The Miami Heat were able to defeat the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round series of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, 4-1. Miami controlled the series throughout, but it didn’t come without its challenges.
For the good, defensively, the Heat were stellar. They contained Trae Young for the entire series as he averaged only 15.4 points per game. Young totaled more turnovers in the series (30) than made baskets (22). Miami held Young to 31.9 percent shooting from the field and 18.4 percent from the 3-point line.
The Hawks were incapable of taking advantage of any of the Heat struggles as their offense never got on track. Despite missing multiple key pieces, Miami scored when they needed to as the porous Hawks defense struggled to consistently get stops.
The bad for Miami was the injuries sustained. Kyle Lowry played in three out of the five games and struggled to find his rhythm offensively. Jimmy Butler was outstanding, averaging 30.5 points per game to pace the Heat, but he missed Game 5 with a knee injury.
Luckily the Heat will have some time to rest before they start their second-round series against the winner in the series between the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors. They need to be healthy if they are going to continue advancing in the postseason because things are going to get much tougher from an opponent’s standpoint.
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But, if there is a team that can overcome injuries to key players, it is the Heat. Erik Spoelstra is confident in any of the players on the roster stepping into the lineup and producing if they are called upon. Given all of the injuries that they dealt with during the season, they are used to playing without regulars in the lineup.
Miami also has an X-Factor emerging this postseason in the form of Victor Oladipo. Being able to replace a player such as Butler with a former All-Star in Oladipo isn’t a luxury every team has, but it is one that the Miami Heat are certainly thankful for.
Oladipo has battled some serious injuries in recent seasons, which has resulted in him not playing more than 36 games in a season since the 2017-18 campaign. This season, he appeared in only eight games in the regular season but looked good during them.
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Victor Oladipo averaged 21.6 minutes per game, scoring 12.4 points to go along with 3.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds. He made 47.9 percent of his shots overall and 41.7 percent of his 3-point attempts. He didn’t appear in the first three games of the series against the Hawks but received 23 minutes in Game 4 with injuries piling up.
Rusty is one way to describe his performance in Game 4. He looked out of rhythm offensively, shooting 3-of-10 and missing all five of his 3-point attempts. He was then inserted into the starting lineup for Game 5 and looked much better.
Oladipo led the Heat with 23 points in their clinching Game 5 victory. He shot 8-of-16 from the field, taking Butler’s spot and picking right up where he left off as the go-to scorer. He made 3-of-6 from the 3-point line, grabbing one rebound with three assists and three steals.
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If Butler is forced to miss more time, at least Spoelstra knows he can turn to Oladipo to pick up the slack. If he is going to perform consistently at the level he showed during the regular season and in Game 5 against Atlanta, the Miami Heat are going to be tough to beat.
Victor Oladipo gives Spoelstra even more versatility with his lineups as he can defend multiple positions and provide production in several ways offensively. He can be a dynamic pairing with Tyler Herro off the bench when Butler is ready to return providing a ton of offensive production and a defensive stopper to overcome Herro and Duncan Robinson’s shortcomings.
