After the Miami Heat beat the Charlotte Hornets Wednesday night, they had no time to rest as they face the Chicago Bulls on the tail-end of the back-to-back Thursday. Funny enough, they also face the Bulls Saturday as well as that contest will make it the fourth time the two teams have met this season.
Before the game, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke to the media to talk about the upcoming matchup against the Bulls and the strengths of the team including the two-man play of rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. and star Jimmy Butler.
A revelation for the Heat has been the rookie in Jaquez who continues to impress with whatever opportunity is given to him. It's not a secret anymore that the 22-year old models a lot of his game out of his teammate in Butler. It's resulted in the two trading each other the ball as their chemistry builds.
Spoelstra said to the media Thursday before the game that it's a relationship on the court that can't be explained. However, both of their play-styles complements one another because they play similar, but still have different assets to give.
“You can't really quantify it or explain it. Sometimes there's synergy and connectivity. That happens. And we noticed that early on. They're both similar, but they are different,” Spoelstra said. “I think that's key, that they complement each other and they view the game. Similarly, that always helps if you have high IQ players and understand spacing, understand coverages, understand how to attack, how to get out of the way, how to complement the other guy. You know, that synergy has been very important to our team.”
Spoelstra talks about facing a different Bulls team
Back when Miami played Chicago two games in a row on Nov. 18 and 20, players such as Bam Adebayo and Zach LaVine were playing.
This time around, they are both absent as well as the Heat's Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, and Josh Richardson once again as each have missed a handful of games this season. Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints that this Bulls team is “different” than when these two squad matched up earlier.
“They're different than when we last played them. Obviously, with LaVine out,” Spoelstra said. “You know, you always have to deal with the [DeMar] DeRozan and all the different dynamics that he presents your defense and [Nikola] Vucevic, you have to deal with him as well, but I think Coby White has been a massive X Factor for them since LaVine has been out and his scoring has gone way up. He's the number one three point shooter in the league right now. Definitely have to account for him.”
Spoelstra on who to play in the front-court towards the end
Part of the game-planning in the Heat's current stage is monitoring the situation in terms of the team's front-court depth. With Adebayo having been out due to a hip injury, the team has been utilizing the likes of Kevin Love, Orlando Robinson, and Thomas Bryant. Spoelstra was asked how he chooses who goes in when it's the end of the game.
“Depends on the game right? Last night, Thomas [Bryant] was giving us really good minutes and he earned those opportunities. And that's not an indictment on Orlando [Robinson], he's been playing very good basketball, he continues to get better,” Spoelstra said.” And in that particular game, it just felt like that group gave us the best chance and it always looks better if you win. If you don't, then you deal with all the other stuff.”
The Heat will look to build off their complete performance against the Hornets as they face the Bulls Thursday night. Miami is currently 14-10 which puts them at sixth in the Eastern Conference.
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