Kyle Lowry

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Couper Moorhead

1. Miami hasn’t seen the full-strength Philadelphia 76ers during the regular season with Joel Embiid having missed all three matchups, and the same goes in the other direction with Jimmy Butler missing each game as well. Those absences may have taken some juice out of the storylines, but these teams came into the night tied in the standings at 37-30 and each contest has been highly competitive.

Tonight was no different, with Tyrese Maxey coming out of the gates firing on his way to 17 first quarter points while Bam Adebayo did his best to match him. Maxey’s run was enough to get his team out to a 31-21 advantage, but the HEAT ran off a 10-0 run of their own stretching into the second quarter using their press-zone to stymie a Sixers bench group that started small and eventually went even smaller with KJ Martin at center. It wasn’t pretty, both sides hovering around an Offensive Rating of 100, and it certainly didn’t feel like a postseason preview, but bodies were flying around with players on both sides making second and third effort plays. Philadelphia, with Kyle Lowry now in uniform, eventually found the creases in the zone and thus their own footing to take back the lead, 51-49, going into the break, but the HEAT, with Adebayo putting up a two-quarter line of 19-9-5, were a couple of bad turnovers and missed shots at the rim away from a decent lead of their own.

The upper hand went to the Sixers early in the third, back-to-back threes from Lowry and Mo Bamba putting them up 63-51 with a 12-2 run as Miami struggled to find good looks on their own end. Another Miami timeout followed just a couple minutes later as the Sixers scored a pair of buckets in scramble situations, the lead up to 17 at that point. Miami, on a back-to-back, stuck with it, a few scores allowing them to set back up in the press-zone again, but Maxey held out the stiff arm to keep Miami at bay even with Adebayo hitting his fifth consecutive three. Still just an 11-point game after a Highsmith three in the corner, but that was short lived, Sixers up 14 going into the fourth with Duncan Robinson out for the game with back discomfort.

A Thomas Bryant three bounced sky high and in to open the fourth to give Miami a little traction, the lead soon after down to seven with the zone again bothering Philadelphia’s bench unit. Back-to-back pullup threes from Terry Rozier followed, Miami hitting jumpers and forcing turnovers, and so it was tied. Clutch minutes followed, Philadelphia jumping up six as the HEAT sent double teams at Maxey, Lowry (16 points on 11 shots) making plays on both sides of the ball as he and Maxey handled the zone with more poise than the backups. Caleb Martin stole the inbounds with the shot clock about to turn off and Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a corner look with Miami down four, but it bounced off and the Sixers closed this one out, 98-81, as Philadelphia moves up to No. 6 in the Eastern Conference.

2. As the Sixers won this one with an Offensive Rating of 102.1, we can clearly designate this one as a defense-forward game. By that token, it featured an interesting feedback loop where Philadelphia consistently scored against Miami’s man-to-man, Maxey (30 points on 24 shots) proving himself a terror to the point that the HEAT had to send double teams his way down the stretch just to get the ball out of his hands. Both of Philadelphia’s major runs came against man coverage, those scores slowing the game down for Miami and forcing them into the halfcourt where they faced a much more physical defense than they saw the previous two games in Detroit. Lowry proved himself a significant addition in that area, swiping down at every ball within range while Batum – a larger defender than Robinson typically sees – aptly switched off his man to sink into the paint on drives, the Sixers’ big men otherwise zoning up behind most isolations and post-ups.

The loop reversed itself whenever Miami put a couple scores together. Those scores allowed them to setup their press-zone, shrinking Philadelphia’s shot clock or otherwise creating turnovers – at least three of them in the backcourt – as the Sixers bench units, and their lack of ballhandling, struggled against the pressure. Those turnovers pushed Miami out into the open floor and in turn created their own best runs of the game, early in the second and fourth quarters.

With both Butler and Embiid out it’s impossible to glean much of anything as far as what a postseason game would look like between these teams, but Philadelphia’s physicality and the way they were able to communicate switches off and on ball to clog the lane are both worth keeping in mind, as are the Sixers issues against zone – which Lowry did help assuage.

