MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 136-120 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies:
– The benefit of this soft stretch of the schedule has been the ability to reformulate.
– Which seemingly was what Friday night in Atlanta and this one were about.
– Before the competition stiffens this coming week against the 76ers and then Rockets.
– So Heat coach Erik Spoelstra again went in emphasizing strength in numbers.
– “Look, I have a lot of positive feelings about our team and our depth,” he said. “We’ve used it all season long. You could feel the level of talent that we have on the roster.”
– With greater availability of depth, Spoelstra has had the optionality of subbing in four-man units.
– “It’s not far from what we typically do when we have everybody available,” he said, “but we’re just trying to maximize the talents in each unit, and that hopefully will help the consistency.”
– He said the approach is an attempt to get more evenhanded efforts.
– “We’ve had some great moments, as we’ve talked about,” he said. “We’ve blown the doors off of teams in first halves. We’ve struggled in third quarters. Sometimes I think that’s been some lineup things that we can shore up. Some of it also, we just have to be better.”
– He added, “I also know that there will be times we have to go deeper into the bench, and I feel very comfortable doing that.”
– Among those line shifts has been getting Tyler Herro and Kasparas Jakucionis together on the court.
– “Just without them spending a ton of time together, you can see how there can be a synergy,” Spoelstra said. “Kas is a playmaker. He plays with pace. He wants to get the ball ahead. He wants to get the ball to guys almost to a fault.”
– There wasn’t much Herro-Jakucionis in this one, with Davion Mitchell out.
– With Mitchell (illness) out, the Heat opened with Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson, Norman Powell and Jakucionis, which had Herro again coming off the bench.
– It was Jakucionis’ ninth start.
– The tanking Grizzlies opened with the eclectic first five of Ty Jerome, Taylor Hendricks, Jaylen Wells, Walter Clayton Jr. and Jahmai Mashack.
– Kel’el Ware and Jaime Jaquez Jr. were first together off the Heat bench.
– Herro then followed.
– And then Dru Smith, who was back in the rotation after being held out Friday night in Atlanta.
– With a jolt of Myron Gardner again in the second period.
– So Simone Fontecchio again out of the rotation.
– With Nikola Jovic sidelined by back problems.
– With the Grizzlies clearly in tank mode following the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade, coach Tuomas Iisalo was left to have to answer pregame for his team’s approach.
– “Well, we’re trying to accomplish a lot,” he said. “The expectations have not changed. It doesn’t have anything to do with the roster we play. We still expect everybody to give max effort, max focus, play for the team and learn new things. And whether it’s a practice or a game, those things apply.”
– He added, “Also seeing the young guys in action and knowing what they can do. And they have a great opportunity, obviously, to play, but also for us to evaluate them going forward. And for us, the competitiveness is everything.”
– The game concluded the 14th of the Heat’s NBA-high 17 back-to-back sets this season.
– Herro extended his streak of games with at least 17 points to 23 games, dating to last season.
– The only other players in franchise history with such a streak at least as long were Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.