DENVER — One of the first things you notice about Bam Adebayo in person is his shoulders. They’re like cliffs. He’s listed at 6-foot-9, 255 pounds, but he plays center in the NBA, in an Eastern Conference loaded with size. The rationale is simple — he uses his quickness and athleticism to combat the size disadvantage. But up close, when you see his shoulders, it’s clear he’s got more to him.
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It’s a fitting attribute for him, especially in these NBA Finals. Shoulders are metaphoric for the ability to carry weight, thanks to the Greek myth of Atlas. They represent burden, responsibility, capacity. Adebayo’s are broad shoulders.
“Bam,” Spoelstra said. “We just can’t say enough of how difficult his responsibilities are in this series.”
But nothing about Adebayo’s disposition suggests he’s overburdened or weighted down. He’d just finished another 40 minutes of tussling with Nikola Jokić on Sunday. Somehow, his energy was still percolating. His smile at the ready.
Entering this series, Adebayo was being regarded as a Bam to the slaughter. Jokić, Denver’s mountainous superstar — who essentially averaged a 30-point triple-double as the Nuggets breezed through the Western Conference — figured to destroy Miami’s undersized center. If Rudy Gobert, DeAndre Ayton and Anthony Davis, all 6-foot-11 or taller, couldn’t hold Jokić, what chance did Adebayo have? He’s giving up at least 30 pounds on Jokić. It seemed such an unfair matchup. Surprised a GoFundMe for Adebayo’s recovery wasn’t launched before the series.
Yet, the heaviness of the onus, of Jokić, of the potential for demise before a massive audience, seems to just roll off those cliffs.
“Maaaaaan,” Adebayo said, looking up after drying off his feet. “I lived off $12,000 a year, me and my mom. It don’t get weightier than that. This is fun.”
Through two games in Denver, Adebayo isn’t getting pulverized. Far from it. He isn’t stopping Jokić, by any means. But Adebayo ain’t no easy win, Cletus.
An element of Adebayo’s success through two games is schematic. His high-end execution is why Miami flies south with home-court advantage after getting the split it wanted. Adebayo is central to everything they do, and his fingerprints were all over the Heat’s 111-108 Game 2 win. His 21 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks hint at Adebayo’s impact in handing Denver its first loss at home in these playoffs.
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That seems like a solid game. Nothing on the level of the 41 points and 11 rebounds Jokić put up in Game 2, but the value of Adebayo isn’t confined to numbers. And Sunday’s win to shift the tone of these NBA Finals was a portfolio of his dynamism.
Those shoulders of his are especially loaded in this series. He must absorb the Jokić assault, protect the rim, defend guards on switches, quarterback the Heat’s zone, facilitate the Heat’s offense, set a gazillion screens, make Jokić work on defense, wear belief and resolve on his sleeve even when Denver is on one of its runs, speak up when the situation calls, and not get tired.
“To take arguably the toughest cover in the league,” Spoelstra continued, “for all the myriad of reasons that I don’t need to get into, and then he has to shoulder a big offensive role for us, as well. So it’s not like he can just stand and rest on the offensive side. And, yes, he has to play 40-plus minutes, as well.”
But another element is spiritual in that he exemplifies the soul of the Heat. Odds are encouragement for Adebayo. The fight is fun. Jokić looks insurmountable at times, but insurmountable is in Adebayo’s wheelhouse.
Denver has the makings of a champion and has all but been anointed as such. But the Heat will be the last team to fold under the pressure of Jokić and the Nuggets.
In that way, Miami is a resistance test for its opponent. Like cinder blocks used for breaking in martial arts, the fortitude of the Heat is a gauge for technique and toughness. Their intransigence exposes the doubt in their opponent.
Jimmy Butler gets the glory for it. The undrafted players provide the novelty for the storylines. But Adebayo is the heartbeat.
“Bam is a beast,” Duncan Robinson said. “A beast.”
Adebayo is often chided for his inconsistency. Some games, he looks like an All-NBA player. Others, he doesn’t. Sometimes he’s aggressive on offense, punishing mismatches. Other times, he appears too content with midrange jumpers or moving the ball. But part of the perception of his inconsistency is because his version of excellence is complex and partly intangible. The Heat need to make 3s to win, and Adebayo doesn’t take many. But his pressure on the rim, his passing, his screening are how the Heat shooters get the open looks they want.
