Heat’s best clutch player, best lineup and 10 team feats and nuggets at All-Star break
Ten Heat feats, distinctions and nuggets from the Miami’s pre-All-Star break schedule, as the team prepares to reconvene on Thursday in New York, in advance of Friday’s game at New York (7:30 p.m., ESPN and Bally Sports Sun):
▪ Who has been the Heat’s best player offensively in the clutch?
Kyle Lowry; he’s shooting 15 for 27 (55.6 percent) during the NBA’s definition of clutch time, defined as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime with a margin of five points or fewer.
That’s tied for 13th best among players who have attempted at least 20 clutch shots.
Though Jimmy Butler is shooting just 13 for 44 in the clutch (29.5 percent) — and just 1 for 11 on clutch threes — Miami has outscored opponents by a team-high 21 points during clutch time when Butler is on the floor.
▪ How is the Heat doing collectively in the clutch overall?
Much better than a year ago.
Last season, Miami’s offense was a disaster in clutch time; the Heat was 29th in field-goal percentage in the clutch at 37.5 and worst in three-point clutch shooting at 22.9.
This season, the Heat is 26th in clutch field-goal percentage at 39.4 but sixth in clutch three-point percentage at 37.7. The big clutch threes have made a huge difference.
The Heat has outscored opponents by 16 points in 100 clutch minutes, which is 10th best in the league. And Miami is 17-11 in games involving clutch minutes.
Last season, the Heat was outscored by 10 points in the clutch and was 18-16 in those games.
▪ Which Heat player has limited opponents to the lowest field-goal percentage, per NBA.com?
Among players who have appeared in at least 10 games, Caleb Martin is best defensively in this metric, holding the player he’s guarding to 41.2 percent, followed by Gabe Vincent at 41.8.
For perspective, the players guarded by Martin shoot a full four percentage points higher against everybody else (45.2) than they do against Martin, who has far exceeded expectations.
▪ Which Heat players rank among the league leaders in different categories?
P.J. Tucker leads the NBA in three-point percentage at 45.0 (72 for 160).
Lowry is second in charges drawn with 22, behind only Blake Griffin’s 24.
Lowry is also seventh in assists at 7.9 per game.
Duncan Robinson is fifth in three-pointers made at 172, behind Steph Curry, Fred VanVleet, Buddy Hield and Patty Mills.
Tyler Herro leads all NBA reserves in scoring average at 20.0 per game, which is tied for 24th among all NBA players. Charlotte’s Kelly Oubre (16.2) is a distant second behind Herro in bench scoring.
Butler is eighth in free-throw percentage at 89.6.
Omer Yurtseven is tied with Hassan Whiteside for fifth in rebounds per 36 minutes, at 15.2.
▪ Where does the Heat rank in key offensive categories?
The Heat is 16th in points per game (108.9) but seventh in the more important category of offensive rating (112.8 points per 100 possessions).
The Heat is 14th in field-goal percentage at 46.0, third in three-point percentage at 7.3 and fourth in free-throw percentage at 81.2.
▪ Where does the Heat rank in key defensive categories?
Miam is fifth best in opponent’s points per game (104.4) and sixth in the more important category of defensive rating (108.2 points permitted per 100 possessions).
The Heat allows opponents to shoot 44.2 percent (fifth best in the league from a defensive standpoint) and 34.3 on threes (12th best).
Miami is tied for seventh in the league in steals at 7.4 per game but 30th (last) in blocks at 3.2 per game.
The Heat is grabbing 51.2 percent of total rebounds, which is fifth best in the league.
▪ What’s a good individual indicator of whether the Heat is going to be successful?
Miami is 11-0 when Robinson scores 20 or more points. What’s more, the Heat is 11-2 when he makes at least five three-pointers in a game.
▪ Who leads the Heat in fourth-quarter scoring?
Herro, with 257 points, which is 14th most in the league in that category. He’s 19th in the league in average points per fourth quarter at 5.7.
▪ What has the Heat’s best lineup been?
The starting group of Butler, Adebayo, Lowry, Robinson and Tucker.
That quintet has outscored teams by 107 points in 304 minutes. That’s the fifth-best plus-minus in the league for any five-man group. They’re the league’s best group defensively, according to advanced metrics.
▪ What milestones have the Heat passed in the first half of the season?
Last week, Robinson became the quickest player in NBA history to make 700 three-pointers; he did it in 216 games, easily surpassing Hield’s previous mark of 269 games. Robinson also was the fastest to get to 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600.
Robinson this season also surpassed Glen Rice’s record for consecutive games; he played 182 in a row — topping Rice’s 174 — before missing time due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Herro passed Goran Dragic for most 20-point games off the bench in Heat history. He now has 38, topping Dragic’ 24 and Kevin Edwards’ 22.
Butler moved past LeBron James for most triple-doubles in franchise history; Butler now has 11.
Yurtseven became just the second player in Heat history to produce at least 15 points and 15 rebounds in his first career start; Kurt Thomas was the other. Also, Yurtseven’s 14 consecutive games with double-figure rebounds were the most ever by a Heat rookie.
And Erik Spoelstra — who along with Pat Riley were named among the top 15 coaches in NBA history a couple of weeks ago — moved past Chuck Daly and Doug Moe and into 24th place on the NBA’s all-time regular-season coaching wins list with 645. Next up: Flip Saunders at 654.
