The vaunted Miami Heat culture has developed an almost mythic air over the years, and why not? The team’s penchant for playing a hard-nosed brand of hoops, its all-hands approach to winning games and the ultimate next-man-up mentality have coalesced to make it a perpetual overachiever.
However, the way that Erik Spoelstra’s squad closed out 2021 ranks among the Heat’s most surprising stretches to date.
For most of the month, the Heat were as shorthanded as any team in the NBA. Injuries to key players and a team-wide outbreak of COVID-19 made it difficult for fans to track who would be playing from one game to the next.
For his part, former All-Star Bam Adebayo didn’t play a single minute; the same can be said for Markieff Morris. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler was limited to just four games and PJ Tucker, Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin and Dewayne Dedmon all missed multiple contests as well. Things got so bad that the team was forced to dust off Mario Chalmers to fill a spot.
Despite that, though, Miami managed to post the fourth highest win total in the Association during the month with 10 in the W column.
Unlikely Heroes
Without question, one of the more important developments for the Heat in December was the improved play of sharpshooter Duncan Robinson. After making just 36% of his shot attempts — and 32.8% of his triples — over the first two months of the season, he upped the efficacy to 41% and 37.6%, respectively, for December.
However, the Heat got the biggest boost from some seemingly unlikely players.
For his part, Max Strus ended the month on a total tear. Over his last five games, the third-year wing put up a team-best 22.6 points, while adding 5.2 rebounds per contest. He also knocked down 52% of his field-goal attempts and 44.4% of his 10.8 three-point attempts per game.
Meanwhile, Gabe Vincent may have answered some questions about Miami’s perceived lack of point guard depth. He logged a 12-4-3 line in 30 minutes per night for the month and made 37.6% of his threes.
A common thread here is long-range shooting, which was an important weapon for the Heat throughout the month. In November, Miami logged 12.1 triples per game; last month, that number was up to 15.3, which tied the Utah Jazz for the best mark in the Association.
The team also fielded the league’s eighth-best defense (with a D-rating of 109.0) in spite of Adebayo’s absence.
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Heat’s Lowry Reacts to Former Teammate’s Late-Game Heroics
Kyle Lowry deserves a lot of credit for helping to keep the Heat afloat as well. However, he probably takes second billing to former teammate DeMar DeRozan where Toronto Raptors alums currently showing out are concerned.
In his last two games, DeRozan has notched two incredible game-winning shots for the Chicago Bulls. And after his latest dagger, Lowry was prompted to give him a shout out on his Instagram story.
“DeMar Darnell DeRozon [sic],” wrote Lowry, as relayed by Heat Nation. “Full name worth. Back to back game winners! Wow!!”
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