The Miami Heat have always cut the rotations down in the playoffs, at least, Spo has.
We saw it last year in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, where just eight of Spoelstra’s twelve available players appeared in over 100+ minutes throughout that series. This is impressive, with Heat center Bam Adebayo being forced to miss two of those games due to neck and shoulder ailments.
Though they should have played certain guys more, such as Kelly Olynyk, it’s still pretty impressive. That’s, also, just how these things go at this time of the year in the NBA.
To open the 2021 NBA postseason, the Heat are expected to run their usual starting lineup of Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, and Trevor Ariza in the front-court, while Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson should fulfill the guard spots. Key reserves, Tyler Herro, Goran Dragic and Andre Iguodala will provide critical minutes once again, while Dewayne Dedmon fills the backup center minutes to Adebayo.
Sounds simple right? Well, at least, it doesn’t sound complicated.
However, many believe Erik Spoelstra could be limiting his other credible options. They could include Nemanja Bjelica, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, KZ Okpala, Omer Yurtseven and rookie, Precious Achiuwa remaining.