The Miami Heat are in a good place and currently maintaining a three-game winning streak.
After dropping a game in San Francisco to the Golden State Warriors that also saw them lose Jimmy Butler again, they were able to make quick and easy work of the other team that is vying to be the best team in the league, the Phoenix Suns.
Though with a win in Portland sandwiched in between those two games, the win over the Suns was extremely pleasing after dropping a tough one to Golden State.
Most recently, they were able to knock off the struggling Hawks team on Wednesday night in the State Farm Arena, giving the Hawks their ninth straight home loss. A topic at hand over these last few games though. has been the status of Duncan Robinson and where he fits in the rotation.
Though he’s come off the bench through his last several games, with his first appearance back from protocols being one where he only played about 17 minutes, the subsequent games since have seen him outplay the starter at his position, Max Strus.
The Miami Heat have been rolling along, without their two best guys going. A huge part of it since being back, Duncan Robinson has done it off-pine.
While it was thought that he would be the starter, regardless, based on the notions and thoughts of head coach Erik Spoelstra, that may not be the case. That’s not important though, based on all that has occurred.
What is important is the thing that’s happened in the two games since he’s been back to his regular allotment of minutes. In the two games since he been back to a regular role and though off the pine, he’s proceeded to outpace Strus in minutes.
In the win against Phoenix, Max Strus saw just over 21 minutes, while Duncan Robinson saw nearly 29 minutes. In the most recent game against the Hawks, Max Strus saw a second over 15 minutes of action, while Duncan Robinson saw nearly 32 minutes of action in the contest.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how they are deployed, as long as Duncan Robinson is getting the starter’s allotment of minutes. This is because though Max Strus is a more versatile player, Duncan does the thing that they need the most at a higher level right now.
The way he has proven to be able to get hot from range threatens opposing defenses a bit more right now, though Strus is definitely right there on his heels. That’s why it’s all about the minutes and not the deployment.