The Heat‘s first-round series against the Hawks could come down to the adjustments Erik Spoelstra makes on Trae Young, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes in his latest “Ask Ira” mailbag.
Miami will host Atlanta in Game 1 of the series on Sunday. Young led his team out of the play-in tournament by defeating Cleveland on Friday, recording 38 points and nine assists in 40 minutes.
The Heat could throw an array of options at Young in man-to-man coverage, including Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin and Victor Oladipo. How the team defends him in the pick-and-roll and whether it adapts could still determine their level of success.
Here are some other notes from out of Miami:
- Joe Vardon and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic examine the team’s first-round series, including who may guard Young, Bam Adebayo‘s health and more. Atlanta made the Eastern Conference Finals last season and finished with a 43-39 record this season. As Vardon and Kirschner note, Game 1 will be less than 48 hours after the Hawks played the Cavaliers, which doesn’t give them much time to prepare for the Heat. Miami will receive a full week of rest before the first game.
- Adebayo didn’t have any symptoms while he had COVID-19, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets. The former All-Star center recently exited health and safety protocols and plans to play on Sunday.
- Veteran forward P.J. Tucker (strained calf) also plans to play on Sunday, Chiang notes in a separate tweet. Tucker is coming off a successful regular season, providing versatile defense and shooting 41.5% from deep. He won an NBA title with the Bucks last postseason.