Heat’s Adebayo expecting more from himself: Where Bam stands. And Spoelstra cuts rotation
The visual was striking: Bam Adebayo walking into an arena tunnel, subtly shaking his head. Nobody - from those three seconds of video - would have known the Miami Heat had won Game 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers to extend the NBA Finals to a sixth game on Sunday.
But as pleased as Adebayo was for the Heat to prolong its season, he emerged from Game 5 determined to offer more while dealing with the aftermath of a neck injury.
Jimmy Butler “has been as close to perfect as you possibly can get,” Adebayo said. “On my part I got to be better for him, so he doesn’t have to carry that load as much. So my whole mindset is I got to be better for Jimmy, for my team.”
Asked about the head-shaking as he walked toward the Heat locker-room after Game 5, Adebayo said: “I just got to be more aggressive, and it’s a lot of times I’ve just got to make the right reads. It’s nothing too major, just minor tweaks. But I’m going to bounce back. We’re going to figure it out.”
Adebayo’s statistical contributions, by his standards, were modest in Game 5: 13 points on 5 for 12 shooting, four rebounds and four assists and a block (with three turnovers) in 38 minutes.
For perspective, consider that Adebayo had played at least 38 minutes in 22 previous games this season and had averaged 11.3 rebounds in those games. Only once, since the start of the 2019-20 season, had he produced as few rebounds playing that many minutes.
In the two postseason games in which he played nearly identical minutes to Friday’s Game 5 (within seven seconds of each other), Adebayo had 12 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists against Milwaukee and 27 points and 16 boards against Boston.
Two of Adebayo’s three worst playoff shooting performances have come in this series, and his 46.4 shooting percentage in these Finals is well below his 55.6 throughout postseason.
ESPN’s Mark Jackson and Scottie Pippen have both implored Adebayo to elevate his game.
But Adebayo admitted he’s not at full strength after missing much of Game 1 and all of Games 2 and 3 with a strained neck. He said he’s still rehabbing the injury.
“When you get in the Finals I don’t think anybody’s completely healthy, 100 percent, so I can’t dictate how I play because I’m injured,” Adebayo said. “I got to go out there and still play like I am. Just trying to forget about it.”
Adebayo’s statistical averages for the Finals aren’t a fair barometer, because many of his contributions can’t be measured that way and because he played only 21 minutes in Game 1 before sustaining the neck injury.
But if you extrapolate Adebayo’s Finals stats per 48 minutes, he’s averaging 18.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists - below his overall per-48 playoff averages of 23.3, 13.8 and 5.9.
Defensively, he’s still making a big impact. In his three appearances in the series, Anthony Davis is shooting 6 for 14 when Adebayo is the primary defender (42.9 percent). And LeBron James is 4 for 8 against him.
But nobody expects more from Bam than Bam. Whether the neck allows a return of the pre-Finals Adebayo remains a key variable for Sunday.
TIGHTER ROTATION
Game 5 marked the first time in five career NBA Finals elimination games that Erik Spoelstra played only seven players, with Andre Iguodala and Kendrick Nunn the only two reserves used.
Spoelstra went eight deep in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals against the Spurs (the Ray Allen game). Spoelstra played 11 in the Heat’s most recent playoff elimination game of any kind before Friday - Game 5 of the first-round series against Philadelphia in 2018.
Spoelstra on Friday bypassed Kelly Olynyk, who has averaged 12.3 points in the Finals. “It was more just the read,” Spoelstra said. “I had every intention to go with a rotation that we have been and possibly could go with that in Game 6.”
Though Iguodala went scoreless in 20 minutes in Game 5, he had six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
And consider what Iguodala is doing defensively: When guarded by Iguodala in this series, LeBron James is shooting 5-for-14 (35.7), Kyle Kuzma 2 for 5, Markieff Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope both 0 for 3.
“If you’re not really watching Andre, if you’re just kind of looking at it like with a broad spectrum, it appears that he’s in three places at once, and that’s part of his genius,” Spoelstra said. “They’re a great offensive team, so you need some guys that just have incredible instincts and have had a bunch of pressure-packed reps. Andre has had those.”
Please check back for more Heat later today.
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 10:29 AM.
