The big-muscle play is neither the play of choice for the Miami Heat, nor necessarily a position of strength.
But when needed, there’s always Dewayne Dedmon.
“I work out a lot, so that’s how you get these guns,” Dedmon said with a smile as he flexed his biceps. “Welcome to the show.”
That aside, Dedmon puts in a solid effort in the Sunday night’s 106-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks at the start of this four-game road trip, when he finished with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting and six rebounds in 14:18.
“Dewayne with the second unit was really good,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, and the Heat turned their attention to games Wednesday and Friday night against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. “He protected the basket in our zone.
“He’s our biggest guy and he played with strength and physicality and he was able to get a lot of things at the basket that were help baskets for us.”
With starting center Bam Adebayo dominating in a big-minute role of late, it allowed Dedmon to give it his all during his stint.
“I understand what my minutes situation is,” said Dedmon, 33, “and I just try to be as efficient as possible in those moments.
“That second unit is always trying to bring energy, bring effort, get our team back in the game or keep the momentum going.”
And if he has the opportunity to use those “guns”, so much the better.
“I’m just trying to bring that physical edge,” said the 6-foot-11, 250-pound 10-year veteran. “Every team needs him. So I try to be efficient and have fun.”
Outside the area
While there’s clearly been a degree of league recovery with the Heat’s record-breaking use of zone defense, the approach continues to have its moments.
Another of those moments came during Sunday’s win over the Hawks, when Atlanta shot just 31 percent from the field and 3-of-19 on 3-pointers during a 38-point second half.
“They were in that zone pretty much the whole game,” said Hawks guard Trae Young, who was 4-of-16 from the field, 1-of-8 on 3-pointers. “They were aggressive, making us use some time at the back. So it was kind of a short watch on the other end, which is smart on their end.
“They just made us shoot threes. I haven’t shot well from the three-point line all year. That’s what they made us do. So you have to give them credit and tip your hat to their game.”
When the Heat weren’t in the zone, it was often Heat forward Caleb Martin harassing Young.
“I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half attacking, just attack the goals, make them play for you, you know, play inside out,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said of the Heat’s zone . “And the second half became a stop sign. And we try to run maybe the zone offense or just [weren’t] aggressive enough. You have to be aggressive against that.”
20-20 visits
He shot 13 of 20 in a 32-point effort Sunday in Atlanta, after going 15 of 22 in a 38-point performance Friday night in a win over the visiting Washington Wizards, Adebayo has consecutive 20-game outings for first time in his six-season career. .
“His confidence is up,” Spoelstra said after Sunday’s win. “The skill set is something he’s worked extremely diligently on for a long time, and his versatility was on display offensively everywhere, whether he was setting screens and getting to the rim for lobs or bringing the ball up and initiate. or attacking early in the attack, his dribbles were very good.
“And then we played through him in the post when we needed to try to control the game a little bit.”
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