Spoelstra on rebounding: ‘It’s getting away from us’
MIAMI — The conceit has turned to humility when it comes to rebounding for the Miami Heat.
Even before center Bam Adebayo was lost with his thumb injury, what had been a strength for the first four weeks of the season has turned into a failing the past three.
The rebounds no longer are there, as the record slides back closer to .500.
“I think it has to be a big re-focus and re-commitment to it,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with his team taking a 14-10 record into Monday night’s game against the surging Memphis Grizzlies at FTX Arena. “Through the first five, six weeks of the season, we were one of the top rebounding teams in the league. And we came into training camp, the preseason, start of the season, as that being an emphasis.
“There was an emphasis, but it’s getting away from us a little bit. We have to make sure that we get to finishing possessions the way we’re capable of.”
Not just a little bit, and not just because Adebayo’s right thumb went sideways during last Monday’s home loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The Heat woke up Sunday ranked 22nd in overall rebounding among the NBA’s 30 teams, 21st in defensive rebounding and 11th in offensive rebounding.
Over the past 10 games, the Heat stand 30th in overall rebounding, 29th in defensive rebounding and 25th in offensive rebounding.
To put that into perspective, consider that after their Nov. 15 road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Spoelstra’s team stood fourth in the league in both overall and defensive rebounding and seventh in offensive rebounding.
“Obviously, without Bam that’s a big hole, big gap that we have to fill,” guard Tyler Herro said. “I think it just comes down to physicality, really putting chin on the ball, going to get it. It’s all things that we’re capable of doing. We’ve just got to do it.”
Saturday night’s 124-102 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks was the latest example, the Heat outrebounded 57-39 at Fiserv Forum, on a night the Bucks were without power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and center Brook Lopez.
Beyond the season-high-tying 13 rebounds of replacement starting center Dewayne Dedmon and nine from Herro, the Heat did not get more than four from any other player. And that’s a concern, with the Bucks visiting on Wednesday night.
“It’s how it goes,” said power forward P.J. Tucker, limited to a single rebound in his 17:28 on Saturday night. “It’s a long season. It’s a roller-coaster. You have injuries. You have things happen. You start making shots; you start missing shots.
“The rebounding is something that it’s just going to happen. You try to fix it, just like everything else throughout the season. You take each game for each game and you get ready for the next night. It’s a long season. You try to get guys back healthy.”
There is a unique element in play, as well, especially when it comes to defensive rounding.
With the Heat moving more to zone defense in recent weeks, particularly now with Adebayo out, it no longer is easier to put body on body once an opposing shot goes up. Saturday, the Bucks secured 19 offensive rebounds, eclipsing the previous high of 15 by a Heat opponent.
Milwaukee turned that into a 26-11 advantage on second-chance points.
The Heat now have allowed double-digit offensive rebounds in four of their past six games.
“It’s harder to rebound the ball out of the zone, because now you’re not matched up to one certain guy,” Herro said. “You’re just guarding an area, and you’ve got to check to find someone to box out and rebound.
“And then there’s other times where you just got to go up and be a better athlete, want it more than the other guy, the other team and go and get it.”
Tucker said the defensive alignment should not matter to the profound degree that the Heat have been outrebounded in recent games.
“I don’t know how different it is,” he said of the zone’s impact on rebounding. “You just got to go get it, whether you’re going to hit bodies, whether you’re going on top to try to get ‘em. Regardless, you got to get up.
“I don’t care how you get ‘em, if you’re in man, if you’re in zone. You got to turn, you got to find a man to hit.”
Injury update
After missing the past four games with a bruised tailbone, Jimmy Butler was upgraded to questionable on Sunday’s injury report, with an expectation that he will play against the Grizzlies. Still out for the Heat are Adebayo (thumb), Markieff Morris (neck), Victor Oladipo (knee) and Marcus Garrett (G League).