Miami Heat: Duncan Robinson might be unplayable in Celtics series

Duncan Robinson might not be an impactful piece for the Miami Heat vs the Celtics

Duncan Robinson has had a remarkable second year of his career with the Miami Heat. After the team unearthed his talent and got him over his imposter syndrome, he was molded into a pure shooter from deep.

In terms of volume and accuracy, hardly anyone does it better from beyond the arc. Robinson was fifth in the NBA in made 3-pointers this season off of the 13th-most attempts. His 44.6 percent shooting beyond the arc was third-best in the league among players attempting 5 or more per game, only J.J. Redick and Seth Curry were ahead of him.

He makes for a deadly two-man game with Bam Adebayo. His flurry of moves along the perimeter taking hand-offs from Bam Adebayo is frustrating for defenders and leads to him getting the sixth-most points per game in the playoffs off of handoffs (tied with Tyler Herro). In the regular season, he ranked first in the league with 3.5.

Throughout the postseason so far Robinson has been a strong tool in Erik Spoelstra’s belt. His ability to come strong curling off screens and fire off deadly accurate 3-point shots even with a defender on his hip has allowed Miami to build and regain leads in multiple situations.

Against the Boston Celtics, Spoelstra and the Heat may need to get things done without him.

Miami Heat: Duncan Robinson’s defense and fouling are major issues vs Boston Celtics

After playing 20-plus minutes in each of the games against the Indiana Pacers in the opening round and then 30-plus minutes in Games 3 and 4 of the Milwaukee Bucks series, Robinson has logged 13 and 17 minutes, respectively, in the last two games.

The reason for this is that Robinson can’t seem to keep himself out of foul trouble. In Game 5 against Milwaukee, Robinson committed 4 fouls and only scored 2 points. In Game 1 against Boston, Robinson was pulled early due to foul trouble.

Then, in the second quarter, Robinson came in for Herro with 7:13 remaining, played two defensive possessions, and committed a foul. Herro came right back in for Robinson just 34 seconds after he came into the game.

Some of the fouls are just a sheer lack of awareness. Here, it’s great that he’s hungry for this rebound, but he’s undersized and unable to position legally on Theis, plus there are three white jerseys and only Theis going up for the board.

Now, admittedly some of the fouls called on Robinson are a little weak considering this is playoff basketball. Some of them were sold with some acting, like one in the opening minutes of Game 1 on Marcus Smart. Robinson clearly makes contact with Smart’s face, but the reaction was also clearly delayed.

Part of the foul trouble and the ticky-tack calls going against him has to do with Robinson’s poor defensive reputation though.

Stronger defenders are able to get away with a bit more in terms of contact because it’s not rare for them to lock their opponents up, whereas, with Robinson, it’s a bit more obvious when he’s slipping and committing an infraction to prevent his defender from moving. Smaller fouls are going to get called on Robinson, which is understandably frustrating, leading to him committing even sillier fouls as the game goes along.

And even if Robinson is able to stay in the game in this series without fouling, he’s not going to be able to do it without calling on his teammates to bail him out in some situations. The Celtics can mismatch-hunt for Robinson and attack him all game long with their plentiful athletic scoring.

The one way Spoelstra can keep him on the court might be with the zone defense that was used frequently in Game 1, but it was hard to see how that might work in the limited minutes Robinson played. If anyone can figure out how to make his presence on the floor work, it’s Spo. The offensive boost Robinson can provide may be well worth it and he surely should still be a part of any buzzer-beater out-of-timeout-plays, even if just as a decoy.

I would view Robinson as a luxury for the team though rather than a necessity at this stage. Long-term, the Miami Heat need to trust their development of the young shooter and attempt to instill some greater defensive skills within his package, but for now, they should win this series with defense.

Unfortunately, if the defense is the top priority, it’s hard to see where Robinson fits. Heck, Bam Adebayo showed us on Tuesday that the more willing defenders shall prevail.