Game-winning 3-pointer by Adebayo just a matter of timing
PHILADELPHIA — In the wake of Heat center Bam Adebayo converting his buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer in Sunday’s 104-101 victory over the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, the question was why, with the shot clock off, did Pistons guard Cade Cunningham attempt his 27-foot 3-point attempt in the 101-101 tie with nine seconds still left on the game clock.
Cuningham said it was a case of drawing his preferred defensive matchup against Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“I liked the matchup I had, so I knew I was gonna take that on,” Cunningham said. “I read they were about to come double me and I tried to keep my matchup.”
The irony is that once Heat guard Terry Rozier secured the rebound with 5 seconds to play, the concern of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was the Heat’s last shot not leave any time on the clock for the Pistons.
“I thought Terry was going to get coast to coast or get to one of his step-backs, hopefully without any time left,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat moving on to Monday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center. “When it’s tied, that’s a safer play.”
Rozier ran out almost all of the clock and then passed to Adebayo, who launched his winning 31-footer just before the game clock expired.
To Pistons coach Monty Williams, it was just another growing pain in a season of growing pains for his 12-55 team.
“Maybe there was too much time on the clock,” Williams said. “But if he’d made the shot, nobody would’ve said a word. We would’ve gotten a stop and that would’ve been it. I’m not going to come down on anyone for that kind of possession.”
The game-winner marked the second time in Adebayo’s career he converted a winning shot with less than one second remaining on the clock. The franchise record is three such shots by Dwyane Wade. In addition to Adebayo, other Heat players with two such shots since they first were tracked in 1996 were Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, Tim Hardaway and Voshon Lenard.
Out again
Although he was hopeful of a return Monday against the 76ers, Heat forward Nikola Jovic remained sidelined by the strained right hamstring that also had him out Sunday in Detroit.
“I feel like I’ll be back like really soon,” said Jovic, with the Heat’s four-game trip concluding Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “It’s nothing crazy. My hamstring just got a little pulled. An MRI was not needed. A specialist was not needed. I’ve strengthened it up and it’ll be alright.”
Jovic said soreness was exacerbated in Friday night’s victory in Detroit.
“It was not a certain play in the game. It was bothering me a little before, but never this much,” he said. “And it just got tied up two days ago. Just running after that, it didn’t feel good.”
After an injury-plagued rookie year last season, this is the first injury absence of the season for the 2022 first-round pick out of Serbia.
“Especially because I missed a lot of games last year, the main thing is not trying to miss games, and that’s what I’m really focused on,” Jovic, 20, said. “I’ll be good. I’m just trying to prevent all the little injuries and stay healthy.”
Perfect game
With nine assists and no turnovers in Sunday’s game, which fell on his 30th birthday, Rozier recorded his sixth game without a turnover since joining the Heat in the January trade for Kyle Lowry.
Rozier went into Monday with 112 assists to 26 turnovers in his Heat tenure, a 4.31 assist-to-turnover ratio that would stand as the highest in the Heat’s 36 years if done over a season.
The franchise record is a 4.17 ratio by Carlos Arroyo in 2009-10. The only other Heat player with an assist-to-turnover ratio above 4.00 for a season was current Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn, at 4.00 in 2008-09.