NEW ORLEANS — Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 123-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans:
– No one was expecting their Bayou best.
– Not with this rotation.
– Not with Norman Powell, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Pelle Larsson out.
– And that’s the problem as the Heat head into their All-Star break.
– Who are the Heat?
– Basically, we have yet to see.
– With Herro as much rumor as reality.
– Meaning no insight into the possibilities of Herro-Powell.
– With both eligible for extensions.
– So, yes, a victory over the Pelicans.
– And now time to consider what it all has meant to this point.
– Which isn’t much.
– Because Heat as a whole remain an abstract.
– The day began with Erik Spoelstra stressing the need to get back to consistency.
– But how can that happen without lineup consistency, rotation consistency?
– So maybe, finally, Herro after this impending eight-day break?
– “He will be back. Yes, for sure,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t have a timeline exactly of when that will be. We’ll see. We’ll see how he progresses.”
– As for the consistency element, Spoelstra said there must be strides.
– “We understand what it is. It’s just trying to put together complete basketball games. Our process the other night wasn’t as bad as it felt. In rewatching it, there were a lot of things that we did that typically would lead to a win, including having a five-point lead with three minutes to go,” he said of Monday night’s home loss to the lottery-lusting Jazz.
– For his part, center and team captain Adebayo said it is time to stop allowing a make-or-miss league to impact the Heat’s defense.
– “Like I said, getting stops while we’re not making shots,” Adebayo said of the core of the defensive issues. “That’s been our biggest hurdle. When we’re making shots, we’re going to defend anybody. When we’re missing shots, that’s when we give up back cuts, that’s when we give up easy plays, because we lose focus because we’re thinking about the past play.”
– Point guard Mitchell seconded that notion.
– “I would just say sticking to our rules, keep playing the right way,” he said. “I think that offensively we can get anything we want when we play the right way and share the ball, and then kind of just hang our hat on the defensive side. I think we kind of had a little bit of slippage with that, kind of letting guys shoot threes. I’ve done that a couple times, closing out recklessly and getting guys open threes. So kind of just controlling those things.”
– With Wiggins unavailable along with Powell, Larsson and Herro, the Heat opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Kel’el Ware, Mitchell, Myron Gardner and Simone Fontecchio.
– It was the Heat’s 20th lineup of the season.
– And the eighth consecutive game they opened with a different lineup.
– Jaime Jaquez Jr. was first off the bench.
– Dru Smith and Kasparas Jakucionis then followed together.
– With Nikola Jovic fourth off the Heat bench.
– And that was it, a tight nine.
– There was more praise going in from Spoelstra about Jakucionis, who this time was uneven.
– “He stayed ready,” Spoelstra said. “Working on his game, he’s improved a lot since summer league, not just the 3-point shooting, but his defense, understanding our principles. Offensively, knowing where he can use his creativity and his vision to help us. He’s a competitor, so that always helps.”
– Lane Kiffin was among those in the building.
