Nunn ready for larger role with injured Oladipo out for the Heat
The last time we saw Kendrick Nunn in a meaningful, 30-plus minutes a night role for theHeat, he was pouring in 47 points against Western Conference contenders Portland and Phoenix, while shooting 8 for 14 on threes, and dishing out six assists without a turnover.
That’s the Nunn the Heat hopes it gets for the foreseeable future, with Victor Oladipo out indefinitely with a right knee injury.
After that strong twogame stretch, Nunn was injured after 16 minutes of court time in Charlotte, missed the subsequent two games and has been a DNP-CD (did not play/ coach’s decision) in four games since, a fate atypical for a team’s fourthleading scorer.
For Nunn, it has been something of a feast or famine role with the Heat; since Jan. 27, he has started 26 games, come off the bench in one, missed two with an injury and was a healthy scratch in seven others.
Last season, he started all 67 games in which he appeared during the regular season — finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Ja Morant — but was a healthy scratch in six playoff games and came off the bench in 15 others.
In an interview earlier this year, with CBS-4’s Jim Berry, he admitted that morphing from significant rotation piece to not playing at all has been “tough. You have doubts about yourself. Your mind just starts racing. You have so many thoughts on why you’re not playing.”
Oladipo, of course, has been to places that Nunn hasn’t: an All-NBA defender, an All-NBA third team player (in 2017-18) and a 20-point-per-game scorer (once).
Oladipo offers more volume scoring, rebounding and assists than Nunn using any statistical measure.
But in some ways, Nunn has been the more efficient player offensively this season.
Comparing how they stack up this season:
Per 36 minutes, Nunn is averaging 17.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.9 turnovers and 1.3 steals.
Oladipo, per 36 minutes, is averaging 21.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.8 turnovers and 1.5 steals.
But the scoring difference is partly attributed to Oladipo taking a lot more shots (19.2 field-goal attempts per 36 minutes), compared with 14.3 for Nunn.
Nunn has been the more efficient shooter this season, shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 37.2 percent on threepointers.
Oladipo is shooting
40.8 percent from the field and 32.6 percent on threes in his 33 games, including three with the Heat.
Nunn’ shooting percentage, if he had enough games to qualify, would be tied for 13th among qualifying NBA point guards and his three-point percentage would be 20th of 35.
Oladipo’s three-point percentage is tied for 49th among 53 shooting guards. His overall fieldgoal percentage is tied for 25th of 28 qualifiers.
And Nunn has been more efficient than Oladipo in the turnover category.
Oladipo is allowing
AAAthe player he’s defending to shoot 44 percent; those players shoot 45.6 percent overall.
The player defended by Nunn is shooting 45.9 percent; those players shoot 45.3 percent overall.
So with restricted free agency now four months away, Nunn gets another chance to prove his value.
“He does keep himself ready,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He does have the mental toughness to be ready for the next opportunity.”
Gabe Vincent also could play more in Oladipo’s absence.
The Heat and Oladipo have declined to offer a specific diagnosis or timetable for Oladipo, whose return isn’t considered imminent. Spoelstra was scheduled to speak with reporters Saturday evening after the team’s scheduled practice in Oregon.
Oladipo did not accompany the team on the four-game road trip. Every other player accompanied the team, including KZ Okpala, who had missed the past eight games because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Nunn, who missed the start of Heat training camp at the Disney complex last summer because of a bout with COVID-19, announced on social media that he received his second Pfizer COVID vaccine shot on Friday.
THIS AND THAT
This difficult road trip — beginning at 10 p.m. Sunday in Portland with stops in Phoenix, Denver and Minnesota — was supposed to be something of a measuring stick for this revamped roster. Instead, it will simply be a gauge of whether this team has improved with Trevor Ariza and Nemanja Bjelica essentially
Areplacing Kelly Olynyk.
“We just got to win, try to get them all,” Jimmy Butler said. “It really shows who we are if we can get these games on the road. We’re capable of it. But we’re going to have to play damn near perfect basketball against these teams that we’re going up against. We’ve been up and down all year long. Hopefully, we hit a stride where we’re playing the right way and we’re stringing together wins.”
