IN THE LANE

INSIDE STORY: To Heat center Bam Adebayo, San Antonio Spurs No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama has lived up to the hype — as long as that hype doesn’t cast the 7-foot-4 big man as a center. “He’s going to be great in his league,” Adebayo said after Wednesday’s victory over the Spurs at Kaseya Center.“He has the right coach around him. He has the right mindset and he wants to win. You can see it in the way he plays. He passes the ball. He does the little things. I mean, he’s 7-4 doing things like that. I think he’ll be great in this league.” But, Adebayo added, “To me, honestly, I don’t think he’s a center. I think he’s more of a power forward. They just play him at center. I’ve been in those shoes before.”

RECEPTION LINE: The victory over the Spurs ended with a Heat reception line for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who worked with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra at USA Basketball, who coached Adebayo to Olympic gold and who coached Heat guard Josh Richardson and Heat assistant Chris Quinn when they played for the Spurs.“I’ve said before, I’ve admired him for a long time,” Spoelstra said. “And it’s really just a show of respect for him, and I actually don’t want to take too much of his time now, because I know all the guys that are waiting behind me. It’s Quinny, it’s Bam, it’s J-Rich and then everybody else respects him so much.”

PRAISE OFFERED: For his part, before that Wednesday night game, Popovich praised the Heat’s acquisition of Terry Rozier.“He’s a seasoned pro. He’s a known scorer. He can score in a lot of different ways,” Popovich said.“He plays with passion. He can really heat up and add to the tool box Spo can use. That experience and that skill is going to help them.”

WINNING GAME: While the Cleveland Cavaliers stood as the lone team at the top of the Eastern Conference not to make a trade at Thursday’s deadline, their view was they already were at a net gain by signing Max Strus away from the Heat last summer.“Everybody looks at him as just a shooter, but he does so much for us, his mindset, (and) his effort,” guard Donovan Mitchell told Cleveland.com this week.“His defensive effort has been something that’s really shocked me.” Mitchell added, “He’s a winner. Just trying to find ways to impact the game and make winning plays, and that’s what he brings for us.” Strus has two games remaining against the Heat this season, March 20 in Cleveland and then March 24 at Kaseya Center. Cavaliers-Heat also looms as a potential first-round playoff matchup.

AND ANOTHER ONE: Can’t yet say that former Heat forward James Johnson has nine lives, but with the Indiana Pacers this season, the 36-year-old veteran already has had four. The odd man out at times amid the Pacers’ flurry of transactions this season, Johnson after the trading deadline signed a rest-of-the-season deal with Indiana after the Pacers waived just-acquired guard Cory Joseph. For Johnson, that means he already has signed a pair of standard deals and a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pacers this season. Johnson has played just 24 minutes in five appearances for Indiana, essentially the Pacers’ version of what Udonis Haslem had been in recent seasons for the Heat.

BACK AGAIN: Amid this unexpectedly uneven ride with the Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillard will match up Tuesday against the Heat, the team he initially expressed as his desired relocation venue from Portland last summer. In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Lillard said he has moved beyond that discussion even if some others haven’t.“I don’t have to fight against it,” he said. “Because I’ve been around long enough to know that’s the conversation. It’s never gonna stop.”