PORTLAND, Ore. – Observations and other notes of interest from Thursday night’s 127-110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers:
– There was a point Thursday when there was very real question of who was going to score for the Heat.
– Tyler Herro remained back in Miami with his rib issue.
– Then, at midday, Norman Powell surfaced on the injury report with recurring back pain.
– That effectively would have left the Heat without their two primary wing scorers.
– Powell managed to play through.
– But it turned out the Heat already had their point of attack.
– With Bam Adebayo treating Blazers center Donovan Clingan like the neophyte he remains.
– No, Adebayo is not a go-to scorer, doesn’t have the dribble-drive game.
– But he knows who he is and what he has to do when needed.
– This was such an example.
– Find the right perimeter talent and enough perimeter alongside, and the two-way play makes any roster better.
– No, not going to happen every game or even every quarter.
– But there is the confidence to do it when needed.
– And the ability to bounce back as needed.
– As he did from Monday night’s misery against the Warriors.
– Adebayo isn’t the problem.
– Never has been.
– Just needs better alongside.
– Or at least healthier.
– For years, Jimmy Butler griped about a lack of Heat support.
– On this night, Adebayo would have been within his rights to do the same.
– That, of course, is not who he is.
– With Davion Mitchell missing his third game with a shoulder contusion, the Heat opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Kasparas Jakucionis.
– That lineup entered 1-0.
– It was Larsson’s 23rd start.
– The game was the 500th career start for Adebayo.
– With one more start he will tie Udonis Haslem for second on the Heat all-time list.
– Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic again entered together first off the Heat bench.
– After being held out for the first time this season in Tuesday night’s game in Sacramento, Dru Smith was back in the mix, third off the bench.
– With Simone Fontecchio, again a rotation regular, making it nine deep.
– Myron Garden then entered at the start of the second period.
– That left only Keshad Johnson out of the mix among available players.
– Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said pregame there is no choice in today’s NBA but to prepare for evolving lineups due to injuries and absences.
– With the Heat again without Kel’el Ware and Herro.
– “This also the NBA right now,” he said. “Everybody’s got guys in and out of lineups, so you have to do your diligence. On a nightly basis, particularly you get to January, you’re going to have different guys playing than in November.”
– For the umpteenth time before a game, Spoelstra was asked about the Heat’s preference to play at pace.
– “When we’re consistent, doing what we feel we can do, we feel we can score a lot of points.,” he said. “Different guys can have a major impact depending on the night. Our guys feel good about the offense. They’re getting confidence about the offense.”
– He added, “We want that to continue to grow. We want this to be even better three months from now. I think on paper, I think our offense has been great and I think our defense has been really good. We’re top five in defense, we’re top five in scoring, and yet we’re only two games above .500. That’s the biggest issue.”
– Spoelstra said the struggle is about more than statistics.
– “We’ve played well enough on both ends of the floor,” he said. “It’s about having a competitive will to figure out how to get more wins. We feel like on paper we should have more wins. We are who we are right now. We feel really good that things will click in the second half, and that’s part of developing a young team.”
– He added, “You just have to collectively figure it out at the end of the day. Figure out how to get a win, whether it goes according to plan or not. That’s our biggest area of opportunity.”
– The Blazers played in alternate uniforms that did not feature any red.
– Odd for a team from the Rose City that plays its game in the Rose Quarter.
