Richardson having breakout season
Forward and Adebayo’s play stand out with 24 games remaining.
MIAMI — At the All-Star break, the Heat are 30-28 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Here are five facts from the first 58 games:
1. Josh Richardson is one of five players in the NBA who has recorded 70 or more steals and 50 or more blocks this season. The other four players are All-Stars — LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, DeMarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond. Richardson is also limiting players he’s defending to 39.5 percent shooting this season (5.4 percent under their normal shooting percentage). Oh, and he’s averaging career highs in points (13.2), rebounds (3.3), assists (2.9), steals (1.3) and blocks (0.9). Quite the season for Richardson.
2. Starting center Hassan Whiteside’s playing time in the fourth quarter is a topic of conversation. He’s played in 39 games this season, but he’s spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench in 14. Heat centers Kelly Olynyk (7.4 fourth-quarter minutes) and Bam Adebayo (6.9) are averaging more playing time in the fourth quarter than Whiteside (5.7). Last season, Whiteside played in the fourth quarter in 71 of the 77 games he
Heat
appeared in, while averag- ing 7.3 minutes in the final period. Whiteside, who is the Heat’s highest-paid player, has taken a step back in this department.
3. The Heat continue to find themselves in a lot of close games, whether it’s against bad teams such as the Magic or good teams such as the Raptors. Miami has played in a league-high 41 clutch games this season, which is defined by the NBA as a game that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. The Heat have a solid 23-18 record in clutch situations but have struggled recently with a 3-7 record in their past 10.
4. Over his past 10 games, Heat forward Justise Winslow is averaging 5.7 points on 20-of-63 shooting (31.7 percent) from the field and 2-of- 11 shooting (18.2 percent) from 3-point range. But Winslow is still shooting a career-best 39.7 percent on 3-pointers this season, as he made 12 of 17 3-pointers during a 10-game stretch before his current slump. There is one negative stat that continues to follow Winslow, though: Since the start of the 2016-17 season, the Heat are 23-39 when Winslow plays and 48-30 when he does not play. It’s unfair to point to one player as the reason for a team’s success, or lack thereof. But those are the numbers.
5. Rookie center Adebayo continues to impress. He’s limiting players he’s defending to 43.6 percent shooting this season (4.0 percent under their normal percentage). And within 10 feet of the basket, Adebayo is holding opposing players to 48.0 percent shooting (8.1 percent under their normal percentage).