The disturbing data on what average or obscure NBA players have been doing to Miami Heat
It’s one thing to be lit up by NBA All-Stars, players that no team realistically can expect to consistently hold in check.
It’s quite another to be torched by the Amir Coffeys and Terance Manns and Malik Monks of the NBA.
Monday’s 125-118 loss to a Clippers team missing All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George — as well as two other starters — provided the latest exasperating example of the Heat being victimized by names recognized by only the most serious of NBA fans.
Two Clippers — center Ivica Zubac and second-year guard Mann — produced season-high point totals, 22 and 15, respectively. Meanwhile, guard Coffey, on a two-way contract, scored a career-high 15 points.
“There’s no excuse for why we lost,” Tyler Herro said after Miami fell to 1-2 on a seven-game road trip that continues Wednesday night at Golden State.
These types of outbursts by players without anything close to All-Star pedigree is nothing new against Miami this season.
At least nine times this season, players have produced their season-high point total against the Heat, with several others coming close to doing that.
One of those nine, Philadelphia’s Shake Milton, is an emerging offensive talent, so his 31-point outburst against Miami was understandable, even though it surpassed his 9.4 career scoring average.
But eruptions by others over the past six weeks have been more baffling.
Wizards center Alex Len (18 points) and defensively skilled Knicks guard Reggie Bullock (21) — who have both bounced around the league — produced season highs against the Heat this month. So did Charlotte center Cody Zeller, who broke out for 19 points against Miami — well above his 8.1 career mark.
Hornets guard Malik Monk scored a career-high 36 in a win against the Heat, a stunning development for a player who has an 8.7 career scoring average and has topped 20 points in just one other game this season.
And several of the NBA’s most obscure names also have had their way with the Heat. Washington’s Garrison Matthews has averaged 6.9 points in 37 NBA games. Twice in his career, he has scored at least 20: 28 against the Heat on Dec. 30, 2019 and 22 in 23 minutes last month.
And Monday’s 15-point games from Coffey (an undrafted player from Minnesota) and Mann (the 2019 second-rounder from FSU) were particularly damaging to Miami.
“They wanted it more than we did with or without those really good players [out],” Butler said after a loss that dropped the Heat to 11-16. “You gotta give credit to those guys. They got whatever they wanted on the offensive end.”
Is there a common theme to these players torching the Heat?
In the majority of cases, these players have victimized the Heat from three-point range, often a result of Miami not closing out quickly enough on shooters or being late in defensive switches.
Consider that Coffey had 10 three-pointers in his first 35 NBA games; then he had five against the Heat on Monday in his 36th NBA game. Monk hit nine threes, Bullock seven in their outbursts against the Heat.
But in a few cases, the Heat has been bullied in the interior. That was the case with Zubak, who hit 9 of 11 shots against Miami on Monday and seized on being defended by a much shorter Heat player both in transition and when Bam Adebayo left Zubac to help on another player.
“That’s a matter of us communicating,” Adebayo said. “Triple switching and figuring it out. I feel like we didn’t do enough of that. We didn’t do enough multiple efforts.”
The Heat’s defensive system relies a lot on switching and helping defenders who are beaten off the dribble.
Is that defensive system simply too difficult for this roster?
“I wouldn’t say that,” Adebayo said. “It works for us. But we just gotta get more communication on the back side.”
Herro put it this way: “I know it’s just us needing to play harder. Those first initial efforts aren’t enough, especially against teams like the Clippers even though they were short-handed, against these well-coached teams and good enough teams that move the ball.”
Butler insisted afterward that this one-step-forward, two-steps-back type of season — Miami has now followed four wins in a row with two consecutive losses — is “just who we are right now. We’ve got to fix it.. We’re still a very, very, very good team. We just don’t play like it sometimes. We don’t look it sometimes.”
NUNN CLARITY
By starting Monday’s game, Heat guard Kendrick Nunn guaranteed that he will meet the NBA’s starter criteria, which means his 2021-22 cap hit — should he re-sign with Miami this offseason — will be $4.7 million instead of $2.1 million, regardless of what the Heat pays him this summer.
Duncan Robinson previously met starter criteria and would also have a $4.7 million Heat cap hit in 2021-22 regardless of his salary. Both players will be restricted free agents this summer, giving Miami a right to match any offer.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks conveyed Tuesday that the Heat could lower Robinson’s and Nunn’s 2021-22 Heat cap hits to $1.7 million — and still retain their Bird rights — if both players agree this summer to become unrestricted instead of restricted free agents. That would be risky for Miami unless the Heat gets assurances that both intend to re-sign with Miami.
A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency or averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 1:22 PM.
