What the Miami Heat’s best lineup combinations tell us about this season
By Wes Goldberg
Kyle Lowry and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Lowry and Jaquez – Miami’s most and least experienced players – have formed a bit of an odd couple.
In their 131 minutes together, the Heat are out-scoring opponents by 11.1 points per 100 possessions.
This is because lineups with Lowry and Jaquez share the ball (assist on 65.4% of their baskets) rebound well and play faster than most Heat groups. The most productive versions of the Lowry-plus-Jaquez groups feature Butler and Love alongside one of Haywood Highsmith or Josh Richardson. (There are also heavily-used groups with Bam Adebayo and one of Robinson or Herro that are net positives.)
These lineups aren’t heavy on shooting, but they have a lot of length, ball handling and passing chops.
As far as the Lowry and Jaquez combination, there isn’t much explanation outside of that they speak the same love language. They are old souls who found each other in this crazy NBA world. They play at the same pace and make the same reads to make something beautiful.