 44 (31.8 percent) from three-point range in his first 14 appearances this season. The Heat was outscored by 4.3 points per 100 possessions with Jovic on the court during this stretch, which was the second-worst individual net rating on the team ahead of only Josh Richardson.
But in the Heat’s win against the Raptors on Thursday, Jovic posted an impressive plus/minus of plus-25. Miami outscored Toronto by a team-best 50.6 points per 100 possessions with Jovic on the court.
Much of that success came in Thursday’s second quarter, when Spoelstra — in search of answers amid a slow start — turned to Jovic for the first time in nine games. Jovic entered with the Heat trailing by 16 points and 8:37 left in the second quarter, playing the rest of the period as Miami went on to close the quarter on a huge 33-10 run to turn that 16-point deficit into a seven-point lead entering halftime.
“I think he handled it professionally,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said following Thursday’s win when asked about Jovic’s situation. “He does the little things behind the scenes. He’s always in prepractice, he’s always trying to get better and tonight he probably didn’t think he was getting into the game. Then Spo threw him out there. We always got that saying, stay ready so you don’t got to get ready and he was ready tonight.”
After starting in the Heat’s first eight games and playing in each of the Heat’s first 14 games, Jovic did not play in eight consecutive games (he missed two of those games with a sprained ankle and went down as a healthy scratch in the other six games) before entering Thursday’s contest.
“It was not easy,” said Jovic, who is in the middle of his third NBA season after being selected by the Heat with the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2022 Draft. “I kind of fell out of the rotation. I don’t know how many times something like this happened. It’s nothing new for me. Like I said before, I just keep moving, keep practicing and that’s what I do as I wait for my opportunity. It looks like it’s not the first and for sure not the last time something like this happens.”
Just last season, Jovic played in only four of the Heat’s first 30 games before his eventual promotion to the starting group.
“I’m a huge fan of Niko and I think everybody in the world knows it, everybody in Serbia knows it and I’m just happy for him,” Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. “I want him to continue to play confidently. He does everything well out there on the floor when he is locked in. I think he’s back to being that, so I want him to keep shining and keep doing what he’s doing.”
When Jovic is at his best, he’s flashing his intriguing combination of size and skill at 6-foot-10 and 205 pounds.
Jovic was close to his best on Thursday, and that’s a step forward for him after losing his spot in the Heat’s rotation. Now, Jovic’s challenge is to sustain that level of play over multiple games as a depth piece for the Heat ... if he gets the opportunity to do so.
“Our depth is important,” Spoelstra said. “Different guys have been able to step in and impact — basically the entire roster, and that’s important. If you can get a team that’s connected and that’s bought into just contributing to helping a team win, then you have something. It’s still early in the season, but we’ve seen indications that our depth can contribute. And [Jovic] stayed with it. I was happy to see that.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2024 at 11:51 AM.
