Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo pulled out his phone, looking to see who sent him messages after his winning jumper to beat Brooklyn Nets visitor 109-107 at the buzzer on Sunday.
“Let’s check,” he said, scrolling through a bunch of messages. “Mommy. Juwan Howard. And all my friends and boys. The closest people.”
With the equalizer, the Heat removed part of the floor for Adebayo. Goalkeeper Goran Dragic fed him the ball, and Adebayo faced the 3-point line against Nets striker Jeff Green. Dragic falsified a screen and briefly opened on the other wing, but Adebayo raised his left hand briefly, as if to say, “I got this.” Adebayo went left on Green, gave a small swell to create separation and lifted from about 12 feet, crushing the winner at home.
“He did it right,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “He looked at the bench and at that moment I just made eye contact. My hands were up and he said, ‘OK, it better be the last shot.’
The winner of the Adebayo game was the first for the Heat since Dwyane Wade managed one in 2019, and Adebayo later confessed that he intended to go D-Wade completely on holiday.
“I wanted to get on the table like D-Wade,” Adebayo said with a smile. “But not today.”
Adebayo said he “always dreamed of that moment”, being his first NBA game winner and his first winning shot in high school (a game in which he dropped 50, he was careful to score). But it could also be a bit bigger – a possible spark for the Heat’s roller-coaster season.
“A season can turn into a game,” Adebayo said. “More crazy things have happened in this league.”
After making a surprise run to the NBA Balloon Finals last summer, the Heat started this season slowly, dropping seven games below 0.500 in early February. A 15-4 stretch straightened the ship before the All-Star break. But with another recent slide, the Heat are currently ranked seventh east at 29-28; and if the season ended today, he would take the Charlotte Hornets with 8 seeds in the play-in round.
The Heat is also just 1.5 games behind the New York Knicks to completely escape the first round of play-in.
After a three-game losing streak this week, culminating in an astonishing loss to the worst of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami goalkeeper Jimmy Butler received a message Friday calling him the Soft Heat and focusing on especially on Adebayo, saying he has to play “bully ball”. . “
With Butler out due to an ankle sprain against the Nets, Adebayo took over most of the offensive responsibility, scoring 21 points in 9 of 16 shots to go along with 15 rebounds and five assists.
“It’s not just about scoring,” Spoelstra said. “The hardest thing about this league is that the main thing people look at is how many points people have. Bam has so many things he does for us that are important for us to be successful.”
On a case-by-case basis, Adebayo’s defense on Sunday was critical, moving several times to Kyrie Irving, including Brooklyn’s final possession, during which time he forced a contested miss of Irving on an immediate 3. Per ESPN Stats & Information, when defended by Adebayo, the Nets shot 3 of 17, Irving going specifically 0 of 8 when guarded by Adebayo.
“It has great potential,” Dragic said of Adebayo. “I still feel it’s not over yet. It will reach another level.”