Coup’s Takeaways: Powell Stays Hot, Heat Overwhelm Sixers in Paint With Ware and Jaquez Jr.

Turns out, defending the HEAT’s breakneck offense at 1 pm on a Sunday afternoon is not exactly a good time.

Another hot start for Norm Powell, as we’ve come to expect at this point, as two threes helped him along to eight of Miami’s first 12, Pelle Larsson holding it down on the other side taking two early charges, including one with his face.

The Sixers – no look at VJ Edgecombe or Joel Embiid today – hung around for a bit despite their own cold shooting, but as Davion Mitchell (eight points, eight rebounds, 12 assists, one turnover) quarterbacked at warp speed and Kel’el Ware high-point rebounded over everyone, Miami’s lead was 37-27 after the opening period, their offense functioning exactly as intended.

More of the same in the second, Philadelphia oddly choosing to help off the strong side corner on consecutive Jaime Jaquez Jr. drives and getting burned each time. As Jaquez Jr. dropped in a couple of soft turnaround jumpers after that, the lead ballooned to 16 and it looked like we could be on the verge of a repeat of Friday’s blowout in Chicago.

Philadelphia had other ideas. Over the next three minutes they mounted a 16-0 run, the heart of that burst coming from a wild Tyrese Maxey desperation three against the shot clock buzzer that he and Quentin Grimes followed up with another pair from deep. But just as soon as things were tied back up Bam Adebayo dropped in a couple of shots in the middle of Philadelphia’s zone – yes, another team in zone – and Powell drew back-to-back fouls on attempted threes to ensure a 71-67 lead at halftime.

How about another trip to the line for Powell from beyond the arc early in the third, just for good measure? That put Miami back up double digits in a hurry as Philadelphia missed a series of bunnies in the paint. With Powell hitting another three, a 9-0 HEAT run to open the half, to get to 28 points on 12 shots, it looked like Miami could be running away with it again, up 14 much in the same fashion as they were in the second.

And then the Sixers punched back much in the same fashion they had before, an 8-0 run powered by a pair of threes and missed Miami free-throws. A Simone Fontecchio three against the zone calmed things down, Jaquez Jr. answering another Maxey three with a strong drive.

The stiff arm worked, the lead held at 99-93 through three after Andre Drummond dropped in a three to end the period.

Down to three a few minutes in, even with Philadelphia unable to do much with Ware (20 points, 16 rebounds) around the rim.

The Sixers couldn’t do much with Jaquez Jr., either, single coverage giving him looks in the paint and help giving him shooters to kick it out to. Back to nine with six to play, Larsson spinning the Sixers around with a slot cut, momentum sapped from Philadelphia as they came up empty against Miami’s zone.

By the time Quentin Grimes chose to pull back, slow down and isolate Adebayo in space, their comeback had well stalled out. No clutch game, not even close, as Miami takes it, 127-117, to move to 11-6 on the season.

There have been many constants this season for Miami – perhaps one of their best attributes has been how consistent their entire system has been, both in pace and in overall process – but perhaps none more so than Powell and Jaquez Jr.

Powell has simply been a flamethrower, hovering just a few ticks below the 50 percent mark from three through this first month. So many games begin with him sprinting out of the gates, running off screens to drop in top of the arc threes early on. So many games see him drawing fouls from the arc, with only James Harden drawing more three-shot fouls this season. So many games see him find the seams in a zone – it’s becoming quite normal to see zone every time out these days – and attack for a one-handed runner at the angle when the offense begins to lose its balance. He finished with 32 points on 18 shots today and nobody who has been watching all season would bat an eyelash at that line. That’s just Norm.

Jaquez Jr. may be the single greatest representative of Miami’s offensive system, his relentless drives regularly becoming a massive pain for any defense. The Sixers truly had no answer for him as he scored 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting, with seven assists on top of that, as they either got buried in the paint by his physicality or punished for helping off of shooters. Jaquez Jr. may not be the biggest name on this HEAT team, but if you want to show someone how they are playing this year you only need to show them a reel of Jaquez Jr. highlights and they’ll know what this team is all about.

When and if the HEAT get healthy Erik Spoelstra is going to have to make some decisions – the good kind of problem for a coach to have with so many guys playing well – when it comes to the rotation.

Pelle Larsson is doing everything he can to make that decision even tougher.

Now, you may look at his line of six points on 2-of-13 shooting and wonder what the big deal is. But to look at scoring and percentages first is to miss the point with someone like Larsson. Yes, he’ll have to knock down some threes in the big picture, but in the meantime he’s becoming the very definition of what Miami wants out of a role player, the sort that contributes winning plays – taking a charge here, cutting at the perfect time there, moving the ball exactly where it needs to go while keeping the pace high – in all facets of the game.

Larsson never tries to be anything that he isn’t and, outside of the make or miss, is almost always exactly what the HEAT need him to be. The thought was always that Larsson could be this sort of player, he’s just turning the theory into practice right before our eyes.

By ML Staff. Courtesy of NBA.