Adebayo expects more from himself in Finals
The visual was striking: Bam Adebayo walking into an arena tunnel after the Heat’s win on Friday, subtly shaking his head. The Heat’s All-Star center emerged from Game 5 determined to offer more in these NBA Finals while dealing with the aftermath of a neck injury.
Jimmy Butler “has been as close to perfect as you possibly can get,” Adebayo said late Friday night. “On my part I got to be better for him, so he doesn’t have to carry that load as much. So my whole mindset is I got to be better for Jimmy, for my team.”
Asked about the head-shaking as he walked toward the Heat locker room, Adebayo said: “I got to be more aggressive. A lot of times I’ve just got to make the right reads. I’m going to bounce back.”
Adebayo’s statistical contributions, by his standards, were modest in Game 5: 13 points on 5-for-12 shooting, four rebounds and four assists and a block (with three turnovers) in 38 minutes.
For perspective, consider that Adebayo had played at least 38 minutes in 22 previous games this season and had averaged 11.3 rebounds in those games.
In the two postseason games in which he played nearly identical minutes to Friday’s Game 5 (within seven seconds of each other), Adebayo had 12 points, 17 rebounds and six assists against Milwaukee and 27 points and 16 boards against Boston.
Two of Adebayo’s three worst playoff shooting performances have come in this series, and his 46.4 shooting percentage in these Finals is well below his 55.6 throughout postseason.
ESPN’s Mark Jackson and Scottie Pippen have both implored Adebayo to elevate his game. But Adebayo admitted he’s not at full strength after missing much of Game 1 and all of Games 2 and 3 with a strained neck. He said he’s still rehabbing the injury.
“When you get in the Finals I don’t think anybody’s completely healthy, 100 percent, so I can’t dictate how I play because I’m injured,” Adebayo said. “I got to still play like I am. Just trying to forget about it.”
But if you extrapolate Adebayo’s Finals stats per 48 minutes, he’s averaging 18.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists — below his overall per-48 playoff averages of 23.3, 13.8 and 5.9.
Defensively, he’s still making a big impact. In Adebayo’s three appearances in the series, Anthony Davis is shooting 6 for 14 when Adebayo is the primary defender (42.9 percent). And LeBron James is 4 for 8 against him.
A Game 5 marked the first time in five career NBA Finals elimination games that coach Erik
“Just stay aggressive,” Butler said of his Game 5 offensive approach. “I don’t know what they’re going to throw at me on any given night. But I think whatever you throw at me, it’s not going to work because if I’m open I’m going to shoot it. If I’m not, I’m going to pass it to Duncan [Robinson] or Tyler [Herro] or [Kendrick Nunn] or Bam or Jae [Crowder] and they’re going to make the shot. So as long as we stay together and play basketball the right way, no matter how they guard me, I’m going to make the right play.”
On top of carrying the Heat’s offense throughout Friday’s win, he also defended James for most of the night. Of the 51 offensive possessions James was on the court for in Game 5, Butler was his primary defender for 31 of them.
“His will to win is remarkable,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler. “To do that in 47-plus minutes and take the challenge on the other end, this is — every young player coming into this league should study footage on Jimmy Butler, the definition of a two-way player competing on both ends, five steals, and then making those big plays down the stretch for us offensively.”
Butler has played 214 of the 240 minutes in the Finals. James has played the second-most minutes in the series at 195.
The question is: Can Butler continue to produce at an all-time great level with this heavy workload? Not even Butler knows that answer, but he planned to make
Spoelstra played only seven players, with Andre Iguodala and Kendrick Nunn the only two reserves used.
Spoelstra went eight deep in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals against the Spurs (the Ray Allen game). Spoelstra played 11 in the Heat’s most recent playoff elimination game of any kind before Friday — Game 5 of the firstround series against Philadelphia in 2018.
Spoelstra on Friday bypassed Kelly Olynyk, who has averaged 12.3 points in the Finals. “It was more just the read,” Spoelstra said. “I had every intention to go with a rotation that we have been and possibly could go with that in Game 6.”
