Herro: ‘We’re trying to steal some’
Heat’s passion for rebounding includes elbowing teammates out of the way
Turns out it is getting ugly for more than opponents when the Miami Heat are chasing rebounds this season.
In a dramatic reversal from last season, the Heat went into Monday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder leading the league in rebounds per game, fourth in offensive rebounds per game, fifth in defensive rebounds.
And yet it is not always the competition feeling the brunt.
“You got the guards in there trying to steal a rebound,” center Bam Adebayo said, noting one incident with Tyler Herro in particular. “A lot of times I try to elbow them in the head. Don’t get my rebound. Tyler don’t get paid to rebound.”
Adebayo said it with a smile, but just a year ago rebounding was no laughing matter for Erik Spoelstra’s team, when it ranked 29th out of the league’s 30 teams in rebounding.
Then in the offseason the Heat added P.J. Tucker, and his knack for offensive rebounds, guard Kyle Lowry, and his penchant for sneaking in for his share, with Spoelstra also freeing his returning players to hit the offensive glass.
“We have an aggressive, attacking team by nature,” Spoelstra said. “And we want to be able to maximize that personality as much as possible. It may be drives, it may be post attacks, it may pick-and-roll attacks, and a little bit more offensive-rebound attacks this year.”
For year, a core Heat tenet was to prioritize covering the backcourt rather than hitting the offensive glass. It mean sending a player back as soon as a team would rise for a shot, with another wing also charged with covering the backcourt.
That was then. Now they amass on the glass.
“I’m fully aware of the dichotomy of that, of trying to build a top defense, as well,” Spoelstra said. “And we’re just trying to weigh everything early on in this season.”
Perhaps no moment better illustrated the reversal than the first half of Saturday’s victory over the Utah Jazz, when Tucker had five offensive rebounds at the intermission and the Jazz, as a team, had four.
“Just having an effect on the game,” Tucker said. “Some games I don’t get shots. Some games I may take one shot. But I still got to be able to do my job. I still got to have my footprint on every single game. Every game requires something different.”
Nuggets coach Brendan Malone noted the stark change in approach before his Nuggets played the Heat last week.
“For a team that seems like never misses any shots,” he said, “they’re the number one or number two team in regards to second-chance points per game. So that’s an amazing stat, because it’s not like they’re bottom of the barrel and they’re a lot of misses to have.
“Last year, they were dead last in second-chance points per game. So a seven-point increase is tremendous. So I’m sure Spo loves that. He’s getting extra possessions and extra points.”
Spoelstra’s players love it
too.
To a degree.
“Me and [Dewayne] Dedmon had a little altercation at the beginning of the season, too,” Herro said of the Heat backup center, when Adebayo’s comments were relayed to him. “I think I grabbed one of his rebounds, and he told me I score and he rebounds. So we’re trying to steal some, so at the same time, let them get their rebounds.”
Herro said the Heat’s first-round sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks was an eye opener in that regard.
“I think we definitely made an emphasis of it during training camp,” he said. “I think being able to watch the previous team
we played in the playoffs, the Bucks last year crashed almost all five guys and that ended up hurting us.
“So I think watching them a little bit, we were able to take that from different teams, crash four or five guys and try to create and extra opportunity and if not, run back.”
Adebayo said the traffic in the paint is noticeable.
“That’s the physicality we’ve got this year,” he said. “You got P.J. down low. You got ‘Kief [Markieff Morris] down low. You got Tyler every once in a while going down there and trying to steal a rebound.
“We go after 50-50 balls. That’s what we live by, those in-between balls. Who’s the first person to get it?”