Now that Martin is (relatively) healthy, he’s producing steadily off the bench
Heat forward Caleb Martin has dealt with injuries throughout the season. Some have forced him to miss extended time, but he has been able to play through others.
That trend has continued even during Martin’s best stretch of the season.
Martin entered Friday night’s game at Oklahoma City averaging 13 points,
5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 18 of 32 (56.3 percent) on threes in seven games since the All-Star break. He also has turned up his defense, totaling three steals and seven blocks in the seven games.
Martin has done most of that while playing with a thumb injury on his nonshooting hand that’s expected to require surgery in the offseason. He hurt his thumb — the team lists the injury as a sprained left thumb — in the Feb. 29 loss at Denver.
“This injury is just not going to change,” he said ahead of the OKC game. “It’s going to have to be taken care of at some point down the road. So at this point, it is what it is and
I’m just going to play through it until it doesn’t allow me to.”
Since the All-Star break, Martin also turned an ankle and received six stitches after getting hit in the mouth. He also has been playing with a wrap on his left thumb.
But he has continued to produce in a reserve role. After starting 18 of his first 39 appearances this season, he came off the bench in six consecutive games leading up to Friday’s game.
“Off the bench, you see how the game goes, kind of how things are being played out and seeing the openings ...” said Martin, who had 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and one block in 33 minutes in Thursday night’s 114-108 loss at Dallas. “On the defensive end, you just get a good look at the game before you get in.”
Martin also has been closing games. Entering Friday, he had a team-high 75 minutes in the fourth quarter since the All-Star break while posting a plus/ minus rating of plus-20 in those late-game minutes.
This two-week stretch is the best Martin has played this season after injuries limited his availability for the first three months. He missed 10 straight games early in the season because of left knee tendinosis and seven straight games in late December and early January because of a sprained right ankle.
This surge from Martin, 28, comes just in time for the stretch run, with only five weeks left in the regular season.
“I think with good players and good teams, every time you play high-level competition and things intensify, you see what guys grow and what guys kind of shrink,” he said. “I always feel like I play my best when the stakes are higher.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra said the most important factor in Martin’s surge is that he’s gotten healthier.
“He didn’t have his legs under him at the beginning of the year,” Spoelstra said. “So he was just kind of doing whatever he had to do just to get it up there and to be available for the team. That’s a great credit and salute to him . ... But he has his legs under him now.”
How Martin plays in the coming weeks will likely help determine his NBA future. Martin can become an unrestricted free agent this summer if he doesn’t exercise his $7.1 million option for next season.
“You know it’s there,” Martin said of the looming uncertainty, “but it don’t mean [expletive] if you’re not playing well anyways.”
DOUBLE VISION
The Mavericks sent double-teams at Jimmy Butler nearly every time he had the ball Thursday night, throwing Butler and the Heat’s offense out of rhythm.
Butler, who entered the game averaging 23.8 points on 53.7 percent shooting from the field since the start of February, was limited to 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field in Dallas. He also attempted only two free throws and committed a season-high six turnovers.
“I think I just got to pick my spots better, not turn the ball over as much and honestly just continue to play basketball the right way,” Butler said. “Put all the trust that I always do into my guys and we’re going to live with the result of them taking and making all the wide-open shots that they’re going to continue to get when teams double.”
Thursday marked just the second game in Butler’s NBA career that he has scored fewer than 15 points while committing six or more turnovers. The other came Dec. 29, 2013, in Butler’s third season, as a member of the Chicago Bulls in a loss to the Mavs.
“They were pretty committed to getting the ball out of his hands and getting him out of his sweet spots from there,” Spoelstra said Thursday. “It’s good that we see a lot of these things because we have to find different ways then to make sure he gets activated and other ways that he can get to his strength zones. He’s fully capable of that.
“I also need to do a better job getting him at the top of the floor and into some other areas, where it’s not as easy to corral him.”