There’s no solace in perspective right now, no relief in remembering the Heat have been down this weary playoff road before — losing two on the road, counted down and done, coming home to questions and breathing life into a night, one night, and then a full series.
They did it in 2006 — their first championship run against Dallas.
Remember?
And does distant history matter?
This is no time for mental gymnastics of what can happen against Milwaukee with ideas like, “Now that they’re back home, everything will be fine.”
Nothing is fine.
Miami’s season won’t survive if this minimal Bam Adebayo and limited Jimmy Butler are on display again in Thursday’s Game 3. This isn’t the death of perspective down 0-2 in the series. It’s framing the Heat’s crisis in as simple terms as possible.
If your two best starters become two of your worst players, you’re sunk. There’s no coaching, playing, talking or reverse-strategizing your way out of that in basketball.
Adebayo hasn’t shot well, rebounded, passed, handled the ball, shown the confidence or impacted the game — he hasn’t been Adebayo these first two games. He’s flummoxed against how Mt. Brook Lopez is defending him.
Meaning, not defending him. Sagging off Adebayo. Clogging the Heat’s preferred passing lanes in the middle and letting Adebayo have that open 15-foot jumper. That shot was part of his progressive step forward this year — until it wasn’t in Game 1 and Game 2 when he shot 8 of 32.
Adebayo has played smaller, physically and statistically, against the 7-foot Lopez all season. In five games against Lopez this year, he’s averaged 12.8 points on 35% shooting.
Is Lopez simply too big for him? Isn’t that why coach Erik Spoelstra played 7-foot reserve Dewayne Dedmon more minutes (21) in Game 2 than his 17 previous games with the Heat?
Then there’s Butler. He has a larger, more complex riddle to solve in 6-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis seems on a redemptive mission. You see this sometimes with the greats in sports. LeBron James shriveled up against Dallas in the 2011 NBA Finals, hid at home for weeks in such a way Heat president Pat Riley finally called him, worried. LeBron came out inspired the next season.
Now it’s Giannis? Maybe. He played that way these first two games when you look through the prism of time. Butler scored 40 points in last season’s Game 1 against Milwaukee — including 15 in the fourth quarter — and Giannis didn’t defend him. It was such a tactical gaffe a reporter asked a simple question of the reigning MVP and Defensive Player of the Year:
Did you ask to be put on Butler?
“To guard him?” Giannis said then. “No, I didn’t. Why would you ask that? I’ll do whatever coach wants me to do.”
Now he’s not just covering Butler, but making life miserable. Giannis isn’t even doing the normal NBA shuffle of switching off Butler when a Heat player sets a pick on him. He sticks with him. He’s tortured Butler into shooting 4 of 22 in the opener, 4 of 10 in Game 2 and that’s had a contagious factor on the rest of his problematic stat sheet.
In some ways, the first two games were Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer atoning for last season. Milwaukee had a miserable offseason to wonder how the Heat beat them in five games, how Giannis was neutralized with a defensive picket fence and how to use a new player (Jrue Holiday) or two (Bryn Forbes) to help this team.
Milwaukee owner Marc Lasry said before the series on the business channel CNBC, “I think it’ll be a great matchup for us.” It’s been that through two games. Lopez stopping Adebayo, Giannis stopping Butler.
The Heat have overcome an 0-2 series deficit once in their history. Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal were in the lineup. Butler and Adebayo are good — but they’re not that good.
In Game 3, they’d better be themselves. Just that. Or the only issue left will be what changes the Heat need to make this summer.
