New philosophy in Miami, Kyle Lowry now starts matches off the bench. A new tactic supposed to galvanize the bench of the Heatoverdue this season.
No silver bullet in South Beach, other than a startling change in the rotation of the Heat. Since returning from injury saturday against the MagicKyle Lowry starts the matches sitting on the bench. This is a first since a lease for the 37-year-old leader, who had not known this role since 2013, when the latter had just been transferred from Houston to Toronto. A nice streak of 667 games as a starter, interrupted last Saturday in an overtime loss against neighbors Orlando.
After this match, the former leader of the Raptors was also questioned about his replacement status by Nick Friedell from ESPN. After having lack 15 meetings, Lowry explained then that he simply wants to help the team in any way he can.
“Is I know deep down that I’m a starter, but you also have to figure out what’s wrong. Me and [Erik Spoelstra] we talked. We want to be some that I am in good shape so as not to have a backlash and have to change the lineup and rotation” – Kyle Lowry
Against the Magic, Lowry made its classic 2023 contribution: 12 points and 4 assists in 36 minutes of play. Not enough, however, to win, in a meeting also marked by the fed up of Jimmy Butler, heroic once again. The latter also spoke about the return of the K-Low in rotation.
“He came back and looked excellent to me. Straight into the rhythm. But we have to win. With him, without him, we had to win this match” – Jimmy Butler
Anyway eitherthe strategy of laying Kyle’s eggs Lowry on the bench could bear fruit: it aims to replace Jimmy Butler with a real soldier when the latter is tired, so that the team keeps a player on the field who can take responsibility. A shot of juice that will not hurt the bench of the Heat, one of the least effective in the entire League.
Maybe that’s just the kind of change Miami needed. The last night ? THE Heat prevailed against au Jazz 119-115, in a game where Lowry did not play more than 20 minutes, scoring 9 points and delivering 4 assists. A production that we will have to get used to now?
Via ESPN