3. Adebayo (20 points on 10 shots, 13 rebounds, six assists) was again holding Miami together on both ends for most of this one, protecting the rim with vigor while also closing out on shooters as Maxey and Lowry collapsed the defense, but he also didn’t take a single shot in the fourth quarter. That’s rarely the fault of a center, especially when Adebayo had been so aggressive – again, hitting two more threes – earlier on, and the important context is that Miami was making a comeback bid and so they were hunting threes and playing in transition as their press forced turnovers and the zone forced misses. No grand conclusions on this one as some film review is necessary to see exactly what the Sixers were doing to keep the ball out of his hands – he was plenty involved as a screen setter – but we can safely say that all the bodies and arms and legs in the paint played their part in limiting Adebayo’s touches, especially once the Sixers established that they would send double teams at him in the post almost regardless of matchup.

coups-takeaways-heat-storm-back-with-full-court-pressure-but-sixers-guards-find-another-burst-in-clutch

Coup's Takeaways: HEAT Storm Back With Full-Court Pressure But Sixers Guards Find Another Burst In Clutch

As pen was put to paper and official announcements trickled in over the course of a relaxed Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, new and returning Miami HEAT players spoke to the media to discuss their free-agent decisions. The common thread across the board? It was just the right fit.

We’ll have plenty of time to dive into the how and why of this remade team’s prospects and projections. For now, here are the highlights from the two-day whirlwind of introductions and congratulations.

It won’t take long for Lowry, who took out a full-page ad in the Toronto Sun Friday thanking the city and its fans, to endear himself to a new fanbase with his prove-it sensibility.

“On paper it looks great,” Lowry said about his new team, “But you have to put the work in on the floor. I don’t ever try to say we can do this, we can do that. At the end of the day you have to go out there, lace ‘em up and do your job. Play defense, put the ball in the hole. It looks good, but you have to find a way to put it together. If you don’t find a way to put it together, it don’t mean jack.

It can look good. It can sound good. It can feel good. But you got to do it.”

Later, along those same lines, he commented about what the team’s identity – this is a roster full of defensive-minded veterans, with the shot creation and switchability that plays in the modern postseason – could be and should be.

“I know who we want to be. We got to do it. I could say it to you, but it don’t matter. We got to do it. I think people know who we’re going to be.”

It’s been well publicized how close the six-time All-Star is with Jimmy Butler – Lowry is the godfather to Butler’s daughter – and he took the time to explain exactly how their bond was formed.

“Just having that common interest and love of the game and how hard we work and how much we want to win, that was kind of the first thing for us being on the same page, ‘Like, Yo, this guy really wants to play hard.’ The competitive nature of trying to not let each other score, help our teams win, do whatever it takes to win. That is where our relationship started because there is a common interest in winning. That’s all we’re both about is winning.”

We’ll have more time and space to get into the basketball machinery another day, so consider this food for thought, but one low-hanging-fruit where Lowry could immediately help the HEAT find significant gains is in the clutch. Despite a spike into otherworldly efficiency during the Orlando Bubble, Miami has been in the Bottom 10 in clutch offense, including Rank 30 last year, over the past two regular seasons. Though he doesn’t have a ton of game-winners on his resumé, Lowry is in a group with Steph Curry, Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving for scoring efficiency in the last five minutes of close games. Considering how dependent the HEAT have been on earning free-throws and creating open threes when defenses tighten up and the game grinds down in the half-court, Lowry’s ability to create for himself and others in the intermediate spaces on the floor could do quite a bit for boosting late-game fortunes.

Lowry’s impact in Miami isn’t going to be felt just on the court.

“For me it’s about going back to the neighborhoods and seeing the kids growing up like I grew up,” Lowry, who heads the Lowry Love Foundation with his wife, Ayahna, said. “[Kids] that might not have everything given to them on a silver spoon. I want to go in the community and neighborhoods of toughness and grittiness and see the kids of my skin color and help them. Because they have to work a little bit harder. I look forward to being able to give back and to help and to have a face like theirs in the community.”

What Pat Riley Said:
“Kyle Lowry is a great leader and an exceptional defender. As a point guard, he will bring important skills to run the offense, score the ball and defend with the very best.”

Butler, who just signed a long-term extension with the team, had been wanting to play with his friend for a long while. Now he finally gets to do so.

“Obviously excited and happy about it,” Butler said. “I’m talking to him about our friendship, our kids and all of that first, and then basketball always seems to find its way in there. Glad I got my guy here with me.

“It’s great to have a genuine friend that you can have the tough conversations with. I’m going to tell him the truth, he’s going to tell me the truth. And more than anything, he’s a Miami HEAT guy too.”

