Besides game-clinching block, this is other remarkable Adebayo feat. Butler honored.
Bam Adebayo delivered the signature defensive play of this postseason — and the best playoff stop Magic Johnson has ever seen — with his game-saving block of Jayson Tatum at the rim in the final seconds of overtime in Miami’s Game 1 win against Boston.
But that’s hardly the only impressive defensive feat by Adebayo during this postseason.
Adebayo remains perhaps the best center in the league in defending perimeter players, and his metrics for that this postseason are awfully impressive.
Players who play on the wing (guards and small forwards) have shot just 28.7 percent (21 for 73) when guarded by Adebayo this postseason, according to NBA.com’s advanced metrics application.
Those numbers include Monday’s 1 for 4 shooting against Adebayo by Tatum, who plays both small forward and power forward and generates much of his offense from the perimeter.
In Game 1, Kemba Walker, Tatum and Jaylen Brown were a combined 3 for 12 when Adebayo was guarding them. Walker was 1 for 5 against him and Brown 1 for 3.
Adebayo held Indiana’s Malcolm Brogdon to 1 for 9 shooting when they were matched up in the first round and limited Milwaukee’s Krhis Middleton to 3 for 13 shooting, with five turnovers.
Most teams achieve a matchup advantage when they isolate a guard or small forward against a center. Not so with Adebayo and the Heat.
“Bam is a great player ... kind of set up for how the league is moving forward,” Brown said. “Big, athletic, can do multiple things.”
Adebayo’s brilliant defensive play at the end of Game 1 drew quite the reaction on social media, including “Wow! What a block!!!” from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Pat Mahomes.
The Celtics want to move beyond Adebayo’s breathtaking block.
“I just tip my cap to the play he made,” Brown said. “But we’ll be ready for the next game.”
Erik Spoelstra loved the seriousness of Adebayo’s approach on Wednesday even after the emotional high of Tuesday.
“His competitive maturity belies his age and that’s what we’ve always loved about Bam,” Spoelsta said. “That’s all he thinks about is how to impact winning. It’s whatever is needed. He has the maturity to know it is only one game.”
BUTLER THIRD TEAM
For the first time in six years, the Miami Heat is represented on one of the All-NBA teams.
Five-time All-Star Jimmy Butler was voted onto the third team in his first season with the Heat, the league announced Wednesday. It’s the third time Butler has made an All-NBA team, as he was picked for the third team in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Among players on the All-NBA third team, only Tatum received more votes than Butler, with Rudy Gobert, Ben Simmons and Russell Westbrook joining them on that third team.
Among centers who did not make any of the three All-NBA teams, Adebayo received 26 third-place votes and finished behind only Joel Embiid among centers who were not honored. The centers on the top three NBA teams were Anthony Davis (first team), Nikola Jovic (second team) and Gobert (third team).
Butler’s naming to the third team marks the first time a Heat player has earned the All-NBA honor since LeBron James was named to the All-NBA first team for the 2013-14 season.
The All-NBA teams are selected by a panel of media members, who select two guards, two forwards and one center for each of the first, second and third teams.
The 30-year-old Butler is the sixth different Heat player to be voted onto an All-NBA team in franchise history. The others on the list are: Tim Hardaway (first team in 1996-97 and second team in 1997-98 and 1998-99), Alonzo Mourning (first team in 1998-99 and second team in 1999-00), Shaquille O’Neal (first team in 2004-05 and 2005-06), Dwyane Wade (first team in 2008-09 and 2009-10, second team in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2010-11 and third team 2006-07, 2011-12 and 2012-13), and LeBron James (first team in 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14).
Butler averaged a team-high in points (19.9), assists (6), steals (1.8) and minutes (33.8) in the regular season.
HERRO HEROICS
▪ Guard Tyler Herro now has the most clutch three-pointers, as defined by the NBA, for any rookie in a single playoffs since the league started keeping track of this stat in 1997. He’s 5 for 11 on those shots. He entered Game 1 tied with Matt Maloney for that distinction.
Herro was 9 of 19 of those clutch three-point attempts in the regular season (47.4 percent), which was the fifth-best percentage in the league for all players with a minimum of eight clutch threes.
Kentucky coach John Calipari recently told ESPN’s Jordan Schultz that “I swear to God he never left the gym” during his one season there and that “he had a chip. I always tell him he’s got elephant balls.”
When Herro heard Calipari say that, “It was funny. Coach Cal tells me that all the time, since I was back at Kentucky.”
Herro finished one vote behind Golden State’s Eric Paschall for the All Rookie first team: “I felt I could have been on the first team but am happy with what I got.”
Herro said “it’s a blessing to be here. Never thought I would be playing in the Eastern Conference Finals.”
STEVENS’ MUSINGS
Celtics coach Brad Stevens opined on several issues on Tuesday:
▪ On Walker, who shot just 6 for 19 on a 19-point night and has made just 3 of his past 25 three-pointers:
“I don’t lose any sleep over Kemba,” Stevens said. “Nobody cares more than Kemba. Nobody wants to play better and we are constantly going to the drawing board to figure out how we can make his life a little bit easier from our own perspectives. We’ll keep riding him.”
▪ Stevens bemoaned his team’s Game 1 transition defense, calling it “just really bad. To their credit, they attacked us all night down the floor. Some of those plays in the fourth where we gave up layups and/or got lost on some threes hurt us.”
▪ On the Heat’s scoring depth: “Herro, Kelly Olynyk have had 20-point games. Jae Crowder had 22 last night. I just think they go nine deep with guys that can really score. Kendrick Nunn has had several big scoring games this year. So you got to be on your toes all the time.”
▪ On Tatum isolating so much down the stretch: “I thought it wasn’t just Tatum. There were several times we isolated at the slot, and they did a great job of the next guys, both the corner defender and the wing defender were both long and active in help. They’ve been great at that. It’s clear they’ve worked on it.
“Then when they put that lineup in at the end of the game with [Derrick] Jones and [Andre] Iguodala and [Jimmy] Butler and [Jae] Crowder, they’re just so long. You’re not going to attack them 1-on-1, let alone 1-on-3. So we just all have to do a better job of moving the ball and getting to where we want to go.”
▪ Stevens had no update on Gordon Hayward, who has missed 11 consecutive games with an ankle sprain but is expected back at some point in this series. The Celtics listed him as doubtful for Game 2.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 3:21 PM.
