Miami Heat
The 2021-22 Miami Heat can be defined by being a Jimmy Butler 3 away from clawing their way back to The Finals.
What did we learn?
The Bubble Heat were not a fluke.
And despite the multitude of jokes as always, #HeatCulture is still very real.
Kyle Lowry’s caboose finally made it to South Beach at long last, and Zach Lowe described the trio of Lowry, Butler and Bam on a preseason Lowe Post podcast as the “Bermuda Triangle of Hell.”
The defense here was as ferocious as advertised, swarmy and suffocating. The Heat dealt with a slew of injuries all season long, but that did not stop them from finishing first place in a loaded Eastern Conference.
The Heat won 53 games this season despite Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry combining to miss 70 games.
With Jimmy Butler in the lineup, the Heat were 38-19 this season after going 33-19 with him a year ago.
In Bam’s 56 games, the Heat went 36-20.
In Lowry’s 63 games, the Heat went 41-22.
The Heat’s depth here wasn’t the issue that many thought it would be. It was more of a strength if anything.
Gabe Vincent and Max Strus became rotation regulars. Lowry missed a bunch of games for personal reasons and Vincent filled in as the lead point guard seamlessly, starting 27 games and having 22 games with three or more 3s. Strus went from hitting game-winners in Summer League to starting every game for the Heat in the playoffs, including the Eastern Conference Finals, like THAT. Strus hit 41 percent from 3 on 6.5 attempts per game.
Shoutout to Omer Yurtseven and Dewayne Dedmon who started 27 games between them when the Heat lost their anchor on defense as Bam missed all of December and half of January after undergoing surgery on his right thumb.
Duncan Robinson’s $90 million contract (oof) got demoted at the end of the season and playoffs to the point that he couldn’t even get on the court. Robinson struggled mightily this season, but he did play in a team-high 79 games during the regular season. However, his 2021-22 will be remembered more for having seven games where he did not score a single point. But including the playoffs, in the 50 games this season that Duncan Robinson had a positive plus-minus, the Heat had a record of 44-6.
It was Tyler Herro who was Miami’s most reliable player, becoming a truly elite scorer off the bench and putting a subpar sophomore season behind him. Herro reclaimed all of his bubble magic, averaging 20.7 points per game en route to winning the Sixth Man of the Year award.
Despite coming off the bench, Herro actually led the Heat in usage rate. And more often than not, Herro’s offense was immensely vital to the Heat’s performance. Lowry had seven more games with 10+ assists (19) than he did 20-point games (12) this season. And Butler shot 23 percent from 3.
We knew coming into the season that P.J. Tucker was another player acquired that already had Heat Culture coursing through his veins. The fit with Tucker could not have been more perfect. Especially on defense — but Tucker also shot a career high 41.5 percent from 3, albeit on low volume of 2.7 attempts per game.
There was the infamous end of the season Jimmy Butler vs. Spoelstra “You think I’m gonna fucking fight you?!” and Haslem “I’ll beat your ass!” kerfuffle. The Heat got their shit back together after that that dark 4-game losing streak, turning it into a 5-game winning streak real quick, and all felt right within #HeatCulture once again.
We knew that the Heat just needed to get Jimmy Butler to the playoffs and keep the Big Face Coffee flowing, and this would not be a team that anybody would be excited to play.
The Heat smoked the Hawks in five games and handled the Sixers with relative ease.
Herro was the reliable one as aforementioned, that is until the Eastern Conference Finals where he missed four games due to a groin injury. If ever there was a team that the Heat could have used his offense against, it was the Celtics.
But even so, Jimmy fucking Butler balled out like he never left the bubble, transforming into Jimmy Buckets once again and putting the Heat on his back. He stormed into TD Garden in Game 6 with a heroic 47-point performance to keep the Heat alive to die another day.
Bam unfortunately no-showed in too many playoff games. There were six games where he didn’t crack double-digit points. Heat fans started calling in Bam Adebay-no-O. But Bam Bam was about it in Game 7, going down swinging.
The Heat were down big early, but they never gave up and fought all the way back in it to make it close in the end.
The shot that Jimmy Butler took with 17 seconds left will be debated for many moons to come. It really wasn’t a bad shot. He could have gotten a better one, yes, but there is absolutely no doubt that he earned the right to take that pull-up 3.
That Butler 3 felt like it was going in.
It really is a make or miss league.
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Additional Notes
Oladipo proved he still has something in the tank after all of his significant injuries. His defense and four steals in Game 3 against the C’s (mostly Jaylen Brown) were stellar. And his 23 points in Game 4 led the Heat in scoring that game.
Caleb Martin had a quietly fantastic season for a bench player, shooting 41 percent from 3 and 56 percent on 2s.
A crazy four-player lineup stat: The quartet of Lowry-Herro-Strus-Bam played 150 minutes together this season and was +33.9 per 100.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
Kyle Lowry’s caboose strutting around South Beach = Over 48.5 wins.
Heat 2021-22 record: (53-29)
Yes!
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What’s Next?
With the #27 pick in the draft, the Heat selected Nikola Jovik from Serbia. Would have given anything to see the reaction of Markeiff Morris when he heard the news.
Tyler Herro is rookie extension eligible, but many believe that Pat Riley’s press conference where he called out needing two-way players was directed specifically at Herro.
P.J. Tucker is going to be a free agent after declining his player option for next season. Word on the street? Philly.
You can never count out Pat Riley from star chasing.
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Favorite Heat Highlight of the 2021-22 Season:
The return of Jimmy BEANS, Big Face Coffee extraordinaire and Bubble Finals legend.
