Heat’s Bam Adebayo-Kel’el Ware frontcourt makes debut, draws rave reviews: ‘They were dynamic’
For 13 minutes of game clock on Sunday, the Jimmy Butler saga felt secondary to what was happening for the Miami Heat on the court.
That’s because Heat coach Erik Spoelstra played three-time NBA All-Star center Bam Adebayo and rookie center Kel’el Ware together for an extended stretch for the first time during Sunday’s 128-107 home win over the San Antonio Spurs ... and the double-big combination looked better than anybody could have imagined.
“That was definitely the initial spark to the game,” Spoelstra said after the Heat snapped its three-game skid to move to 1-1 on its three-game homestand and reach the midway point of the regular season at 21-20. “They just were tremendous defensively.”
With the Heat trailing by seven points after a sluggish start, the 6-foot-9 Adebayo re-entered the game to join the 7-foot Ware on the court with 7:19 left in the second quarter.
The game immediately turned.
Adebayo and Ware played the rest of the period together, as the Heat closed the first half on a 14-2 run during that span to turn that seven-point deficit into a five-point lead at halftime.
The duo was so good that Spoelstra also began the second half with Adebayo and Ware on the court together, as Ware took Haywood Highsmith’s place in the starting lineup to open the third quarter.
“If there’s something that’s obvious and it’s working in a big way, then let’s do it,” Spoelstra said of his decision to begin the second half with the Adebayo-Ware frontcourt. “When I say make us have to play you, that’s what that lineup did. We couldn’t go away from it in this game.”
The move to open the second half with the Adebayo-Ware look paid off, as the Heat blew the game open by beginning the the third quarter on a 22-11 run before Ware was subbed out midway through the period.
When combining the strong finish to the first half and the impressive start to the second half, the Heat went on an eye-opening 36-13 run during that long 13:18 stretch Adebayo and Ware played together on Sunday to turn a seven-point deficit into a 16-point advantage.
“They were dynamic,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo and Ware. “This is something that we’ve been slowly starting to work on.”
Before Sunday’s extended 13-minute stint, Adebayo and Ware had only logged a total of about one minute together this season.
“It’s exciting,” Ware said, with the Heat set to close its three-game homestand on Tuesday against the Portland Trail Blazers (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun). “Me and Bam have been wanting it to happen. Just for it to happen, we had to make the best out of it for the first time. So we showed people what it looked like a little bit.”
It’s important to note that 13 minutes is still a small sample size and some of the Heat’s success with Adebayo and Ware on the court together came down to making outside shots and the Spurs missing outside shots. The Heat shot 6 of 9 from three-point range and the Spurs shot 1 of 8 from behind the arc during the Adebayo-Ware stretch.
But Spoelstra came away impressed by the way Adebayo and Ware complemented each other on the defensive end, as the Spurs scored just four paint points on 2-of-7 shooting from inside the paint during their 13-minute opportunity to play together.
“Right now, defensively that just looked like it was elite,” Spoelstra said. “So if I have to lean into this thing defensively right now for our team to get to another level, I will. That could be a path and we’ll dive into this. But that looks like a path where we can find some higher success, at least on one side of the floor.”
With the Heat able to use Ware to defend 7-foot-3 Spurs center Victor Wembanyama and protect the rim with his 7-foot-5 wingspan, that freed Adebayo to take advantage of his elite defensive versatility as a weak-side help defender who can switch different actions on the perimeter instead of staying attached to the biggest players on the court.
“I can get back to switching a little bit, guarding my yard,” Adebayo said. “I’ve been in a drop zone all year, so this is a good switch up for us.”
Their Heat teammates agreed.
“I think having someone who can protect the rim in Kel’el, it allows Bam to roam around and freelance a little bit and just be everywhere on defense,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “If Kel’el is not in the game, it’s harder for Bam to roam and do his thing when there’s no one back there to protect the rim.”
On the offensive end, Adebayo and Ware will need to continue to develop their three-point shot to generate the proper spacing for the pairing to take the next step over a larger sample size. Adebayo and Ware combined to shoot 1 of 7 from behind the three-point line on Sunday.
But the potential of how Adebayo and Ware can play off each other down the road flashed in Sunday’s second quarter, when Adebayo drove past Harrison Barnes. That forced Wembanyama to help off of Ware, and Adebayo took advantage by making the kick-out pass to an open Ware for a three-point make from above the break.
“Offensively, we’ve been working on this behind the scenes just a little bit each day just to get [Ware] ready to feel comfortable to be able to do it and be successful,” Spoelstra said. “You don’t want to do things and it fails right away. They’ll figure it out.”
Sunday wasn’t only about the positive minutes that Adebayo and Ware produced together, though. It was also a sign of Ware’s rapid growth and development since the Heat selected him with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 draft.
After playing double-digit minutes in just two of the Heat’s first 25 games this season, the 20-year-old Ware has since taken over as the backup center while logging double-digit minutes in 16 straight games. Ware has averaged 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 18.4 minutes per game while shooting 61.8 percent from the field and 12 of 28 (42.9 percent) from three-point range and posting a team-best plus/minus of plus 40 during that 16-game span.
Ware tied a season-high with 25 points to go with eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 34 minutes off the Heat’s bench in Sunday’s win over the Spurs.
“I know that Kel’el generates a lot of opinions out there,” Spoelstra said. “Let us do our job. Let him do what he’s been doing. The initial thing was to get him comfortable in a role, where he can really impact the game. And the second unit has been coming along. It has been one of our bright spots the last several weeks and he has really been getting comfortable in that role. And what he has done with his play and his ability to impact the game has earned more. That’s what you’re seeing.”
The question now is whether Spoelstra will continue to play Adebayo and Ware together for extended stretches moving forward. Will Adebayo and Ware become the Heat’s new starting frontcourt or will their minutes together be based on matchups? What type of results can the Adebayo-Ware tandem produce over a bigger sample size?
Only time will tell, but the pairing’s upside was on full display Sunday.
“It just gives another dynamic to our team,” Adebayo said after playing alongside Ware for extended minutes for the first time on Sunday. “Finally Spo trusted the process, I guess. But it’s one of those things where he finally committed to it, it worked and now I feel like it will be something moving forward.”
