Miami Heat's Backcourt Comes Up Short In Game 5 Loss
The Miami Heat's backcourt was a no-show against the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Kyle Lowry and Max Strus went 0 of 15 from the field. The two have scored a combined seven points in the last two games. Strus has missed his last 16 field goal attempts, as he only scored four points off fouls Wednesday. Lowry has made just one field goal in the last two games.
Tyler Herro has been out of the lineup for the past two games with a groin injury, and his status for Game 6 is questionable. In addition, Jimmy Butler has not been his usual self, scoring only 13 points on 22 percent shooting. With these two factors, Strus and Lowry cannot continue to play like this if they want to clinch a ticket to the NBA Finals.
Lowry acknowledged his lackluster play, saying that he knows there is a need for improvement.
“No matter what situation we're in, I've got to play better,” Lowry said. “I've playing terrible. It is what it is. I'm out there, so I've got to do a better job.”
Despite the rough showing from the backcourt, coach Erik Spoelstra said that he is not worried about Lowry and Strus.
“I don't think either one of them played outside of themselves,” Spoelstra said. “Those are the offensive possessions that we've had for a large part of the season. Even a lot of our actions and how the offense was functioning I thought was way more in our wheelhouse. We were much more purposeful and intentional.”
Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
