Miami May Need a KO Punch to Close Out the Series

It has been clear that Kelly Olynyk hasn’t had the greatest series against the Boston Celtics, with a team worst minus-22.

This meant that he didn’t see the court at all in game four and played three minutes in game five. But will that be the right decision to try and close out this series?

The Miami Heat have struggled shooting the ball from beyond the arc over the past few games, which is very unlike them. This was due to the regression of Jae Crowder, and even guys like Goran Dragic weren’t shooting it well. This caused Miami’s offense to grow stagnant. Even though the shots weren’t falling, they continued to shoot them, instead of trying to attack.

But if the offense needed a spark to get the team on track, why not let Kelly Olynyk get some run.

He definitely hasn’t been great on defense this series, but ultimately you have to pick your poison. Do you take a chance on getting dominated by Daniel Theis to get your offense going? Yes. That’s a chance you must take.

Kelly scored 5 points in only three minutes on Friday night, hitting a deep three and throwing down a dunk off of a nice roll to the basket.

This is not to say that KO is going to need to play big minutes and carry them to a win. It just means that he will need to be utilized off the bench on Sunday night for longer stretches if these shooting woes continue. But if they get back to their elite shooting, it may mean that Spo goes with Soloman Hill or Derrick Jones Jr for defensive purposes.

It is now time for Miami to close this out in six. Kelly Olynyk will be given an opportunity to send his old team home. The question is if he will capitalize on the things mentioned, and I think he does exactly that.

KO will need to give the KO punch against Boston to send Miami to the NBA finals.

Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) contributes to the Five on the Floor platforms on Five Reasons Sports.