The Miami Heat got a huge win on Saturday night against one of the best teams in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns. If you’re a person that just goes by the league records, then they are the absolute best team in the NBA, leading the Golden State Warriors by just an increment of a game.
In any event, the Miami Heat came out on Saturday with a great effort that led to them getting a win in a gritty manner, the good old-fashioned way, sort of. Based on the new ways of basketball and the NBA, with an eye towards the way the Miami Heat also go about it when they are down their big guns, the three-ball has become the classic weapon of choice.
Tieing a franchise record for threes made in a game in the process, 22-44 from deep, they were led in that department by a guy that’s not unfamiliar with the territory.
It could be a number of guys, but the actual guy wasn’t a shocker.
Duncan Robinson had one of his better performances of the season, being the guy he’s been known to be for a lot of his time with the Miami Heat.
The Miami Heat needed nuclear shooting on Saturday night to beat a tough Suns team. They got it, team-wide and especially from one source, Duncan Robinson.
What was, indeed, unfamiliar for Robinson though, was how it happened. He found himself coming off the bench to have one of his best shooting showings of the season, going 8-16 from range and for 27 points overall.
Many people have wondered about this particular role for Duncan Robinson before Saturday night. Will he return to the starting lineup, being that opening sniper that he’s grown be known as for the Miami Heat?
Here is what his coach had to say on the topic after the Suns victory. It comes from Shandel Richardson of Sports Illustrated.
"“Duncan has been in the protocol,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He literally flew all day for the Portland game to be able to play in that.We brought him off the bench just so we could control his minutes. We’re just trying to figure this out game by game. He’s a starter but last game we just went to the same lineup. That’s not easy for anybody, emotionally or mentally. He just prepared and stayed the course.”"
Perhaps this is the renaissance that their resident sniper needed though. Joined by guys like Max Strus and others, in their ability to flat-out nail it from deep, the Miami Heat now have so many capable shooters from the outside.
None of them have Duncan‘s capabilities when he gets going though. Though others can shoot it, such as Max Strus who can do the shooting plus some other things, none of them is the flat-out shooter that Duncan is when he’s at his best.
Hopefully, this is him getting back right. Hopefully, this is the return of the guy that has been one of the top three shooters in the league over the past few seasons.