Five Takeaways from the Heat’s Final Preseason Game

The Miami Heat finished off a great preseason run with a win against the Boston Celtics. Miami was working with their entire squad for this one, generating some chemistry with their new and improved nine man rotation.

So, here are five takeaways from this game before completely heading into the regular season…

#1: A look into the new Heat rotation: the substitution process.

Last season, the substitution process for the Heat was a bit interesting. It was a lot of staggering Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, with the absolute need for one of them to be on the floor to survive. Adding Kyle Lowry has fixed that element, and that was seen for the first time tonight. After the starting stint to begin the game, Adebayo and Lowry went to the bench, as Butler stayed in with the bench guys. Those pairings clicked all together, starting with the continued connection between Butler and Dewayne Dedmon in those side pick and rolls. Lowry then came back in as Butler went to the sideline for more positive minutes with the bench unit. And in many ways, that stretch is the Tyler Herro enhancer, since it’s pretty clear Lowry elevates his game tremendously.

#2: Some Tyler Herro-Jimmy Butler flashbacks.

Jimmy Butler drives to the middle of the floor, does a 180, and finds Tyler Herro at the top of the key for a three in stride. Bucket. Am I describing late-game madness in Herro’s rookie season against the Chicago Bulls or tonight’s game against Boston? Actually the answer is both. That duo is playing together for their third straight season, but that type of connection hasn’t been seen since that initial year. Herro shooting with confidence over the top of defenders while Butler is creating with hard attacks into the teeth of the defense. If this combo is clicking, I think of this offense in a totally different way. With Herro playing at this incredible level when the ball is in his hands, it’s only making Butler’s life easier. And there will be a lot more smiles throughout the season than there were this last season.

#3: Bam Adebayo trying to find himself early on.

To be completely honest, this was far from Bam Adebayo’s best game early on. He struggled majorly on both ends of the floor from the very beginning: late rotations or cut-offs leading to easy lay-ins, over-dribbling in the post, etc. But when I said struggle, did you notice aggression wasn’t something I mentioned? He was taking shots, even though they weren’t great shots by any means. The point is that if the only issue in his “down” half is in terms of effort or things in the flow of the game, then it can easily be tweaked. He was second on the team in field goal attempts at the half behind Herro, showing flashes of getting the ball up at the rim. He did just that in the second half when Butler and Lowry were on the bench, and that’s exactly what is needed. Dominate the paint while Herro and company play the perimeter.

#4: More Duncan Robinson.

It feels like we may have come full circle in terms of the discussion surrounding Duncan Robinson. Last season we were clamoring to abandon the dribble hand-off in many ways, ultimately to allow the stars to just attack. Tonight, the stars were attacking, but even with some shot attempts and efficient shooting from Robinson, it felt like we may need more in the offensive flow. The starting group clearly needs more time to gel. The half-court offense wasn’t the greatest when those five shared the floor, but a main takeaway was a jumbled up interior. The counter to that is flying Robinson off back-screens and pin-downs for the intent of letting him fire, instead of as a constant decoy. Once again, this is only preseason, so we will see more of this stuff, but it definitely caught my eye in this one.

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#5: Kyle Lowry’s role is simple.

We all know Kyle Lowry is highly capable of putting the ball in the basket. Whether he needs to a ton is a completely different story. In this case with the Heat, I don’t believe his PPG will be super high. He will have big games when others are struggling on that end, but his goal is to force high attempts for Herro, Adebayo, Butler, etc. And well, he did that tonight. It wasn’t in the assist column, but he just causes controlled chaos on the break and half-court in a good way. As I said before, many have been predicting Lowry’s skill to propel Adebayo’s offensive game, but that is aligning with Herro just as well. That backcourt has looked incredible in their minutes so far, and we will see that combo plenty more. It’s just giving Erik Spoelstra more and more options, handing him the keys to that creative ability that he loves so much.

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