Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Outside hope returns
Wayne Ellington brings 3-point shooting career
This wasn’t about the shots that missed, which has been the story of the Miami Heat’s season. It was about who was taking them. And the possibilities.
With Wayne Ellington making his season debut Monday, there now is at least hope for the Heat’s pick-and-roll game, with a needed third component again available.
Amid a Heat season of struggles from the 3-point line, and just about every outside-shooting spot on the floor, the hope going forward now rests with the injection into the mix of a career 38-percent 3-point shooter who was at a .424 clip as recently as 2013-14.
“I know I can help in that area,” said Ellington, who had been out since the preseason finale due to a thigh bruise. “And that’s really what I do. I’ll continue to catch my rhythm and get better while I’m out there.”
With the Heat struggling from distance, opponents had smothered the pick-and-roll game between point guard Goran Dragic and center Hassan Whiteside. But even with Ellington 1 of 5 on 3-pointers in Monday’s 112-104 loss to the Boston Celtics at AmericanAirlines Arena, he provided spacing for Dragic and Whiteside to thrive.
“It’s great, because we can always put him in that corner,” Whiteside said. “A lot of teams are really counting on packing the paint on me. So he can really space the floor and help us out a lot.”
Monday, it left Dragic with a season-high 27 points and 17 assists, his high as a member of the Heat and only two off Tim Hardaway’s franchise assist record. Given space to maneuver, Whiteside closed the loss to the Celtics with 25 points and 17 rebounds.
“We feel like with Wayne coming back, he’s going to give us different dimensions on the court, with his ability to shoot the ball from pin-downs, catch-and-shoots,” Dragic said. “We just need to stick with our process and try to get better. But, of course, me and Whitey, we work a lot. I feel comfortable with him.”
Ellington said he hoped to provide additional comfort zones for Dragic and Whiteside.
“You’ve got to take away something,” he said. “So if they take away the lob to H, I’ll be open in the corner. If they take both Hassan and myself away, Goran’s going to be able to get to the basket and do what he does.
“So, you play like that, guys got to respect the outside ability, guys got to respect the lob. So it’s tough to guard.”
Even with an unexpected month anchored to the bench, Ellington recognized where, when and how he could help.
“That’s where I’ve got to pick us up,” he said. “That’s the area that I’ve got to help our team. And I look forward to getting out there and making some shots for us.”
With ailing Dion Waiters and Justise Winslow not traveling on this threegame trip that opens Wednesday against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, the opportunities will be there for Ellington to fast-track this return. At this stage, it’s not as if coach Erik Spoelstra has many other options.
“He was getting actions for us, even if he wasn’t necessarily making shots,” Spoelstra said, with Ellington closing 4 of 9 from the field even with that 1 of 5 on 3-pointers, able to go 27 minutes in a return Spoelstra had projected to be limited to about 15. “But you could see it adds to our menu offensively. It gives a little bit more diversity. And guys will get much better playing off of him. And I think it helps our five-man basketball offensively. It’ll create some triggers and actions either for himself or for the team.”