During the Miami Heat’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers last Monday, there was a significant lineup change due to the absence of guard Terry Rozier. While it was Heat star Jimmy Butler who led the way during that game, it was star Duncan Robinson who made his mark with the starters, showing his versatility as head coach Erik Spoelstra pointed out his biggest strengths.
Robinson has been crucial to Miami for the last six seasons he’s been with them as the team’s best three-point shooter, but he’s added more to his arsenal since then on both sides of the ball. It was a seamless transition for Robinson going from the second unit to the starting lineup as Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints that he is “comfortable” playing with anybody on the team and cites his “ignitability” as a strength.
“He’s done both, and he’s done both those roles very well over the seven years,” Spoelstra said. “He’s comfortable playing with Jimmy and Bam. He also is comfortable developing a really good connection with K-Love [Kevin Love] and Jaime [Jaquez Jr.]. You know, off the bench at this point, you need all of it. I love his ignitability. And you know that’s coming to, Tyler’s shown that right now, Duncan has the ability to blow open games. And you know, five out of six and a quarter in the game is done, and that avalanche is coming soon, which I think will also really help our offense.”
Asked Erik Spoelstra about the versatility of Duncan Robinson and the seamless transition he has with either starting or coming off the bench.
“He’s don’t both of those roles very well for seven years…I love his ignitability…” #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/cNGVxlqIfx
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) November 21, 2024
Heat’s Duncan Robinson on his various roles with the team
One would have to think that since the injured Heat star in Rozier is coming back sooner rather than later, Robinson will be back serving an important role off the bench. Either way, Robinson does not seem to care about being labeled as a starter or a benchwarmer as long as he is a part of a winning basketball team.
If his name were to be called to the starting unit, though, it would not be much of a “huge adjustment,” as Robinson said to ClutchPoints.
“Not really a huge adjustment,” Robinson said. “I mean, I played with a lot of those guys for a lot of minutes, maybe not necessarily as a group, but I’ve shared the court a lot with Tyler [Herro] and Jimmy [Butler] and Bam [Adebayo] and Haywood [Highsmith] a lot over the years. So, you know, just good to get a win, obviously.”
“Yeah, I play just about every role there is to play,” Robinson continued. “Starting, off the bench, not playing. So obviously, I want to be out there in any capacity, whatever it requires.”
Heat’s Duncan Robinson on the different lineup changes
The chemistry of the Heat’s lineups has been a narrative this season, especially with the original starting unit, but Robinson sees it as an overblown issue. However, he would acknowledge that finding the right rotations and those players working well with each other will be important to achieve the goals they are aiming for on offense and especially defense.
“We’re more caught up in just playing good basketball,” Robinson said. “We all like each other get along, that’s not really an issue. It’s more about just finding the way to be difficult to guard and to get stops. So finding groups that work and kind of mesh and blends is going to take a little bit of time and working through.”
In the aforementioned win over the 76ers, Robinson finished with 13 points on five for 14 shooting, which included an uncharacteristic two for 10 from beyond the arch. Still, it was a solid month of November for the 30-year-old as he averaged 12.6 points per game while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 41. 7 percent from deep.
At any rate, the Heat have not been playing up to their liking as they are currently 6-7 on the season as even Robinson said that they are not up to their standard.
“Definitely not where we want to be,” Robinson said. “We know we’re capable of better and more. And there’s definitely some good things that we got we can take away from, but there’s a lot of things we’re going improve on.”
At any rate, Miami looks to build off their win Monday and take it into Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks.
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