The most notable development from the Miami Heat’s 120-119 win over the LA Clippers, which moved the Heat to 4-3 on the season, is that Erik Spoelstra has gone small once again.
After playing around with Nikola Jovic and Kel’el Ware to pair up with Bam Adebayo, Spoelstra went back to his preferred method of three guards on the court with Andrew Wiggins and Adebayo as the two “big” men.
It got the win, but whether or not it’s what’s best for the Heat is up for debate.
Miami used a small starting lineup and beats the Clippers
With the return of Norman Powell to the lineup, the obvious swap would have been for Pelle Larsson. But instead, Spoelstra took out his favorite punching bag, Ware, and went with Powell, Larsson, and Davion Mitchell as his starters.
The move seemed to free up Adebayo, who had nine points and five rebounds in the first seven minutes, but Larsson had just one point and one assist and was -5 in his first 7:31 of action.
It was when Simone Fontecchio subbed in for Larsson, trailing 24-19 with 4:29 left in the 1st, that Miami’s offense got a bit of a jolt and Miami had a 32-30 lead by the end of the 1st quarter.
As the Heat went through their rotations, they wound up with their same starting five to close out the game once Larsson, Powell, and Mitchell subbed back in with 7:24 left in the 4th quarter.
Miami scored just 13 points over those final 7:24, which was just enough to get the win.
It’s clear what is going on
Spoelstra keeps mixing and matching in part because he doesn’t have a clear and obvious starting five he trusts. He relegated Ware to the bench on Tuesday, and Ware responded with 16 points, five rebounds, and two blocks in just 17:47 of game time. But it seems like for Ware to be unlocked, he almost has to play separately from Adebayo.
And knowing that Tyler Herro is slated to return at some point, Spoelstra is looking at what realistically is going to be his lineup once Herro returns. Mitchell had nine assists and three steals, so Miami probably likes the idea of him being the ball handler and then spacing the floor with Powell and Herro.
Which means if Adbeayo is going to play, the only other way to get Ware or Jovic on the floor is to take out Wiggins, which might not actually be the worst idea.