The Heat (27-25 and sixth in the East entering Saturday) is 12-12 on the road this season but has won 8 of its past 10 away from home.
The two wins against the Lakers this season marked only the fourth time in franchise history that Miami swept a season series against the defending NBA champions. It’s the first time Miami has done it since winning both games against the Dallas Mavericks in 2011-12.
Coincidentally, both of those season sweeps came against teams that had beaten the Heat in the NBA Finals.
Since the trade deadline, Tyler Herro is averaging 17.6 points and shooting 44.5 percent on threes (22 for 49). … Bam Adebayo, 6-9, has joined the 6-9 LeBron James as the tallest players in franchise history to produce 900 assists; 15 Heat players overall have done that.
Duncan Robinson is giving away free Hugo Boss suits on his Long Shot podcast. See the show’s Twitter feed, @TheLongShotPod, for more details. Robinson said those interested must explain why they want the suit.
AAABarry Jackson: 305-376-3491, @flasportsbuzz
ond period in Dallas and got the goal back less than two minutes later.
On Thursday, the Panthers went quietly in a three-goal loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and Quenneville said it “might’ve been the one game all year we were ordinary.” On Saturday, they were something less than ordinary and gave up more ground in a tight Central Division race.
In the opening minute, Stars left wing Jason Robertson took advantage of a giveaway and beat goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to jump ahead 1-0 with 19:00 left in the first. Less than a minute later, Dallas forward Joel L’Esperance capitalized on another giveaway and put the Stars ahead 2-0 with 18:11 left. With 10:57 left in the period, Dallas forward Jamie Benn scored on a power play to give the Stars a 3-0 lead and send the 4,165 at the American Airlines Center into celebration.
Dallas had eight shots on goal. Florida didn’t have any.
“I don’t know what was the problem. They started really well and we didn’t,” star center Aleksander Barkov said. “It wasn’t a good start by us and obviously we’re not happy.”
The loss was the Panthers’ third straight — matching their longest of the skid of the season — and the same issues have now persisted across multiple games. Florida followed up a 24-shot performance Thursday with just 21 on Saturday. Defensively, the Panthers have given up at least one power-play goal in three straight games. They started 0 of 2 on their own power play, running their streak of futility to 1 of 22 since defenseman Aaron Ekblad’s injury last month, before Barkov finally scored a power-play goal in the waning moments of the second period.
Florida went into the second intermission with a 3-1 deficit, but a reason for hope. Robertson quickly quashed it.
In the opening minute of the third period, Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin stuffed star forward Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway and Robertson came back the other way to beat Bobrovsky and put Dallas back ahead 4-1 with 18:39 remaining.
Bobrovsky’s four goals allowed were his most in his last six starts and his .800 save percentage was his worst since the first half of February.
“That’s how we need to handle it: Just forget about this game and move forward, and think about next game and think about how we get a better start, how we play a better game,” Barkov said. “Do a better job to get to the net, get the second chances and recover pucks from that. That was our strength the whole season. We shot pucks and we recovered them, and got another shot, recover another puck and then we would play in the zone.”
PANTHERS TRADE FOR BRANDON MONTOUR
The trade deadline also looms as a chance for the Panthers to reshape themselves in the midst of a rare losing streak. On Saturday, they started to.
After making two capclearing trades in the last two weeks, Florida traded for Brandon Montour from the Buffalo Sabres, hoping to bolster its defense after Ekblad’s likely seasonending injury in March. All it cost the Panthers was a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft to land the defenseman, who’s making $3.85 million on a one-year deal.
Montour has five goals and nine assists this season for the league-worst Sabres and should give Florida a top-four defenseman to play on one of its top two pairings, especially given defenseman Keith Yandle’s shrinking playing time.
“Brandon is a capable and talented right-shot defenseman who will have an immediate impact on our club,” general manager Bill Zito said in a statement. “His two-way acumen and ability to play important minutes make him an exciting addition to the Panthers.”
This move doesn’t have to be the only one for Florida, either. The Panthers still have more than $12 million in trade-deadline cap space, according to CapFriendly. It gives them room to continue bolstering their defense or make a move for another highprofile forward as they make a run for their first Stanley Cup.
David Wilson: 305-376-3406, @DBWilson2