A big man under the microscope
Miami is 0-4, and Bam Adebayo has noticed who is getting the blame. After the Heat’s 113-109 home loss to Dallas on Monday, the center took a swipe at the criticism coming his way. His shot is not falling, he said, and he refuses to overthink it, but he finds it funny that the noise outside the locker room wants him to be the scapegoat. When the energy shifts, he added, people should be ready for that.
The numbers explain why the spotlight found him. Adebayo finished with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting and eight rebounds in 30 minutes against the Mavericks. Through four games he is averaging 11.8 points on 40 percent shooting, a modest return for a player the Heat expected to be Giannis Antetokounmpo’s co-star.
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Giannis produces, the record does not
Miami is not short on production elsewhere. Antetokounmpo put up 29 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists against Dallas, a triple-double that still ended in defeat, and Davion Mitchell added 21. Adebayo’s own season started stronger: 15 points and seven rebounds in the opener against Minnesota, then 20 points and eight rebounds in the loss at Charlotte.
He used the moment to argue that an early slide is not the worst outcome. He would rather the noise arrive now than midway through the season or in April, he said, and he asked how the conversation would change if the Heat strung together ten wins in a row. Asked whether he had spoken with Antetokounmpo about the criticism, he waved it off and said the media will always be the media.
Four games is a small sample, and Miami still has the season to fix it. For now, the questions about how Adebayo and Antetokounmpo fit together follow the Heat into every game.
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