Typical duos in the NBA usually consist of guards and big men. A lot of the time, their synergy is what dictates whether or not a squad stays afloat during a game. However, the Miami Heat‘s dominant duo did not follow this composition. Coach Erik Spoelstra may have just found a different formula for ravaging the league through Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware.
Whenever the Erik Spoelstra-led Heat fielded Kel’el Ware and Bam Adebayo, they have been unstoppable. They outscored every opponent by 44 points and even did it in a very efficient manner, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
Any lineup that included Ware and Adebayo ranked fourth-best in field goal shooting percentage. They knocked down an astounding 49.1% of their shots from all levels of scoring. This was a big improvement from the Heat’s usual 46.5% field goal percentage.
More than that, and unexpectedly, they also had the best three-point shooting efficiency among any two-man combination in the Heat roster that played 40 games. The Heat sank 40.9% of their shots from downtown, which was also a big uptick from their average of 37.3% from three.
One would think that two rim-running big men with athleticism would hamper the Heat’s ability to stretch the floor. However, Coach Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley managed to make it work.
Hopefully, the two are able to play off with one another more, such that they could lead South Beach back to postseason contention along with the rise of Tyler Herro.