The Miami Heat looked as though they could do something special this year. For much of the year, the plan seemed to be coming together nicely.
Well, that was when the Miami Heat could get their main guys on the floor together. When you look at three-man lineups from this past season, it tells the whole story.
The leading lineup featuring Kyle Lowry was one that saw him, P.J. Tucker, and Duncan Robinson on the floor together for 857 minutes.
A Lowry, Tucker, and Adebayo lineup was Lowry’s next highest, at 717 minutes.
When you look for the lineup that features the guys that are, essentially, the Miami Heat’s Big 3 of Lowry, Jimmy Butler, and Adebayo, that was Lowry’s fourth highest-ranked lineup, as far as minutes played, which came in at 660 minutes across 34 games played.
To be frank, he didn’t play a ton with the two guys that are the best two players on the team. He still was very effective for Miami though, through it all.
Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry Deserves Our Patience And Time To Get Right
Even still though, when you look at what Lowry was able to do from the standpoint of his own production when he was mentally and physically right, he delivered.
During a stretch in the middle of the year, where Bam Adebayo was down with his thumb injury and Jimmy Butler also missed time, Kyle Lowry was the lone star on the court for Miami. In those games without Adebayo and Butler, Lowry led the Miami Heat to almost three times the total amount of wins compared to the games they dropped, about 11-4.
He also showed up big in those games, giving the Heat what they needed in whichever department they needed it in, from scoring to playmaking. He also led them to some big wins in that stretch over Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Chicago.
Plainly put, Lowry delivered more than he didn’t when he was without his two best counterparts and when the team needed him the most.
Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry Didn’t Have A Great Postseason, But There’s A Reason
Yes, his playoff averages of just 7.8 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.6 rebounds were below average and not becoming of the future Hall Of Famer, but you also have to take into account his hamstring injury.
An injury he played through, to the tune of a huge performance in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals where he hit the biggest shot of the game, but it’s a hamstring. It’s the type of injury that only time can heal, where you don’t know how it will feel from day to day, and where one small tweak can start the recovery process all over.
We have to be fair. When he was right, again, he delivered.
He just wasn’t right physically after tweaking the hamstring in the first round, while his personal issues throughout the season only probably served to hinder him from being able to stay in the best shape he could.
You can’t blame him, totally—you just can’t.
With that, Lowry has earned patience from the fans. A lot of people are pondering if the Heat should be looking to move on from Lowry, but that wouldn’t be the best thing.
For a guy that still shows that he has the goods when right and that added a dynamic to the team with his ability to push the pace and get easy early buckets, you have to give him a shot to come back in his best condition, shape, and frame of mind.
That’s just the honest and fair truth. He’s earned patience, at the very least.