Does Justise Winslow versus Ben Simmons validate the Miami Heat’s faith?
Justise Winslow’s Game 2 performance against Ben Simmons made him a bigger Miami Heat enigma.
Justise Winslow is only 22-years old, but he is so mature. Give him time to grow or no, he was the last Miami Heat wasted pick. The spectrum is either one or the other, with nothing in between.
It was about preaching patience, using the excuses many were tired of hearing. Figuring out why people were annoyed is not too hard.
During Winslow’s rookie year, all of the talk was about his trajectory going up. His jump shot was broken, but with work some thought that his development could progress along the lines of Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler.
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Now whether or not the public concedes that he will progress to the likes of those All-Stars, Winslow has seen improvement in places, such as his field goal percentage going up to 42 percent from last year’s 36. However, his biggest jump was seeing his 3-point shooting get bumped from the mid-20’s to 38 percent.
He regressed in another area though.
From the time Winslow entered his name into the NBA Draft, he was billed as a defensive stopper. And according to the statistics, his defensive field goal percentage has gotten better; 41.8 percent since last season’s injury-filled outing (48.3 percent). But it gets tricky when you watch the Heat.
Down the stretch of games, Josh Richardson would be guarding the Bradley Beal-types and James Johnson would be covering the LeBron James’. Winslow was no longer being put on the opponent’s best players.
That all changed when desperation kicked in after Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoffs versus the Philadelphia 76ers. So for Game 2, head coach Erik Spoelstra let Winslow work his Ben Simmons theory:
"“Obviously Ben likes to pass,” Winslow said. ” So I think for us we’ve got to take away some of his passing angles and just turn them into a little bit more of a scorer.”"
What Winslow did was crowd Simmons’ air space:
He was not afraid to press him the full length of the floor or touch him as he stepped over half court, frustrating him in ways Richardson’s frame could not.
Winslow was so physical with Simmons, that he even picked up foolish fouls in a quest to hit the 76ers’ point guard. But please be advised before the praise goes crazy: it was only one game. And Simmons still had a stat line of 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, on 59 percent shooting.
Next: Miami Heat: Why the Game 2 victory wasn’t a fluke
Let Winslow prove that he can do it over the course of a series, before he becomes a self-proclaimed Simmons stopper à la Ruben Patterson and Kobe Bryant.