Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Absence affects defense
No excuses, but Whiteside being out presents issues
The Miami Heat have never been a team to make excuses.
They will be without center Hassan Whiteside for the three-game trip that begins in San Antonio tonight, but they won’t be complaining about their misfortunes. Whiteside continues to recover from a left knee bone bruise.
“Well, we have to [adjust],” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s the bottom line. Certainly Hassan brings a tremendous amount to our defense, even our philosophy of how we defend. But we’re better than what we have been and we simply have to be more committed to it. Hassan will not be with us this road trip, so we have enough principles, we have enough habits. Again, it’s that key word. It’s about doing it consistently.”
Whiteside, who has already missed the last three games, isn’t expected to return for at least another week. He is averaging 14.9 points and 12.7 rebounds but is counted upon more on the defensive end. Whiteside, who averages 1.6 blocks, is considered the last line of defense.
He also missed the previous meeting with the Spurs in October because of injury.
“I mean, it’s tough but we never use excuses,” guard Goran Dragic said. “If I’m not mistaken, the first game at home against the Spurs Hassan was not playing. So basically we’re in the same situation.”
Without Whiteside, the Heat have to rely more on their individual defense. He allowed more room for error because of his shotblocking ability.
“At the end of the day it's all about guarding your guy anyway, first and foremost,” guard Dion Waiters said. “Taking that matchup personal and it's mano-ymano and just having that trust that the guys back there are going to help you if you get blown by or anything. We've got that mindset of just having that trust. Once you build that everything else works fine. Just bend on the strength."
Spoelstra said there remains no timetable on when Whiteside will return. Aside from treatment, he will also work on conditioning while the Heat are playing games against the San Antonio Spurs, Brooklyn Nets and Memphis Grizzlies.
“He’ll do a lot of treatment, a lot of conditioning and whatever corrective strength exercises he can do,” Spoelstra said. “We’re not even there yet. We’ll just see.”
The one positive of not having Whiteside is it has allowed Spoelstra to get better looks at Kelly Olynk and rookie Bam Adebayo. Olynk is still adjusting after being acquired from the Boston Celtics in the offseason.
He has averaged 24.2 minutes the past five games. Spoelstra said his playing time will depend on how long Whiteside is sidelined.
“We’ll figure that out when Hassan comes back,” Spoelstra said. “But right now he’s playing quite a few minutes and we need those minutes.”
Adebayo, who the Heat drafted at No. 14 out of Kentucky, has shown signs of improvement. Last week he scored 19 points in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He nearly reached doublefigures in losses to the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors.
The Heat should get an idea of how far Adebayo has developed when he faces Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who is among the NBA’s best low post players.
“He’s been growing steadily each week,” Spoelstra said. “This is a different challenge. This is a proven All-Star low-post scorer. You don’t see that every single night. So it’s going to require great discipline, great effort, great focus. But it also will be a team concept. It’s not just going to be on any of our bigs’ shoulders just to defend one on one.”