Kel’el Ware‘s impactful block helped the Heat stop the Knicks from tying the game last night. The Heat won 115-113. Last Friday, Ware was dominated by Mitchell Robinson and the Knicks. Udonis Haslem played mentor and texted Ware and “coached him up.” The New York Post explained the loss by blaming the Knicks players saying they couldn’t get a clutch bucket without Jalen Brunson.
The Heat though have won two of the first three games vs. the Knicks. The Knicks dominated Miami last year in the season series winning 3-1. The Heat did lose the rebounding battle to the Knicks by 8. But they had more assists and second chance points. The story of the game was the play of Kel’el Ware.
Udonis mentoring Ware
Udonis said in the NBA on Prime show that he texted Kel’el Ware after the game and offered the following:
- Get video of every offensive rebound he had against him.
- See how Robinson positioned himself early and pushed him under the rim to not be up front to get the rebound.
Ware responded by telling Haslem, “you’re absolutely right, im gonna get the film and it won’t happen again.” Ware is adequately substituting for the absence of Bam Adebayo. He is coachable and a quick learner. Ware had six offensive rebounds for a total of 14 rebounds and 16 points. He had three blocks, the most impactful at the end of the game where he blocked Karl Anthony Towns clear look at the basket to tie the game.
Nikola Jovic in a funk
Nikola Jovic was given the mission of substituting for Bam Adebayo during his injury absence. Jovic had a great game against Cleveland in the first game of the series in scoring and rebounding. Since then, Jovic has had single digit rebounding efforts and has not scored much.
“Offensively, the positions are the same, the way we play,” he said. “Defensively, I have to be in the paint, try to rebound the ball. I have to box out early. But the reason it hasn’t been as big of a challenge is because we switch. So I do what I would do even if Bam was playing.” –Jovic on playing without Adebayo.
Jovic understands what he needs to do. In the latest “Ask Ira” column, Heat beat writer Ira Winderman answered a fan question that it may be that Jovic can’t be the only power rotation player on the floor. Jovic also commented on bulking up in the offseason and possibly bulking too much and limiting his quickness.
Heat winning clutch games
According to NBA Clutch stats, the Heat are 5-2 this season in clutch (game in doubt by five points in the last five minutes) games. Last season they were 14-28. From the Reddit r/nba, the “clutch” is meant to show that the Heat are playing more as a team and playing better two-way basketball.
The Heat have a “Jimmy Butler reunion game” on Wednesday at the Kaseya Center and then go on the road for the rest of the week with games at Chicago and Philadelphia. Kel’el Ware and Jovic need to make adjustments and be consistent with their efforts. This will be charted throughout the season.
