Duncan Robinson’s historic night helps Miami Heat to overtime win

Last season, Miami Heat 3-point marksman Duncan Robinson appeared in just 15 games. This season, he’s carved out a place in the starting lineup with his consistent shooting ability, a role that’s been essential to Miami’s early season success.

The Miami Heat faithful in attendance at Tuesday night’s win over the Atlanta Hawks were not only gifted with a thrilling overtime victory led by career high’s from Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn, and Duncan Robinson —  American Airlines Arena also held a Star Wars night.

Jimmy Butler recorded his third triple-double in the last five games, including last night’s 18 rebounds effort — a career-high.

Bam Adebayo recorded the first triple-double of his career with a stat line of 30 points — a career-high — 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Butler and Adebayo also became the first pair of Heat teammates to produce a triple-double during the same game.

Undrafted rookie Kendrick Nunn also set a career-high in points with 36.

The night opened up with the continuous emergence of 3-point marksman, Duncan Robinson, who scored 14 of his career high 34 points in the opening quarter. After playing in just fifteen games last season,  Robinson has played in all of Miami’s 24 games thus far — starting all but five of them. Robinson’s ability to shoot from deep has opened up the court for Miami, and allowed Heat rookie Tyler Herro to provide his offensive spark off the bench.

The Miami Heat currently sit at third place in the Eastern Conference behind a strong 18-6 record. While Miami has obviously become Jimmy Butler’s team, Erik Spoelstra — and Butler — have instilled the confidence to allow each individual to perform on any given night.

Robinson, a  former junior college product, has thrived in his new role within the starting lineup, which continued Tuesday night when he made a Heat franchise record 10 3-point baskets.

The Miami Heat have also thrived when Robinson has performed well — and the numbers bear that out.

Miami is 12-0 when Duncan Robinson records a positive plus-minus.

Okay, let me just say this quickly, I am in no way shape or form saying that Duncan Robinson is solely leading this Miami team to what it is becoming, or that Robinson will lead Miami to its fourth title in franchise history. However, this shocked me, too. But, it’s true. Miami is undefeated — YES UNDEFEATED — when Duncan Robinson records a positive plus-minus box score.

Miami is 10-3 when Duncan Robinson scores ten or more points.

In his 15 appearances last season, Robinson was able to score more than 10 points, just once — the final game of the season or better known as Dwyane Wade‘s final career game. This season, Robinson has produced ten or more points in thirteen of the teams 24 games, and has scored more than 20 points four times.

While it’s clear that Spoelstra has given Robinson more opportunities to perform this season, his role is still fairly limited. Robinson ranks seventh on the team in minutes finding himself behind fellow guards Jimmy Butler, Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro and Justise Winslow for what it’s worth. Robinson may need to show more consistency to see an in uptick in minutes, but one thing remains clear: when Robinson plays well, the Heat tend to win.