Miami Heat Will Go As Far As Erik Spoelstra’s Adjustments Take Them

Pundits ate up the quote, citing how brilliantly truthful the Charlotte Hornets coach had been following their second crushing playoff loss to the Miami Heat, only to have the very next game see rookie Frank Kaminsky go from 0-for-1 in two contests to 15 points and six rebounds because of the good and bad of adjustments.

“Not to be disrespectful, but you guys, you watch these games and you come up with something’s gotta change, where sometimes, you just gotta do the basic things better, which is what basketball is,” coach Steve Clifford said. “Jeff Van Gundy used to always say, ‘Writers love to say they made an adjustment.’ Usually the adjustment is, some guy who went 1-for-8 went 6-for-8.”

By his own admission, Clifford told the media that Hornets owner Michael Jordan and assistant coach Patrick Ewing peppered him with advice to get the power forward in the paint to make the same moves that took him to the NCAA championship game in 2015. But even bigger than that was the weird adjustment that coach Erik Spoelstra made after being down five points at halftime.

For as much criticism as the Miami coach has received for being stubborn when it comes to switching his schemes — unless injuries give him no other choice — he is feeling more heat for the strategy of having 6-foot-4 Dwyane Wade attempt to guard a 7-footer like Kaminsky.

Sure, his thought was that Luol Deng would somehow be able to stop the scoring of Kemba Walker, however both were obvious mismatches that did nothing to help the Heat’s defensive cause.

Game 4 will be all about how Spoelstra counters Clifford’s Game 3 punch. And this will definitely have Heat fans on edge because of their love-hate relationship with Pat Riley’s favorite coach.