Consider what Iguodala is doing defensively: When guarded by Iguodala in this series, James is shooting 5 for 14 (35.7), Kyle Kuzma 2 for 5, Markieff Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope both 0 for 3.
“If you’re not really watching Andre, if you’re just kind of looking at it like with a broad spectrum, it appears that he’s in three places at once, and that’s part of his genius,” Spoelstra said.
Hours after Duncan Robinson shot 2 for 10 on threes in Miami’s Game 2 loss, Butler summoned him to his hotel room at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and indicated he needed more.
“We just chopped it up and talked,” Robinson said Friday. “He’s hard on me, but it’s because he expects a lot, and I love that. This whole team just wants me to be aggressive, do my job. I
Athought I didn’t do it well enough, really, in those first two.”
But Robinson, who scored 26 on Friday, has increased his scoring in every game of this series and on Friday became the 10th player to hit at least seven threes in a Finals game. Only Steph Curry (nine) and Ray Allen (eight) have hit more threes in a Finals game.
Butler’s message includes this: “Stop running from the basketball. Can’t shoot the ball if you don’t have the ball. He gets lost in trying to get other people open, when everybody is going to react to him probably more so than they’re going to react to me.”
Per NBA Advanced Stats, Robinson typically runs four miles during each game. He scored his 26 points on just 13 frontcourt dribbles in Game 5. Robinson’s 59 threes are the most any player has ever had in their first 20 playoff games.
CHATTER
Among players the Dolphins indicate will play more: cornerback Nik Needham. He’ has logged more than 30 snaps on defense in two games, none in the other two. “He’s improving and I would expect to see him out there a little bit more consistently,” coach Brian Flores said. “He’s earned that.”
Needham figures to play mostly in the slot but has begun working again in practice on the boundary and could play ahead of rookie Noah Igbinoghene if Byron Jones (back in the lineup the most of Saturday’s recovery day
“I’m going to go back and talk to [Heat assistant athletic trainer Armando Rivas] and whatever he says to do, I guess I got to do,” Butler said. “I really hate when people tell me what to do, by the way, but I know that he has my best interests at heart.”
After Butler drove to the basket and drew a foul with 46.7 seconds remaining in Game 5, he stood slumped over a railing to collect himself as he played the entire second half. That image of an exhausted Butler has gone viral.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Spoelstra said. “That’s an image of a champion before you’re a champion.”
Butler then walked to the foul line and made both free throws to give the Heat a one-point lead that turned into a win. Miami is two wins away from an NBA championship.
“We are here for a purpose,” Spoelstra said. “Jimmy was remarkable, exceptional tonight, just from a competitive standpoint. I really mean that. The draft is coming up in a month, they should study Jimmy Butler as a two-way player.
“But we can’t celebrate this too long, we got to move on and rest up and get ready for another one. This just inches us closer to our goal. That’s it.”
ASunday) or Xavien Howard is injured.
One Dolphins player conveyed that Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t been perfect in practice but has been “pretty good.” Flores told Bay Area writers that he’s “practiced well” and “when he’s ready to play, we’ll put him in there.”
The Marlins’ most important offseason issue: convincing Sinclar (the owner of Fox Sports Florida) to triple their annual rights from $20 million to the $60 million to $70 million range. That needs to happen for the Marlins to be able to afford their top young players when they become free agents in three to six years. But in this economy, that’s dubious.
The Marlins TV contract expires this month; their games averaged an 0.83 rating this year on Fox Sports Florida, compared with a 0.82 last season. Live streaming of Marlins games rose by 43 percent on Fox Sports Florida.
“There’s no update,” Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said of a new TV deal. “Things were put on pause there a few months back, but we expect that to pick up here shortly.”
Canes notes: UM faces a tough lineup call when guard Navaughn Donaldson is deemed ready to return from knee surgery. “The second Navaughn is back, look out baby, he’s a force to be reckoned with,” strength and conditioning coach David Feeley said. … UM will stick with 13,000 capacity for home games.
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