In acquiring Lowry, the HEAT had to give up talent of their own in Precious Achiuwa and another of Butler’s close friends, Goran Dragic. It “was one of the hardest Facetimes I had to do in a long time,” Butler said, adding this his friendship with Dragic will continue on beyond basketball. He even said, half-jokingly, that when they play each other he’s going to seek out Dragic on a switch.

Staying on that subject, the HEAT switched pick-and-rolls at the third-highest rate last season and have essentially been a switch-first defense ever since moving Jae Crowder into the starting lineup a little over a year ago. The team’s defense was quite good, even, ranking No. 10 on that side of the ball. Yet there were often lineups where in order to have enough offensive juice on the court the team couldn’t comfortably switch every position. In adding Lowry, P.J. Tucker and Markieff Morris to the group this should continue to be an extremely switch-heavy team, just one that could get into the Top 5 or even 3 in the league rankings.

“Elite, hopefully,” Butler said of the group’s potential on defense. “I think a lot of guys are really locked in on that side of the ball now. We better be able to really stop some guys and some teams from scoring. I look forward to that. Obviously we got some guys who can put the ball in the basket, we have never lacked on that. But now we have some guys that can stop the other team from putting the ball in the basket.”

What Pat Riley Said:
“Jimmy is the anchor and face of our franchise along with Bam and Kyle. With Jimmy, we get an All-NBA player, an All-NBA Defensive player, tough as nails and a complete player across the board. He’s very deserving of this contract as he continually puts himself at the top of the league at his position. Having him in the HEAT organization has been a great, great coup for us.”

Robinson was about to sign a life-changing contract. That much he knew. But when he entered one of the HEAT’s conference rooms Friday afternoon there was still one surprise left. In a move coordinated by his agent Jason Glushon, members of Robinson’s family were flown in to Miami and were waiting to celebrate with him as he signed his contract.

“I was pretty much speechless,” Robinson said. “There was a lot of smiles and a lot of hugs. Optically, for the masses this is a huge moment and it’s a culmination of a lot of work, but they’re a part of the small part of the population that has seen all of the journey and known me since I first fell in love with basketball and dedicated myself for this sport. To have them there for that moment was so special.”

In just three seasons, only two of them full runs, Robinson quickly established himself as one of the most prolific shooters in league history. Only Robinson, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have multiple seasons of 40 percent shooting on at least eight three-point attempts per game. There is nobody else.

Robinson acknowledged that while he has earned his way along an unusual path – Division III to Michigan, then undrafted to the G-League until finally joining the HEAT – he owes some of his success to his fit with the players around him. Only Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic have run more handoffs together than Robinson and Miami’s star big man, a combination that has produced 1.19 points per possession in nearly 600 handoffs.

“The fit in general was huge,” Robinson said. “[He] is obviously a huge part of that. Playing with a big that is as versatile as him. Also just unselfish. The fact that you have a 23-year old budding superstar in a postgame presser talking about how he needs to get the undrafted guy more looks, that’s just super uncommon. He facetimed me right when it kind of became official and congratulated me for sticking around and then also cracked a joke about how I owe him dinner and a few other things as well. We joke about that stuff but it’s true. It’s definitely not lost on me that the attention that he draws and the unselfishness that he plays with . . . I’m a beneficiary of that.”

As deadly as the handoffs have been, teams began to adjust in Robinson’s second full season, top-locking him with quicker and longer defenders so he couldn’t easily navigate on the perimeter, forcing him to pick the occasional spot to cut to the rim or create a shot off the dribble. While he acknowledged the need to expand his game during the season, Robinson’s immediate goals remain the same.

“Being a little more versatile and harder to guard. Being able to have a two-point shot that I feel comfortable getting to, the plan is that will come in a variety of forms – mid-range, floaters and at the rim. I’ve kind of always been able to finish high efficiency around the rim, but that’s been lower volume. The plan is to expand and be a little more aggressive.”

With the HEAT looking, on paper, like an elite defensive group replete with plenty of playmaking, Robinson’s presence on the court, both for his efficient shooting and the spacing he provides with the threat of that shooting, will be as important as ever.

What Pat Riley Said:
“Duncan is the epitome of everybody who’s ever had a dream about being a great NBA player. I have never been around a player who worked as hard, fastidiously working on what he needed to do in order to improve his game. Not just his shooting, but his overall game. Having Duncan back was very critical for us.”

