MIAMI – Miami Heat center Kel'el Ware made a promise to Udonis Haslem after the disappointing outing against the New York Knicks last Friday, saying he will be better in the rematch in a few days. As Ware's relationship with the Heat legend Haslem is a sight to behold for fans, he lived up to his promise, leading the team to a 115-113 win over the Knicks on Monday night.

Ware would score 16 points (seven of nine shooting from the field) to go along with 14 rebounds, six on the offensive glass, and two blocks. His defensive presence was especially crucial in the final possession, as New York had three chances to tie the game, but Ware was there on each to alter them.

Norman Powell would say that Ware has been “great,” and one of the metaphors he uses is from old NBA 2K video games and the takeover meter, where he could reach a “generational” level, saying he has the talent.

“I’ve been on him, coach has been on him,” Powell said. “But I always tell him, there's a meter, think of it as like 2k back in the day, takeover meter in the game. And I told him the bottom is G-League, and top is generational, and I want him to be in that generational every single game, because that's the talent that he has.”

“It's not always going to be perfect where he's hitting every shot and everything like that, but those hustle plays, those energy plays, those second and third opportunities…it's what we need,” Powell continued. “We feed off that. And we saw that today…it's going to be ups and downs, but as long as he stays mentally tough and fights through the adversity, it's going to be good.”

Heat's Erik Spoelstra speaks about the “growth” of Kel'el Ware 

Miami Heat center Kel'el Ware (7) shoots the basketball against New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

While Erik Spoelstra has immense expectations for Ware, as shown in his public comments about the aspects he needs to work on, there was no denying that the young center showed tremendous progress in the midst of an up-and-down season. Spoelstra would echo the same sentiments, saying there has been “growth” in certain areas like his drives to the rim and on defense, emphasizing the amount of roles Ware has on the floor.

“Kel'el [Ware] was very impactful in those last several minutes, and that’s certainly growth,” Spoelstra said. “The block, that was called goaltend, great effort on his part. The rebounding was very intentional. And the multiple efforts, I loved that drive he had with four minutes to go. It's kind of a loose ball and caught on the baseline. It could have been one of those flip shots, but he wanted to make sure that this thing was going to the rim, and got the and-one.”

“And that showed me, there's growth in time, swing moments like, ‘Hey, let's not just get a shot that you might take in the first three minutes of the game,'” Spoelstra continued. “But also, some of the defense that he had on one of the best scorers in this game [Karl-Anthony Towns]. I'm not talking about necessarily getting stops. It's just you have to negotiate through a lot of different things, pick and roll basketball, flares, a guy who knows how to draw fouls, is crafty, and then when he's not on him, like, ‘Hey, you got to patrol the paint and make sure that you're protecting the rim for us.' And so there's a lot of different kinds of roles that he had to do throughout the course of the game.”

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Heat's Kel'el Ware on the “motivation” heading into big outing vs. Knicks

With the Heat missing Bam Adebayo due to a foot injury, as he missed his sixth straight game on Monday, Ware has been tasked with being the main rebounding threat as a seven-footer. As the team has been going through rebounding woes, Ware bounced back hugely against the Knicks, while New York out-rebounded Miami. 48-40, it was the other way around in second-chance points, 21-15.

Ware would speak after the big outing about Haslem texting him after the loss on Friday, saying it's “motivation” for him.

“He’s one of the people that hangs his hat on rebounds. Hearing he wants me to be better is motivation for me to go and box out more and getting better at that,” Ware said.

“Just playing with force, playing with more aggression,” Ware continued about what led to the big outing.

At any rate, the Heat are now 8-6 with the team's next game being a big one as Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors visit on Wednesday night.