Chris Finch isn’t worried about Heat’s Giannis, Bam Adebayo playing together appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Miami Heat’s trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo was met with healthy criticism from fans. While Antetokounmpo is still a top-five player in the league at worst, the fit between him and the rest of the team was questionable. In particular, fans and critics wondered if Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo’s playstyles would mesh well.
The Heat’s first game of the season might not inspire much confidence in the duo working out. However, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has faith that the new duo will figure it out eventually. After their win against Miami, here’s what the Timberwolves head coach had to say about Antetokounmpo and Adebayo.
“They’ll figure out how to play off each other really well,” Finch said. “It just takes time. I mean, trying to mesh bigs is a lot harder. I’ve done it many times. It’s a lot harder to mesh bigs than it is to mesh smalls. And a lot of that just has to do with spacing and understanding that. And whatever that is in their offense, I can’t speak to that. But it’ll happen for them, and they’re gonna be able to handle them now.”
Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (free trial)
Finch knows his stuff about trying to piece together an offense with two bigs. Previous iterations of the Timberwolves featured some combination of Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Julius Randle. While the dynamics are different from what the Heat are dealing with, Finch knows that this type of stuff takes time.
Antetokounmpo had an excellent debut for the Heat, scoring 35 points on relatively efficient shooting along with six boards. However, aside from him, no other player on Miami scored more than 20 points. Adebayo had 15 points as the next-best scorer, but it was clear from how the offense moved that both stars were still uncomfortable with less space. Miami’s shooters also struggled from three-point range, making just eight of their 33 attempts from deep.
There’s reason to believe that the Heat’s shooters will bounce back after this game. However, it’s also painfully clear that the offense needs to figure out their spacing to truly maximize Antetokounmpo and Adebayo’s strengths. The Heat will take on the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
Related: Giannis Antetokounmpo calls out issues in his regular-season Heat debut vs. Timberwolves
Related: 35-point Giannis Antetokounmpo Heat debut wasn’t enough for Miami to beat the Timberwolves