No player has taken more corner threes over the past five seasons than Tucker – his 1,232 attempts are nearly 300 more than second-place – and only three teams have created more corner three opportunities per 100 possessions (Miami has generally played slower than average, so we’re pace adjusting) than the HEAT. As noted above, the HEAT switch a ton, and as noted below, they like a floor-spacer in that second frontcourt slot. And they tend to be very welcoming to veterans with championship experience.

Put it all together, and you’ve got yourself P.J. Tucker.

“Pretty much all of it,” Tucker said when asked how much of his decision to join the HEAT had to do with fit. “It just makes sense. When you’re a free agent and you’re looking for places to go, you look for fit, obviously coaching styles, team styles and what they do. This is tailor made for exactly what I do.

What Pat Riley Said:
“P.J. Tucker is the perfect addition to this team. He brings both shooting and most importantly, the ability to defend a lot of perimeter players. We love his versatility in order to put a defensive team on the court, where all five guys can defend, while also having enough shooting and scoring to win games.”

The HEAT very clearly have a type of player they like to put next to their star big man. From Jae Crowder to Trevor Ariza and now Tucker and Morris, they want long, switchable defenders who can space the floor and keep the middle open for the teams playmakers to do their thing. It’s not hard to see where Morris, who can do all those things and create a little offense himself in a pinch, can slide right into just about any lineup composition Erik Spoelstra chooses to use.

“These guys play the game the right way,” Morris said of the team’s playmakers. “This is like a Dream Team of playing with stars that play the right way all the time. We fit. I’ve known Kyle almost my whole life, I’ve tried to team up with him a couple times. Me and Tuck played a couple years in Phoenix, he’s one of my great friends. I’ve known Jimmy a long time.”

Skillset is one thing, attitude is another. You can be the longest, most agile defender in the world and it won’t translate to the court the same way if you don’t also carry a tough, gritty mindset with you. Those are the defensive players that last, and the ones that win. Miami has gone all in on that type of player, in a sense, and you can never have too many of them.

“That’s the approach, that’s what Miami brings anyway,” Morris said. “You can never have too many bulldogs, it just has to be controlled in the right manner. We don’t have bulldogs that’s barking a lot, we got bulldogs that’s biting.

“We’re going to be defensive-minded first. That’ll be our DNA.”

Morris, like Tucker, is also a recent champion, having won his first title with the Los Angeles Lakers when they beat the HEAT in the Orlando Bubble.

“They wouldn’t give up man,” Morris said of the HEAT. “We were very locked in and focused on winning a championship, but you could see the same thing in Miami. Their will to not give up is a thing that we all got in common."

What Pat Riley Said:
“Markieff Morris has been a player that we’ve followed closely for a number of years. He can play multiple positions, shoot the three, defend and post-up. To be able to add him to our nucleus was a big move. I want to thank Markieff for coming to Miami.”

There were 393 days separating Dedmon’s last game when the season was suspended in March of 2020 and his first game after signing with the HEAT last April, and he hit the ground running as fast as could possibly be expected – including a 15-minute double-double in his second appearance. Roughly seven points and five rebounds a night might not jump off the page to you, but over 13 minutes that’s pretty absurd production. Per 100 possessions, Dedmon posted 26.7 points and 20 rebounds on 70.8 percent shooting as he worked an efficient pick-and-roll game with Jimmy Butler. When those two were on the court together, in a mere 194 possessions, the HEAT outscored their opponents by 29.9 points per 100 possessions. That is . . . not bad.

“I definitely felt like the fit was good in the 16 games I was here. I felt like I had a lot more to show,” Dedmon said.

With the team’s starting lineup boosted by another playmaker in Lowry – “I like his game,” says Dedmon – and spread-four options in Tucker and Morris, the context around Dedmon has only improved. Even if he isn’t quite as break-history efficient as he was in his first stint, there’s no reason to project Dedmon as anything less than a rock-solid backup whenever Miami’s star big needs a rest.

“Every time he comes into the game, I tell him ‘Catch a breath, young fella.’”

What Pat Riley Said:
“We love Dewayne and his aggressive attitude at the center position. He’s a great screener, rebounder and can stretch the floor. He came in after missing most of the season and had a tremendous impact for us. His veteran presence and physicality are going to help anchor our defense and with a whole year under his belt, he will be even better.”

Kyle Lowry

Coup's Takeaways: HEAT Storm Back With Full-Court Pressure But Sixers Guards Find Another Burst In Clutch

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