Heat responds to Hawks guard Trae Young’s complaint. And Spoelstra on Oladipo and Morris
Trae Young seemingly tried to deliver a message Tuesday night when he lamented about how this Heat-Hawks series is being officiated.
“If the refs are going to let them be as physical as they are and not call fouls, I mean it’s going to be hard to really do anything anyway,” Young said.
Heat players would quibble with that.
“I had four fouls,” Bam Adebayo said Thursday. “P.J. [Tucker] was in foul trouble. Who else? You’ve got two starters in foul trouble, so I don’t know how the refs are letting us get away with it, if I’m sitting the whole third and P.J. didn’t play the majority of the fourth.”
In this series, Heat players have been called for 46 fouls, compared to 45 for the Hawks.
Adebayo acknowledged: “Our thing is we’ve always been physical, so we’re not going to change that about ourselves. So we’ve just got to see how they call it. That’s on me to figure out that balance and [Tuesday, when Adebayo picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter], I got a little caught in between. They were calling it a little more on the safe side.”
Tyler Herro didn’t mention or complain about fouls but noted Atlanta’s physicality against him.
“They’re being physical, trying to speed me up a little bit, not letting me get anything easy really,” said Herro, who’s averaging 10.5 points (compared to 20.7 in the regular season) on 36.4 percent shooting in this series.
“I would say it’s a sign of respect. Coming into the playoffs, I knew that’s how teams would try to guard me. I’m trying to stick with it, make plays for my teammates.”
He said adding strength last summer “has helped” him against physical defenders, and said “there will be another summer where I add more strength.”
As for Adebayo, he has battled foul trouble and been limited to 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in this series, on 4 for 11 shooting, with eight assists and eight turnovers. But Hawks players are shooting just 3 for 16 when Adebayo is guarding them.
“I feel like my stat sheet doesn’t define me unless you watch the games,” he said. “I feel like I’m impacting the win. We’re 2-0.”
Hawks coach Nate McMillan said Thursday that center Clint Capela, the NBA’s fourth-leading rebounder, remains out Friday with a knee injury. Adebayo said Capela’s absence has made no difference in his approach; power forward John Collins started at center in Game 2.
The Heat listed Adebayo (quad), Caleb Martin (ankle), Markieff Morris (hip) and Tucker (calf) as questionable for Game 3, but it would be a surprise if any of them was not available. Gabe Vincent (toe) is probable.
OLADIPO, MORRIS UPDATE
The Heat has appreciated how Victor Oladipo and Morris have handled themselves in the wake of falling out of the rotation; neither has played in this series. Both have been professionals, handling themselves far differently than how former Heat guard Dion Waiters dealt with not playing.
After all of his teammates left the FTX Arena practice court Thursday, Oladipo launched jumpers and drove to the basket, alongside Heat assistants Malik Allen and Eric Glass.
“There’s a human side of it,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You have empathy for what they have to go through. I remember walking to the locker room when Vic got injured last year, and you knew it would probably be something significant but his positive spirit and attitude from that day in the training room to the next day to six months later, that’s what fuels him and inspires all of us.
“He’s been able to keep an incredibly positive outlook. And he’s had to overcome quite a bit. There are a lot of players who would probably set this aside to next year. He’s made himself vulnerable and available to us.You see how quickly things can change. All of a sudden Caleb played [in Game 2] and had significant, important minutes in that second half. I anticipate the same thing will happen for Vic and Markieff.”
In the context of discussing Morris handling his situation professionally, Spoelstra referenced Denver center Nikola Jokic’s Nov. 8 shove to Morris’ back that sidelined Morris for months with whiplash.
“It’s something that shouldn’t have happened,” Spoelstra said. “There’s only a one-game suspension [for Jokic] for that and [Morris] had to miss months of time. It makes no sense. But he’s handled that with great grace and class and has got himself in shape and available. One way or another he’s going to contribute. His voice is very good in our group.”
THIS AND THAT
Herro said he hasn’t been told if he has won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award; voting has already been tabulated but not announced. “Just waiting,” Herro said. “I expect to win the award. It would be cool.”
▪ Though this is difficult to track because the Heat sometimes sends multiple defenders, NBA.com said Young is shooting 1 for 7 when Gabe Vincent is guarding him, 5 for 12 against Kyle Lowry, 3 for 6 against Jimmy Butler, 1 for 4 against Tucker and 0 for 1 against Adebayo.
The key to defending him? “Try not to let him get the ball,” Vincent said.
Butler said the Heat is “doing OK” defending Young but “I think we can be better. [On Friday], he’s going to come out and look to put the game away early, as he should.”
▪ Game 5, if needed, would start at 7 p.m. Tuesday at FTX Arena, with NBA TV televising nationally and Bally Sports Sun locally. This is the only round when local telecasts are permitted.
So Heat fans in South Florida can watch Bally and listen to Eric Reid and John Crotty on Games 3 and 4, or check out national cablecasts with ESPN’s Dave Pasch and JJ Redick for Game 3 at 7 p.m. Friday and TNT’s Ian Eagle and Jim Jackson for Game 4 at 7 p.m. Sunday. Which Heat playoff telecast — the local or national ones — draws more South Florida viewers often changes.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 3:22 PM.
