Erik Spoelstra made the bold move to inject Pelle Larsson into the starting lineup in place of a struggling Andrew Wiggins. And despite the Miami Heat's much-needed win over the Sacramento Kings, the big move netted Spoelstra mixed results.
Part of that was the fact that Larsson picked up two fouls almost immediately, quickly throwing a wrench in Spoelstra's new rotation plans, but Wiggins' continued struggles, even against the Kings' bench unit, weren't promising either.
Heat's new starting lineup immediately showed promise
The good news was that Larsson finished with 11 points, three rebounds, and three assists on 3-for-4 shooting from the 3-point line. The Heat's new starting lineup also received glowing analytical results. The lineup of Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Larsson, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Bam Adebayo finished with a net rating of +60 in 11 minutes.
Even though the Heat can't completely put all their stock in net rating, it should give Spoelstra confidence that this move did, in theory, "work." It's certainly been better than how the previous starting 5 had looked.
But, again, part of the reasoning in moving Wiggins to the bench was the hope that he could gain some confidence of his own. That just didn't happen against the Kings. Wiggins didn't have a terrible game, but he continued to struggle on defense and finished with just six points on 2-for-6 shooting from the field overall.
Building momentum should be the goal now
It's only been one game, and this big change could take some time for the full effect to be felt, but the Heat didn't get the initial jolt that perhaps many fans thought they would. Maybe Larsson falling into foul trouble just minutes into the game threw a wrench in all this. Perhaps things would've played out differently had that not happened.
Still, the hope was that this starting lineup move would help jump-start the Heat into another gear. In one game, against one of the worst teams in the league, it didn't.
With this move, the Heat saw both the good and (potentially) the bad. The Heat's starting lineup may have looked (and measured) better, but there's no question the bench really struggled as well. Miami finished with just 16 bench points against Sacramento.
At this point, though, the Heat have no other option but to continue to move forward after this move. The hope is that they can continue to build momentum as they prepare for the final game of their week-plus road trip against the Utah Jazz.
Add us as a preferred source on Google