KENDRICK NUNN IS STEPPING UP
With the Miami Heat without Avery Bradley, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Meyers Leonard, guard Kendrick Nunn has stepped up to fill some of those minutes,
With the Miami Heat without Avery Bradley, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Meyers Leonard, guard Kendrick Nunn has stepped up to fill some of those minutes.
The Heat has spent most of the first month of this season without key players.
Five-time All-Star Jimmy Butler has played in just six of the Heat’s games, and he has been out for the past two weeks because of the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Guard Avery Bradley (protocols) and center Meyers Leonard (left shoulder strain) have also missed the past two weeks of game action.
In addition, Heat starting guard Tyler Herro (neck spasms) missed his fourth consecutive game in Friday’s 101-81 road loss to the Toronto Raptors, and the team decided to send him home to Miami on Friday rather than have him push through the pain. So, Herro is unavailable for the final two games of the trip on Saturday and Monday against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.
All of those missing minutes have to be played by others, and Heat second-year guard Kendrick Nunn is working to make the most of the opportunity.
“We got some guys out right now, so guys got to step up,” Nunn said in advance of Saturday
night’s road matchup against the Nets. “We have a deep roster, so anybody can get it going at any time. When your number is called, you just have to be ready.”
Nunn has done exactly that and more, as he entered Saturday’s game against the Nets averaging 22.7 points while shooting 58.1 percent from the field and 44.4 percent on threes, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and two steals off the bench for the shorthanded Heat in the past three games.
Before this three-game stretch, Nunn had averaged just 5.5 points on 40 percent shooting and 1.7 assists in limited playing time this season.
“It’s the minutes for me,” Nunn said of what has been the difference. “Just getting in the game and getting in the flow of the game. Then after that, I can just be myself. Get in the flow of the game, get into a rhythm and make winning plays.”
Nunn has averaged 35.8 minutes of playing time during his three-game surge, as his offensive role has grown with Bradley, Butler and Herro out.
Nunn averaged just 14.6 minutes of playing time and received three DNPCDs (did not play, coach’s decision) to begin the season before this recent stretch.
Nunn, 25, finished Friday’s loss to the Raptors with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, four rebounds, five assists and three steals. That came two nights after he recorded a season-high 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting on threes, eight rebounds and five assists off the bench in Wednesday’s win over the Raptors.
It’s the first time Nunn has put together consecutive 20-point performances since February of last season.
Nunn is 19 of 34 (55.9 percent) on jump shots, according to NBA tracking stats, during his best threegame stretch in almost a year.
“We always are happy for our brother. We enjoy each other’s success,”
Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “There were times when K-Nunn wasn’t play