More Jimmy Butler and more shooting may be Miami’s best solution to beating the Lakers’ aggressive switching defense while Dragic is out.
Regardless of whether or not Goran Dragic can return from a plantar fascia injury at some point in these NBA Finals, the Miami Heat likely won’t be getting back the rejuvenated player who boosted their offense to unexpected heights in the Bubble. The Heat will have to adjust, and while they have a deep squadron of talented perimeter players, there is no one who can precisely replicate the downhill play-making prowess Dragic brought them this summer. What is more likely is that Jimmy Butler will take on even more for Miami if they want to make this series competitive following an 18-point loss in Game 1. It’s obvious how Butler could impact the series offensively, because we saw it during last year’s playoffs when he was in Philadelphia. Maybe it’s not his preference or it wears him out because of how hard he also plays on defense, but Butler is capable of running an elite playoff offense. And this year’s Miami roster caters to his strengths even better, with a spread pick-and-roll game that allows Butler to simply take what the defense offers rather than forcing shots with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid cramping the floor. While it’s hard to take much from Game 1 that Miami will want to replicate moving forward, the Heat would do well to also double down on what got them here rather than over-reacting — and based on what we know about Erik Spoelstra as a coach, it’s far more likely that he does the former than the latter. Losing Dragic means a lot of the quick-hitting pick-and-roll action that can generate easy offense for Miami will be harder to come by, as Dragic scored 0.
