Heat star Erik Spoelstra admits he’s moving on to Kevin Love’s “Turned My Stomach.” 

 

Heat star Erik Spoelstra admits he’s moving on to Kevin Love’s “Turned My Stomach.”

 

Kevin Love of Miami Heat

Miami Heat forward Kevin Love has not played in nearly two weeks, a streak of four straight games, when he was replaced in the starting five in favor of forward Haywood Highsmith.

But with Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro both playing against Atlanta on Saturday, coach Erik Spoelstra swept Love away and put him in the game for 14 minutes in an incredible quick win.

 

 

Love made the most of his time, going 2-for-4 from the field and grabbing four rebounds with two assists. He made four 3-point attempts and was plus-10 from the floor.

But there was something revealing Spoelstra said after the game about love that really stuck. He is not happy that he has to keep Amon on the bench. He said he was so miserable it made him sick he had to do this.

“He was amazing with his leadership, his spirit, but also his talent,” Spoelstra said. “That veteran experience. With Tyler and Jimmy gone, it changes the equation. And it might be game by game,

but I know in my gut that we need Kevin Love. I will mention that when I made a different move, it turned my stomach because I know how important he is to our team in so many different ways.

 

be afraid

Miami Heat’s Kevin Love tries to defend the forwards

Kevin Love has certainly impressed the Heat in his short time in Miami. Acquired last March after being waived by the Cavaliers, he was part of the Heat’s run to the NBA Finals,

averaging 6.9 points and 5.6 rebounds in 20 playoff games, including 18 games. Importantly, he shot 37.5% from the 3-point line, giving the Heat the deep shooting they desperately needed.

In the offseason, he signed a $3.1 million contract to remain with the Heat. He did not accept any offers from other teams, and the Heat left no doubt that they wanted to keep Love.

But Spoelstra’s problem was that playing Love at center next to Bam Adebayo gives Miami two big men in the middle who aren’t very well equipped to guard smaller, more athletic power forwards.

At 7-foot-7, Highsmith is hardly a prototypical power forward, but he can guard the likes of Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and many other athletic high-scoring power forwards in the Eastern Conference.

Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro Out

But without Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, the Heat were without a 41.3-point offense, so Spoelstra wasn’t as interested in how the defense looked. It took some scoring for Atlanta and star quarterback Trae Young to win. That meant it was Kevin Love time.

The Miami Heat were led by a stellar performance from Adebayo, who had 26 points and 17 rebounds as he continued to put up MVP-type numbers. But they needed role players to get their fourth straight win.

“We needed that kind of gap with a lot of firepower, the offense had to be able to create and he does that very well,” Spoelstra said. – He is such a smart, experienced and skillful player that he helps the whole unit work. So those 16 minutes were really important.

 

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter

covering the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com.

He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has

more than two decades of NBA experience, i

ncluding 17 years as Sporting News’ NBA

editor.

Deveney is the author of 7 non-fiction

books including “Fun City,andquot;

andquot;Before Wrigley became

Wrigley,andquot; and andquot;Michael

Jordan’s face.andquot; Learn more about

Sean Deveney