Why Bam Adebayo will be extra dangerous for Heat come playoff time

He would finish the game leading Miami with 24 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, albeit in a loss inside the Kaseya Center last Tuesday. However, Spoelstra says that they ran the offense through Adebayo and when they were sending double teams, they found ways to get him free for easy shots, though he was impressed with the tough makes.

“It depends,” Spoelstra responded when if the goal is to get Adebayo easier looks at the rim. “There’s context to that. So the other night, we had to run a lot of offense through him in the post and they weren’t sending double teams and those were the plays to be made.”

“He also has on his plate to facilitate and help other guys shots,” Spoelstra continued. “Since we were down pick and roll guys, ball handlers, are only pick and roll trigger was Terry and when he was out that’s when we just went fully into the post and make plays out there that just shows his growth. He’s really developed so much in so many areas of his game that that was the best thing for us. He was good. Was putting a lot of pressure with the shot-making but also pressure for them not to foul or they did, either way it’s a good thing for us.”

Adebayo talks double teams and crucial Heat players that help him

This season has seen Adebayo tackle a ton of double teams this season, which for the 26-year old is a sign of respect from other teams, but also a hurdle he has to overcome. However, there’s an understanding of what he and the rest of the team needs to do as they’ve had “a thousand reps in practice” focusing on that.

“We go over this a thousand reps in practice,” Adebayo said. “Switching and who’s going to double, it just depends. We go through this a lot because me and Jimmy see doubles a lot. We understand what we have to do, we understand when guys double, someone has to double just to draw another defender in so somebody can get an open shot.”

What makes Adebayo’s game work so well though is a guard to run the pick-and-roll offense together, but with Herro and Robinson out as said before, the job has been given to Terry Rozier. They’ve meshed quickly as the two already have rapport as Adebayo talks about the traits he has that Miami will need in the playoffs.

“He can make something out of nothing,” Adebayo said. “Clock winding down, getting doubled, whatever the case may be, he can make something out of nothing. For us, we need guys like that down the stretch where we need a bucket. He can do the tangibles, catch and shoot, get us into offense, run point, for us he does so many things well.”

The Heat are 39-33 on the season which puts them seventh in the tightly packed Eastern Conference. With 10 games left, there are no excuses for Adebayo and Miami as their next two games are against middling teams in the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday and the Washington Wizards this Sunday.