Miami Heat: Three keys to making the NBA playoffs
By Duncan Smith
You gotta go with what works
The Miami Heat happened upon a good thing when Hassan Whiteside went down with a hip strain three weeks ago. With Whiteside sidelined, Bam Adebayo was inserted into the starting lineup at center in his place. This allowed the Heat to start Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk together in the front court.
The big duo combined with the wing and backcourt combination of Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters has been dynamite. So good, in fact, that this lineup has outscored their opponents by a staggering 18.4 points per 100 possessions, and in the eight games they’ve started together they have scored 127.6 points per 100 possessions, and their net rating is +21.6.
Mind you, this is over a small sample of just 10 games and 108 minutes, but it sure looks to be the catalyst that sparked the Heat surge. When something works this well, you don’t mess with it, you gotta go with what works.
As for Whiteside, he’s been excellent coming off the bench with Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade. With an experienced bench and fresh young legs in the starting lineup, the Heat have a surprising rotational advantage against a number of teams.