Richardson seeking next step in evolution
DALLAS — As the evolution of Miami Heat forward and leading scorer Josh Richardson continues in his fourth season, he seeks the next step in preparing to be the focal point of opposing defenses’ game plans.
He has steadily begun to show signs of the adjustment.
Entering Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, Richardson has shot 60 percent during the first four games of this fivegame West Coast road trip – and better yet, .542 on 3-pointers. Among those outings, his career-high 37 points and 8-for-11 on threes Sunday against the twotime defending champion Golden State Warriors.
The stretch has snapped the 6-foot-6 Richardson out of a funk, where his shooting percentage was at .329 over the seven games prior and really dates back even further through much of December and January.
“Welcome to more responsibilities and teams preparing for you in a different way,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s not necessarily him being in his own head. He had more reads to make and more responsibilities than he had before, but he gobbles up information and gets better as he sees things over and over.”
For the 25-year-old Richardson, he finds the development of his leadership skills to be key in that evolution, so that he can help fill that void once star guard Dwyane Wade and longtime Heat forward Udonis Haslem are gone.
“I think I’ve grown a lot and matured a lot, especially trying to be the leader of a team and trying to be one of the main focal points, but there’s a lot of growth left,” Richardson said. “I’ve always been led by example and not really like rah-rah, stuff like that. I’ve always been a guy that talks – but individually, not in front of everybody and trying to call people out. This year, I’ve been trying to be a little more vocal.”
Averaging 17.6 points per game and with Wade about to head to his 13th and final All-Star Game this weekend, Richardson said he’d like to one day become one, “but I really want to win a ring first,” he said.
No Dragic update: The original targeted return for Goran Dragic after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in December was to be re-evaluated during the All-Star break.
With the game against the Mavericks being the Heat’s last before the break, Spoelstra didn’t have an update on the status of his 32-year-old point guard at the team’s shootaround Wednesday morning.
“I don’t know what he’s going to be able to do, but he’s making a lot of progress,” Spoelstra said. “So I don’t have the next update.”
Without Dragic, forward Justise Winslow has slid into the starting point guard role admirably in a defining stretch in his career. He’s averaging 13.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists, while shooting .359 on threes over 27 games since becoming a starter in mid-December.
Winslow reflected on his pre-All-Star break run at the new position.
“Everything’s just about growth,” Winslow said. “You don’t really know the player you want to be, you kind of just become it, you evolve into it, so I’m just continuing to grow every day. I’m blessed with this opportunity. Unfortunately, it came at the hands of one of my teammates getting hurt and you never want to see that, but that’s what this league is about, being prepared when you get your opportunity.
“It’s been a great year for me. Haven’t won as many games as I would like, but individual growth is something that I’m very proud of.”
NFL: The Ravens will trade veteran QB Joe Flacco to the Broncos in exchange for a fourthround pick in this year’s draft, according to reports. The deal can’t officially be processed until the new league year begins March 13. Flacco, 34, has played his entire 11year career with the Ravens, serving as the team’s starter since the first game of his rookie season until he lost the job to former Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson last season. Flacco, who has a career 84.1 QB rating with 38,245 passing yards, 212 TDs and 136 INTs, was the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII . ... The Jaguars re-signed K Josh Lambo to a four-year contract extension. Lambo, 28, converted a team-record 24 straight field goals from Nov. 19, 2017 to Nov. 11, 2018.
SOCCER: Son Heungmin, Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Llorente each had second-half goals to lead English Premier League club Tottenham to a 3-0 victory over Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of a last-16 Champions League match in London. The second leg is March 5. In other last-16 action, substitute Marco Asensio scored in the 87th minute to lift La Liga club and defending Champions League champ Real Madrid to a 2-1 first-leg victory over Dutch club Ajax in Amsterdam. The second leg is March 5.
TENNIS: Three-time Grand Slam champ Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat No. 5 seed Milos Raonic of Canada 6-4, 7-6 (4) to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Rotterdam Open in the Netherlands. In a first-round upset, Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina beat No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.