What boxscore didn’t reveal about Bam. And more on what Heat supporting cast achieved
Heat chatter as Miami prepares for its seventh NBA Finals appearance:
▪ It’s fair to criticize Bam Adebayo for his poor shooting late in the Celtics series; he went 8 for 26 from the field over the final two games and committed 10 turnovers over the final three.
But he deserves credit for achievements not reflected in a traditional boxscore.
Consider this: Though Robert Williams shot 9 for 10 when defended by Adebayo in the series, all other Celtics shot a combined 28 for 80 against Adebayo in the series, equaling 35 percent shooting, per the NBA’s tracking data. Those players also committed 19 turnovers (compared with 24 assists) against him.
Jaylen Brown shot 10 for 24 against Adebayo, with eight turnovers. Jayson Tatum shot 10 for 23 against him, with five turnovers. Al Horford was 5 for 16, Marcus Smart 1 for 6 (with four turnovers), Grant Williams 1 for 4, Malcolm Brogdon 0 for 4 and Derrick White 1 for 3.
Adebayo’s unique ability to defend players of all sizes, and different skill sets, remains an invaluable asset.
And there’s this: In Game 7, Adebayo led the Heat with 10 rebounds and 7 assists and held the player he guarded to 4 of 14 shooting and had 10 screen assists to set up Heat shooters.
Yes, more offense - and offensive efficiency - will be needed against Denver. But to say Adebayo was a dud in Games 6 and 7 would be selling him short.
▪ This shouldn’t be overlooked either: Jimmy Butler said Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley have crafted a roster of players who don’t complain about their roles.
“When a guy goes down, the next guy could fill in that gap and do exactly what that guy that went down did and do it at a high level,” Butler said. “And then, be humble enough to know that when that guy comes back, you’ve got to take a step back and get back in your role. And nobody ever complains.
“They always do exactly what you ask them to do, which is why you want to play with guys like that, which is why they’re the reason that we win so many games. I don’t call them role players; I call them teammates because your role can change on any given day... We got some hoopers, we got some real deal basketball players that can score, defend, pass, and can win games for us.”
Examples abound: Martin never complained when he was moved to the bench three days after Kevin Love signed with the team during the All Star break. Love never complained when he was a DNP-CD (did not play/coach’s decision) in Games 6 and 7 against Boston after starting the previous 14 playoff games. Robinson didn’t utter a peep about losing his rotation spot earlier this season.
Here’s how the Heat’s young supporting cast members played in the Eastern finals:
1) Martin averaged 19.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in the series and shot 60.2 percent overall (53 for 88) and 48.9 percent (22 for 45) on threes. What’s more, he held the player he guarded to 5 of 19 shooting in Game 7.
“That might have surprised y’all,” Butler said. “To the untrained eye, he just looks like he’s an undrafted guy who has been in the G League, who has started with Charlotte. Started on a two-way contract. That’s what it looks like to y’all. To us, he’s a hell of a player, hell of a defender, playmaker, shot maker.”
Martin became only the third player to produce 25 points, 10 rebounds and shoot at least 65 percent from the field in a Game 7 of a conference finals, joining Shaquille O’Neal and Shawn Kemp, per Hoopshabit.
2) Gabe Vincent averaged 15.8 points and shot 51.6 on threes (16 for 31) in the series.
3) Duncan Robinson hit 48.4 percent of his threes (15 for 31) and averaged 11.4 points.
4) Max Strus hit 13 threes, averaged 9.4 points and didn’t commit a single turnover.
▪ Good stuff from Strus’ postgame chat with Bally Sports Sun’s Jason Jackson:
With four minutes left, Max Strus looked at Vincent and said, “We’re going to the finals.”
“It’s not over yet,’’ Vincent said.
“It’s over,’’ Strus said. “The fans were leaving. It was dead. It was the best feeling I’ve had yet in my career.”
Strus, citing ESPN analytics, said: “We had a 3 percent chance to win this series… To take care of it in their building feels phenomenal. Can’t wait to get the hell out of here.”
▪ As David Aldridge of The Athletic noted, Riley has now made 19 appearances in an NBA Finals as a player, coach or executive – 25 percent of all NBA Finals in history.
▪ Monday’s Game 7 on TNT was viewed in 14.64 percent of Miami-Fort Lauderdale homes with TV sets, comparable to the 15 local rating for the Dolphins-Bills playoff game on CBS. That tops the 12.0 local rating for Game 7 of last year’s Heat-Celtics Eastern Conference finals on ESPN. One local ratings point equals 17,200 homes.
▪ The Heat is the third team in NBA history to make the Finals after being outscored by their opponents during the regular season, joining the 1956-57 St. Louis Hawks and 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers.
▪ Though TNT announcers kept saying that Martin is setting himself up for a big payday, that won’t come for another 13 months.
Martin, last July, signed a three-year, $20.4 million contract, but the third season (2024-25) is a player option for $7.1 million; he seems likely to opt out in a year. He’s under contract at $6.8 million next season.
▪ Boston’s Jayson Tatum said his ankle, injured on Boston’s first offensive possession, “swelled up and it was just frustrating that I was like a shell of myself.”
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, who shot 8 for 23 with eight turnovers, said: “We failed. I failed. We let the whole city down.”
Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon said: “We were tight. When you play that way, it makes you hesitant on both ends. Miami played the opposite. They played loose. Offensively, they were poised. They weren’t rushed, weren’t nervous.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2023 at 2:46 PM.
