Bam Adebayo Is Miami Heat's Defensive Anchor'

The Miami Heat are used to overcoming adversity and beating all the odds, especially when it comes down to the NBA post-season. But, facing an elimination game without their leading talisman, Jimmy Butler, they face an uphill battle of even reaching the post-season as the eighth overall seed.

With a lot of work to do, and a key veteran leader ruled out, much of the Heat’s success will have to come through the leadership of All-Star center, Bam Adebayo, who league insider Mark Medina believes is their defensive anchor through and through.

Heat Are ‘Between the Hammer and the Anvil’

Face uphill battle for eighth seed with Jimmy Butler ruled indefinitely

We may not see Jimmy Butler, aka, ‘Playoff Jimmy’ in action again this season, after he was ruled out of Miami’s win-or-go-home Play-In tournament game against the Chicago Bulls for the right to the eighth, and final, playoff seed, where the No. 1 overall seeded Boston Celtics await, due to injury.

Butler, 34, went down at the end of the first quarter in the Heat’s first Play-In game against the Philadelphia 76ers, and though he played through the pain for the remainder of the game, in which the Sixers narrowly edged them 105-104, it was feared that he had sustained a right MCL injury.

This was later confirmed by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, who further reported that he would be ruled out for ‘several weeks’, effectively ending his season.

Butler had deservedly earned the nickname 'Playoff Jimmy' having always stepped his level of play up a gear when the post-season rolled around, averaging 26.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.8 steals in Miami's historic run as the seventh seed all the way to the Finals last season, where they ultimately fell to the Denver Nuggets in five games.

With such a crucial game on Friday night, and without a large amount of the experience that carried them to the NBA Finals last time around with the absence of Butler, and the departures of Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry, the Heat may have no choice but to rely on their All-Star center Bam Adebayo, veterans Terry Rozier and Kevin Love, and a young supporting cast featuring Tyler Herro, and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr.

With an undermanned roster, head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke of the Heat being ‘between the hammer and the anvil’ in his pre-match press conference:

If there’s one thing the Heat can lean in on in their match-up against the Bulls, it is their defense, where, as a team, they posted the fifth-best team defense in the league with a 111.5 efficiency, where they will face a Chicago offense which ranked only 19th overall in the 2023-24 regular season, notching an offensive rating of 114.0.

Adebayo Has Gotten More Help From Teammates

Medina argues that while Adebayo is the key defensive catalyst on the Heat roster, that this season, a large reason for Miami’s overall success on defense is due to his teammates stepping up to help him, citing both the veteran, Kevin Love, and one of the league’s standout rookies, Jaime Jaquez Jr. as two of his key helpers on that side of the ball.

Adebayo's Standout Defense

Holds opponents to only 44.1 FG% overall when he is their primary defender

Adebayo's effectiveness in defending efficiently from all facets of the court saw him emerge as a top-five contender for the coveted Defensive Player of the Year award, where he was tipped to be fourth in line for the award, finishing the 2023-24 regular season campaign with a defensive rating of 109.3, and ranking 10th in the NBA for defensive rebound percentage with 24.2 percent.

He has also been the Heat's third-leading scorer behind Tyler Herro and Butler, who each tied with 20.8 points on the season, while Adebayo averaged a double-double with 19.4 points on 52.1 percent from the field, and 10.4 rebounds, while also adding 3.9 assists, 1.1 steals and almost a block per contest.

With defense his biggest strong suit, the 6-foot-9 power forward/center was dominant, regardless of where he defended his opponents on the court.

When facing up against two-point attempts, Adebayo restricted his opponents to only 49.1 percent shooting of their 9.6 attempts per game, which saw them convert at a rate of 6.6 percent fewer when facing the 26-year-old than any other defender.

Similarly, when defending outside the perimeter, Adebayo's presence saw his opponents shooting with only 33.2 percent accuracy, down 2.5 percent from their 35.7 percent field goal percentage on the season. He defended, on average, 4.4 outside attempts per game.

Overall, Adebayo restricted his opponents to only 44.1 percent shooting from their 14.0 attempts in the 70 games in which he featured for Miami this season, down 5.1 percent from their season average of 49.2 percent, in what was a very strong showing for the Heat's three-time NBA All-Star.

As such, this type of dominant defensive display is going to be required if the Heat are to mount a win against the Bulls as they seek to reach the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

If Adebayo cannot produce on both sides of the ball to great effect, then their season could end prematurely, which would go against the grain of what we have come to expect of Miami and their 'Heat Culture'.

All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.