Miami Heat: The Duncan Robinson Three-Ball That Saved Christmas

The Miami Heat depend on Duncan Robinson’s shot-making, as they did again on Christmas.

The Miami Heat faced off against Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans on Christmas Day. Coming into the second game of their season, they owed this Pelicans team one from the preseason and they owed themselves one for dropping their season opener to Orlando on Wednesday.

They would atone for their year opening defeat by defeating the Pelicans in this Yuletide matchup. It wasn’t just that they were able to get it done though, it’s how they did it.

The Miami Heat did it with the weapon that helped them do everything that they were able to do last season as well, the three-ball. Duncan Robinson was especially effective in the area, as he tends to be.

While the timing or when he made the shots is important as well, the fact that he was able to make as many as he did and thus, help the Heat make as many as they did is what’s most important. The team went 16/37, to shoot 43.2 percent from deep as a unit.

Duncan Robinson shot 7-13 from range, a staggering 53.8 percent with volume, with all but one of his 14 attempts being from deep. In contrast, the Pelicans shot 28.6 percent from range, making 10 of their 35 attempts from out there.

The Miami Heat continue to count on Duncan Robinson’s shooting to lead them.

Again, Duncan made seven by his lonesome, while the Pelicans as a team only made 10. That’s some serious marksmanship by our resident sniper.

The Miami Heat also take advantage of the gravity that Duncan Robinson provides because of his shooting ability. Basically, because he can shoot it as he does, the defense has to pay extra special and close attention to him at all times.

Naturally, this causes them to cheat, float, or slide in his direction when things look like it might be moving towards him. What this does is create plays, lanes, and open shots for his teammates.

It makes the shots a lot easier on most occasions, to be more specific. That’s what gravity is in the sense of basketball and Duncan Robinson is the freaking Sun out there.

The Miami Heat need the rest of the team to pick it up a bit when it comes to shooting the deep ball, if you ask me, as they have a few other guys who can flat out get hot. Duncan Robinson can carry you on most nights but the more the better and as they say, you can never have enough shooting.

He was enough to help get it done on Christmas Day though. That’s all that matters for their first win of the year.

Tuesday is when things really start to get interesting.