As the Miami Heat beat the Orlando Magic, 99-96, in the battle to see who the better team in the state of Florida is, it was a slugfest that ended in neither team scoring 100 points. When looking at the game in its entirety, it's a fair assessment to say that star Bam Adebayo was the catalyst as he was active in every facet and made the go-ahead shot to put the Heat up late in the game.
It was especially that way to Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra as when speaking to the media after the game, he almost thought Adebayo had a triple-double as he even had to ask the coaches if he accomplished the feat. The 26-year old big-man scored 21 points, collected 11 rebounds, and recorded seven assists.
“I just felt that he had his fingerprints all over this game. Defensively, he was anchoring everything, sometimes at the five, sometimes on the perimeter, but if he was on the perimeter, he was there to plug everything up. Guide everybody through all the actions and then finish the defense with a rebound,” Spoelstra said. “Offensively, because we had some firepower out of the game, we're running basically every action through him whether it was at the top or the elbows or in the post and we needed him to be a point guard from those positions. I felt like he had a triple double. So that's why I asked the staff right after the game. Because his playmaking was elite and essential. I don't think we would have generated enough points in this game and he didn't really help create some advantages with his vision, his passing and doing it from those different regions.”
Adebayo speaks on the go-ahead shot to put Heat up late
Adebayo played 39 minutes in Friday night's win, but played the full 12 in the fourth quarter where he was the most active offensively. But the jumper he made to give the Heat a one-point lead is a shot he has been trying to master since he stepped foot into the NBA. Speaking to the media after the game, he said that he puts a lot of work behind the scenes to practice that shot.
“I feel better now that we got the win,” Adebayo when talking about playing a large amount of time. “When you go into a game like that and you go into your patented move that coms from the hours and hours work of doing that shot in different ways, no matter how you get to it, it's that shot. And as far from all the work that I've done just for that one shot in that one moment.”
Adebayo talks being the main facilitator in win over Magic
While Adebayo has always been an excellent defender in every facet and has improving on his offense, his most underrated ability is the way he passes the ball. He is no stranger to racking up assists, but it was very necessary in this game as Miami was missing three ball-handlers in Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, and Tyler Herro. He spoke about “getting everybody involved.”
“I feel like it's great getting everybody involved. Everybody feels comfortable, everybody feels like they're dependent on and we need everybody to be aggressive cause we're down guys,” Adebayo said. “But for the most part, it was great to have everybody who played involved and this type of things is building habits, building that connection. Getting used to one another. And obviously in the biggest moments of games down the line. Everybody got to be on the same page.”
The win brings the Heat to a 22-16 record as entering in the game, they were seventh in the Eastern Conference. With the majority of the rest of the month inside the Kaseya Center, this is a prime opportunity to rack up wins and secure a seeding spot almost halfway into the season.
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