Heat's Erik Spoelstra stands by 'rock' Bam Adebayo amid shooting struggles

01/10/2025 10:31 AM

After the Miami Heat lost by 36 points to the Utah Jazz back on Jan. 4, they redeemed themselves four days later by going onto their home floor and beating them, 97-92, on Thursday night. Despite the constant drama between the Heat and Jimmy Butler, the team got their second straight win which was highlighted by a closing-out performance from Bam Adebayo as Erik Spoelstra speaks of his strengths.

There is no doubt that it has been a relatively underwhelming season for Adebayo in the shooting department as he’s at 45.6 percent from the field compared to his career 54 percent. Even with the shooting struggles, Spoelstra would downplay any worry about that and called Adebayo the “rock for our team” according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

"I'm not stressed about that," Spoelstra said. "He's been such a rock for our team while we've been doing a bunch of different things. He [has] the same approach every day. Not many players can do that if you're missing shots. He checks all the other boxes, coaching guys, and being there when we really needed him. You have great confidence you can get stops when you know he's back there. We have quite a few coverages and he does them all at an elite level."

Adebayo would finish the game with 15 points, shooting six of 13 from the field and one of two from deep, to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks. He would especially have two shots made towards the end of the game when Miami needed to separate themselves from Utah as the two teams were going back and forth.

"Coming in at halftime, seeing how they were playing me and made the adjustments in the second half," Adebayo said.

Heat’s Bam Adebayo speaks about offensive role

Looking at the Heat captain in Adebayo in terms of offensive production and besides the career mark mentioned before, he has shot over 50 percent in every season in the NBA besides this current one. He would be asked about his role in balancing not just opportunities on the offensive end, but in other departments as well.

"I don't know, my role changes every day," Adebayo said via The Miami Herald. "Like I said, sometimes it is where I can just put my head down and go score, sometimes I need to be the point guard and facilitate, make the extra pass so other guys can get going. Other days it can be the stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. So for me, it changes from game to game. Me and [Heat coach Erik Spoelstra] are trying to figure this out to where we can get a consistent basis."

Adebayo’s numbers have been head-scratching as he has one of the worst true shooting percentages, which also measures the value of three-point shots and free throws, and even has been struggling close to the paint and restricted area. As he works to figure it out, he would express that his role on the offensive changes frequently.

"It changes game by game," Adebayo said. "Some games, it might be start out aggressive. Some games, it might be Tyler [Herro] got it going, Duncan [Robinson] got it going and you get lost in that. So, you fight that battle every day. Couch coaches want you to go out there and get 30 points every night. It's like, the way we play, not everybody is going to get 30 a night unless you're super efficient every night. It just depends."

Heat’s Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. on redeeming win over Jazz

While Adebayo looks to turn it around, the Heat’s All-Star hopeful Tyler Herro has been leading the way as he led the team with 23 points. He would speak about how the team came out Thursday night compared to the last time they faced the Jazz.

"Our energy, collective spirit, how we came out tonight was completely different than how we came out in Miami against Utah," Herro said. "We can win games in the mud or we can win high-scoring games, but our identity is really more on the defensive end and being gritty."

Jaime Jaquez Jr. also had another impressive game, trying to fill in the void of Butler, as he scored 20 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists. He mentioned the double-overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings and spoke about how he missed two free throws late in that game which kept him up at night.

"I haven't been sleeping really well," Jaquez said. "Those two free throws [in Sacramento] have been keeping me up. Tonight I'll get a good night's rest. We sealed a victory off those two free throws."

At any rate, the Heat are now 19-17 which puts them sixth in the Eastern Conference as they continue with their road trip on Saturday night when take on the Portland Trail Blazers.

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