Richardson’s points came at crucial time
ATLANTA — The scoreless games are the ones that stood out. Nothing in the victories over the Boston Celtics or Chicago Bulls, as well as a pair of three-, four- and five-point games.
All the while, Josh Richardson remained a starter. Because on this Miami Heat roster, with this season’s rash of injuries, he has remained essential.
That’s what made Saturday’s career-high 28 points in the victory over the Los Angeles Clippers so rewarding: When the Heat needed the third-year forward the most, he was able to step up, on a slog of a night that no other player on either team scored more than 15.
“I’ve been feeling good lately,” Richardson said, as the Heat turned their attention to a two-game trip that opens Monday night against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena.
Richardson said even during the down times he was confident that things eventually would start looking up, now scoring in double figures in nine of the past 10 games.
“My teammates did a good job of keeping me focused and locked in,” he said. “Also, I was coming in working with the coaches.
“I was confident in my ability, but it just wasn’t showing out there. I’m a person that doesn’t get too stressed or up or down off the court. I was just taking it for what it was.”
Without Richardson’s effort against the Clippers, it could have been a particular ugly night for the Heat.
“He’s just so steady,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That ball was in his hands quite a bit [Saturday], getting us organized, so it wasn’t, at first, necessarily him scoring. But he was getting guys to the right spots, getting us into play calls.
“In the second half, I was leaving all the play calls up to him. And I thought he was doing a good job getting us into coherent actions. But then when you need to put some points on the board, we were struggling even with our open shots, and he stepped up big.”
For an ensemble team, it was Richardson who emerged when needed.
“Not every night the same guy’s going to have a big night,” guard Goran Dragic said. “You can see how deep our team is. You never know who is going to have a big game. J-Rich played unbelievable.”
Adebayo again
Rookie center Bam Adebayo again added energy when needed Saturday, amid the injury absences of Hassan Whiteside and now James Johnson, feeling the impact of back-to-back games against Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan.
“Even though it was a back-to-back your competitive nature kicks in, you forget that it’s a back-toback,” he said. “You’re like, ‘Man, my body is going through a lot. I got to get this next rebound, I got to get this next box out.’
“It’s just having that in mind, just keeping that frame of mind, moving forward, knowing that your teammate has got your back. Even though you might miss an assignment, they still got your back.”
Spoelstra’s moment
Even before Spoelstra passed Pat Riley on the Heat’s all-time regular-season coaching victory list with Saturday’s victory, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he was surprised how under the radar Spoelstra’s career has been.
“The respect for Spo has always been there, to be honest,” Rivers said. “Spo is so unassuming. He’s like the greatest coach that no one knows. I think that’s the way he probably wants it.”