Miami Heat's Bam Adebayo Adjusting To New Defensive Coverages

Opposing teams are putting a bigger emphasis on stopping Adebayo because of his improved scoring

Bam Adebayo is one the Miami Heat's main offensive scorers, so naturally opponents are looking for new ways to slow him. 

Adebayo, who is averaging a career-high 21 points, is seeing more double-teams and sometimes three players used to defend him. He finished with 19 points in Monday's loss to the Denver Nuggets but struggled at times, especially on the pick-and-roll. 

“You know, they always send the third guy now to pick-and-roll,” Adebayo said. “So it’s either catch, quick shot or kick it to the open man. There’s no ‘Oh, I get to take my time, get in the paint. It’s more so I got one of two options: Either shoot it or pass it.”'

Adebayo saw similar strategy in Saturday's win against the Orlando Magic. He finished with only 13 points because of the constant double-teams. 

It's part of the process of Adebayo becoming a star player. With more recognition comes more defensive attention. He can expect the same when the Heat play the Brooklyn Nets tonight in the final game before the NBA All-Star break. The Nets feature lengthy players Nic Claxton and Cameron Johnson, so a challenge is there for Adebayo. 

“Yeah, you get to start to realize the openings you will get,” Adebayo said. “And when you see it a couple times, you get to see it enough. You start to get used to the coverages.”

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Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson. You can also check out his personal blog: https://substack.com/profile/114079068-cory-nelson?utm_source=account-card