After a heartbreaking double overtime loss against the Sacramento Kings Monday night, the Miami Heat had no time to sit and reflect on the loss as they were scheduled for back-to-back against the Golden State Warriors.
Miami seemed to be on the verge of losing another double-digit lead, but big bench contributions from Nikola Jovic and Duncan Robinson helped keep the lead for the Heat who ended up cruising by the Warriors 114-98 Tuesday night at Chase Center.
Duncan Robinson and Nikola Jovic need to be inserted into the starting lineup.
In Monday night’s loss to Sacramento, Erik Spoelstra decided to close with the starting lineup and not make a single substitution. But in this instance, Spoelstra did a complete reversal and left players such as Nikola Jovic and Duncan Robinson on the floor instead of bringing back Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. who had another great game.
The decision by Spoelstra ended up paying off as Jovic and Robinson kept the offense rolling instead of going completely dry as seen multiple times this season. A moment that highlights this point is Jovic hitting back-to back 3-pointers with one of them resulting in an and-one opportunity after the Warriors cut the lead to one.
Niko really hit the repeat button 🔁
Back-to-back triples for Jović + the foul pic.twitter.com/5ZmEagRcOg
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 8, 2025
Jovic continued his strong fourth quarter by following up a miss by Duncan Robinson with an offensive rebound and a layup resulting in a foul and the basket which resulted in a 3-point play. Jovic wounded up leading the Heat in scoring with 20 points and also played a team high 34 minutes.
This needs to be the norm for Jovic, where if he is playing well in the fourth quarter, Spoesltra should trust Jovic to close games. Not only that, I believe Jovic should be inserted into the starting lineup, where his shooting, playmaking and willingness to attack the paint can help the Heat’s offense out tremendously.
As for Duncan Robinson, we already know what he brings to the table with his shooting ability, this is more about the chemistry Robinson has with Bam Adebayo. Part of the reason as to why Adebayo is struggling to hit shots this season is due to most of his looks being contested.
With Robinson on the court, Adebayo always seems to get the easiest looks on offense with clear lanes to the basket for either a lob or a dunk.
BAM COMING THROUGH 💥
We lead 108-94 with 3:46 left. Catch the rest on FanDuel Sports Network 📺 pic.twitter.com/oevTdAu1JY
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 8, 2025
In 2019-2020 when both players ascended, Adebayo and Robinson built together great chemistry and have been a big reason as to why the Heat have been successful over the last few years.
Robinson has been a starter this season, and it’s time to place him back into that spot and leave him there for good. Not only can Robinson contribute to the Heat starting fast with his sharpshooting, Robinson can also be a key factor in the Heat’s offense not reaching a stalemate late in games as he opens up space for teammates to operate and can find teammates if two come at him off a screen.
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