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Dec 21, 2023

Miami Heat defenders accept realities of NBA playoff tests

MIAMI — NBA players are carnivores. They devour fresh meat. It is into that

MIAMI — NBA players are carnivores. They devour fresh meat.

It is into that grinder that Duncan Robinson, Max Strus and Kevin Love, among others on the Miami Heat, have found themselves this postseason.

The most basic and most efficient play in the NBA often is the simplicity of a screen set to create a defensive switch that leaves a perceived weak defender matched against an elite scorer.

The Heat largely have crafted their playoff success by creating such mismatches for forward Jimmy Butler to attack.

The Denver Nuggets in these NBA Finals have attempted the same to set up guard Jamal Murray to go into attack mode, with Game 3 of the best-of-seven series Wednesday night at Kaseya Center.

So what does it feel like to be put into that grinder, to be "called up" in NBA parlance, to be viewed as potential carcass?

Vulnerable.

Disrespected.

Tested.

Challenged.

"First and foremost," Robinson said, "you’ve got to approach the situation realistically, not shy away from the fact that they’re calling you up because they think it's creating an advantage for them offensively. So you’re addressing a reality first and foremost.

"And second, just try to find a way to just make it tough, be gritty, compete, whatever the scheme is. And you can do different schemes, do different things, but at the end of the day it's going to come down to just showing a little bit of grit and resolve."

Players such as Robinson, Strus and Love know it's coming, and know it should be coming, with logic dissuading going instead against the defensive excellence of Butler or Bam Adebayo.

"It's give and take," Strus said. "Those (opposing scorers) are All-NBA players for a reason. I know they’re going to keep doing it. But these are the moments I want to be in. That's why I’m on the floor. I’m ready for the challenge and I believe in myself and my team to have my back when I’m in those positions.

"And I’m not going to shy away from the moment."

With no shame involved.

Because it means you’re on the court in an NBA game, in this case an NBA Finals game.

There was a time when Heat guard Gabe Vincent was the entree of choice for opposing scorers routinely getting called up into switches during the initial stages of his four seasons.

Then opponents came to recognize he was not an option of least resistance.

"I think being a young player coming into the league, you’re 100 percent gonna get called up," Vincent said. "And it's a test. They want to see how you compete, what kind of defender you are.

"So in that moment, you’re early in your career, the big lights are on and you get called up by a superstar and you’re on an island. So the competition gets to the highest, your pride kicks in a bit. And it's fun to compete."

For the Heat, their latest lineup change, the move back to Love as the starting power forward, has exposed them to such moments, a tradeoff made out of deference to Love's bulk, size, rebounding, passing and shooting.

In recent years, arguably the ultimate defensive stand in such a moment came at the end of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, when Love was called up to be switched onto Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, exposed one-on-one at the top of the 3-point circle. The result was a wayward tying 3-point attempt by Curry — and a championship for Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It was an indelible moment for Love.

"You got to pick your poison and just hope to do your best and get a good contest." Love said. "So Game 7 of 2016, that's what I had to do. I just had to (stay) down and move my feet. At the very end of the day, if I was going to force him into a contested two, OK, that's in our shot profile. If he's going to get a step-back, open two or open three because I stepped out too high, do we win that game? I don't know?"

Such is the cat-and-mouse, with the called-up defender nimble as neither cat nor mouse.

It was how the Heat tormented the Boston Celtics during one sequence in the Eastern Conference finals with Butler consistently calling up and tormenting undersized guard Payton Pritchard.

"It's what you do, setting up a guy who's maybe not as quick laterally," Love said.

Love then paused, turned to Strus, who was sitting nearby, and with a smile quipped, "I would set Max Strus up every single time in the pick-and-roll."

Which, in truth, is what the Nuggets have attempted in this championship series.

Which, in reality, is what Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has attempted to set up for Butler for weeks on end this postseason.

"It's not much different than how the game used to be played in the ’90s," Spoelstra said. "It used to be a matchup league back then. But it was more go at a matchup one-on-one. Now it's get the matchup on a pick-and-roll. And it's forced everybody to develop some concepts for that.

"The good thing about it with us is we’ve seen rep after rep after rep of it. Many playbooks have been simplified against us and that's what they get to. So we’ve had a lot of work at it."

That, Spoelstra said, is where team precepts have to kick in.

"We’re way past that," Spoelstra said. "It's something that's been going on for years. It's more like, ‘What are we doing? Let's get on the same page. Let's stop this.’ "

Because the reality is that defensively, not all men are an island, particularly true with those on the Heat not named Adebayo or Butler.

And yet, somehow, through it all, here they stand, competing in the league's championship series, even with many viewed as fresh meat to be put into the grinder.

"Our defense is built around five guys defending," Vincent said. "So we may leave certain guys on their own a little bit more and certain guys less. But at the end of the day, that person on the ball still has a responsibility to guard, and that we take that seriously, whether it's someone that may need a little more assistance or someone that doesn't need any assistance at all."

And on the other end, it's gnawing on the opposing fresh meat.

"And in that case," Vincent said with a smile, "we don't feel bad for anybody at all."

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