Bye to the brace
Don’t need it, says Heat’s Whiteside.
MIAMI — Hassan Whiteside was braced for the challenges of his return from a 13-game absence.
Then the brace was gone. Then the challenge was overcome.
To say the final game of 2017 was a revelation for the Miami Heat’s shot-blocking center would be an understatement.
“He’s working his way back into rhythm,” guard Tyler Johnson said. “We’re only seeing a piece of what he was and what he meant to us before.”
What the Heat saw in Saturday’s 117-111 victory over the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center was both less and more.
Less time with the bulky knee brace that Whiteside said limited his first two games back, and more time with as much of an eye on teammates as the rim.
After an uneven start in Orlando, Whiteside tore off the knee brace designed to allow him to move past the bone bruise on his left knee. He went the balance of his 29 minutes without the additional protection.
“I feel fine without it,” he said. “I know those guys want me to wear it. I feel fine without it. I felt like it kept hitting my other leg, so I feel like I move better without it.”
He said the decision was made unilaterally.
“I ain’t talked to ‘em about it,” he said. “But it was winning time and I listened to my body and I didn’t feel any pain, so I felt fine out there. I felt a lot better.”
He also appeared far more at ease with the Heat’s post-driven passing game that
has the big men as often in passing position as scoring mode.
“We changed our offense a lot since the beginning of the year,” he said. “We put it in the big man’s hands a lot more, so it’s a lot easier to get assists.”
This time Whiteside had four, eclipsing his previous career high of three, without more than one in any previous game this season, including none his previous two games back after the 13-game absence.
“It always looks better when the guys are making shots,” he said. “Passing always looks way better. So it’s fun to score with them guys out there scoring like that.”
This time the confidence from coach Erik Spoelstra was to the point that Whiteside played the final 5:12. He entered with the Heat down six.
“He’s been very studious and he’s been saying the right things,” Spoelstra said, the Heat in the midst of a three-day break before resuming their schedule Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons at AmericanAirlines Arena, at the start of a three-game homestand. “It’s a big trigger for us whether he’s in the high post or in the low post. Those guys tend to get the trail play out of that, too, the lob or the late dish.
“But it’s a great action for us. He’s getting better it. And he’s a big guy, too. And he’s skilled. He doesn’t have to thread the needle. He doesn’t have to do Arvydas Sabonis-type passes. He just has to get us into a coherent action that forces two on the ball and then we can play from there.”
Whiteside scored just one point in Saturday’s fourth quarter, yet he finished the same team-best plus 12 for the period as guard Goran Dragic, who scored 14 in the period.
“He helped our offense the entire second half,” Spoelstra said. “Not only that passing, but the screening in the fourth quarter, getting Goran open down the stretch.”
Guard Tyler Johnson credited Whiteside for helping him score 27 second-half points.
“Big fella definitely got me going, a couple of easy buckets.”
That’s when rookie center Bam Adebayo chimed in, “Which one?”
“Big fella,” Johnson countered. “You little fella.”
“The real big fella,” Adebayo said.
Johnson said it was not coincidence the Magic only shot 35 percent in Saturday’s fourth quarter, when Whiteside played as closer.
“He was battling all night,” Johnson said. “He was making sure their guards weren’t turning the corner.”