With All-Star center Bam Adebayo out because of a shoulder injury for the Miami Heat in their Game 2 matchup against the Lakers in the NBA Finals, there’s little question that the underdogs are in a desperate situation. It remains unclear whether guard Goran Dragic, who is listed as doubtful with a plantar tear in his left foot, will play.
Losing Adebayo is a major blow because he has been stellar in this postseason. In 15 games before the Finals, he was averaging 18.5 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists, shooting an impressive 57.1% from the field. In Game 1, he struggled even before he got hurt, going 2-for-8 shooting and scoring just eight points.
Miami Heat All-Star Bam Adebayo (shoulder) will miss Game 2 of the NBA Finals vs. Lakers tonight, but there remains hope that he could return for Game 3 on Sunday, sources tell ESPN. The Heat have listed him as doubtful for tonight.
“We’ll just have to see who’s available and make the adjustments accordingly,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said on Thursday in his Finals media session.
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Bill Simmons, a prominent NBA commentator and founder of The Ringer, touched on the subject in his podcast on Friday, in which he and his guest, Jon “Stugotz” Weiner of ESPN, speculated on what the Heat should do without Adebayo.
Stugotz suggested Miami coach Erik Spoelstra should insert little-used veteran forward Udonis Haslem into the starting five, using him to target Lakers star Anthony Davis or LeBron James. Haslem, as Stugotz saw it, could be used because he is allowed to commit six personal fouls.
“You have to start Udonis Haslem,” he said. He’s got six fouls. He does not give a s*** about LeBron James. Let him do his best to deliver those six fouls and somehow take out Anthony Davis or LeBron.”
Simmons responded: “That’s a brilliant idea. Why wouldn’t they do that?”
The podcast can be heard here, and the part in question occurs just after the 1:40 mark:
‘Six Hard F****** Fouls on LeBron James’
Of course, there are plenty of reasons why they wouldn’t do that, mostly because the NBA generally frowns upon the use of foul-happy goons at any point in the playoffs—or in the regular season for that matter. Stugotz suggested that the Heat use Haslem as a starter for one game to, “muck it up,” and deliver, “six hard f****** fouls on LeBron James.”
Simmons laughed throughout and while Stugotz was being tongue-in-cheek about some of his suggestions (that Haslem, “just punches (Davis) right in the stomach,” during the jump ball, for example) but the notion that Haslem could be used as a sort of hatchet man to keep the Heat afloat was not a joke.
At age 40, Haslem was the oldest player in the league until Jamal Crawford signed an NBA restart deal with the Nets. He has been in the league for 17 seasons, all spent with the Heat, and though he is a player still, he is one of coach Erik Spoelstra’s most trusted advisors. He played four games this year and has made just 44 appearances in the past four seasons, mostly serving as a hybrid player/coach.
Erik Spoelstra Mum on Miami Heat Starting Lineup Changes
While Spoelstra was coy ahead of Game 2 in revealing what his plans might be for replacing Adebayo, starting Haslem is a stretch.
The Heat had started Meyers Leonard at center for much of the year, moving him to the bench after the acquisition of forward Jae Crowder. That allowed the Heat to go with a smaller lineup more often, playing Adebayo at the power forward spot.
With the way Davis abused the Heat defense in Game 1 (34 points on 11-for-21 shooting), there was already a chance that Spoelstra would move Leonard into the lineup to give the Heat more size. He also has reserve big man Kelly Olynyk—a much better shooter than Leonard—on hand, or could pull a surprise and go even smaller, tapping forward Solomon Hill for more minutes.
None of those players are close to Adebayo’s level, however. And none of those players will be on the floor flinging elbows at Davis.
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Analyst Suggests Heat Use Hard Fouls ‘Take Out’ LeBron James, Davis