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The visible parts, the athleticism and explosiveness, stand out. But the basketball IQ that shows up in the reads he makes, angles he takes, support he gives, serves as a foundation to uplift his teammates. The fluidity of Miami’s coverage, hopping in and out of zone, switching in man coverage and still keeping them on a string, hinges on Adebayo as their anchor.
Still, in the first two games of these finals, Adebayo has done that while also maintaining his aggressiveness and tangible production. He averaged 23.5 points on 53.8 percent shooting in the first two games, along with 11 rebounds and 4.5 assists.
In the fourth quarter of Game 2, after Cody Zeller’s minutes gifted Jokić some momentum, the Heat turned to Adebayo. This was their chance to win, and he had to be on the floor. He was the screener on 11 pick-and-rolls in the fourth quarter. As the roll man, he forced Jokić to make a decision, not allowing him to play the middle, and the Heat took whichever door opened as a result.
A two-possession sequence in the fourth quarter illustrated how on point Adebayo was on Sunday.
In the clip below, he operates as the facilitator on offense. Once the Heat’s off-ball actions don’t produce anything, Adebayo goes and sets another screen on the ball. Jokić gets out too high and can’t get back in time to cover Adebayo, who gets the pass and explodes through the opening for a dunk and the foul to put the Heat up, 104-93 with 4:53 to play.
On the ensuing defensive possession, in the next clip below, he does several subtle things before making his defensive play of the night. The Heat are in a zone and Duncan Robinson is fronting Jokić, which means Adebayo has the task of covering the over-the-top pass and being ready to close out on the open shooter in the corner. Jokić leaves the elbow, goes out high to set a screen for Jamal Murray, and Adebayo properly sags back to cover up Aaron Gordon creeping on the baseline.
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The Jokić screen allows Murray to penetrate the zone. Robinson scurries away from the ball to take away the corner 3, fully trusting his rim protector. Adebayo doesn’t leave Gordon until Murray commits. Once Murray does, lofting a floater in the paint, Adebayo goes and gets it. A tad late, to be sure. And he punctuated the play by getting the rebound of his own block.
Two emphatic plays. Two illustrations of Miami’s concoction of competitive will, elite execution and talent. Two Adebayo moments.
They were loud statements, the latest declaration of the Heat’s resolve. Sunday, it was Adebayo changing the feel of the finals, making Denver understand clearly it is in for a series. The Nuggets knew already, cognitively. But now they know how different it is when being pressed by the Heat. Miami had Nuggets coach Michael Malone delivering postgame messages about effort.
And the obliteration that was supposed to happen to Adebayo, it ain’t going down like that.
“I love it,” he said, pulling a black Burberry sweater over his cliffs. “I love proving people wrong.”
He slipped his black durag on, fastened it tightly. He tapped his temple twice with his index finger, pointing to his secret weapon. For Adebayo, it’s all in the mind. He’s physically gifted, for sure. But the defiance of expectations for him begins in his head. It’s intellect activating his talent. He knows his durag might make some think he doesn’t use what’s beneath it, yet he’s playing chess. You don’t stand a chance against greats like Jokić without a strategy.
Adebayo smoothly transitioned from facilitator to aggressor, from coach on the floor to athletic marvel, from playmaker to finisher. It was overlooked in Miami’s Game 1 loss, but he was the Heat’s best player then, too. He had 26 points, aggressively hunting for his offense to the tune of 25 shots. The Heat ended up overwhelmed by a barrage from Denver’s supporting cast. But Miami’s counter included keeping a body connected to Denver’s shooters, putting Butler on Murray to cut down his good looks and running zone to slow down the Nuggets’ two-man game.
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Another critical part was to remain diligent in covering the passing lanes on the Nuggets’ collection of cuts. The Heat wanted to limit the chaos Denver causes with its ball movement, keep Jokić from carving up the defense. Once his teammates don’t have it going, Jokić has no other option but to go to work himself.
At that point, it’s on Adebayo. Because Jokić is going to score. He’s too versatile in his attack. But it can’t be easy. It means being willing to absorb the blows Jokić dishes. Fight with him so he doesn’t get position so easily. Force him to pull out his moves, make him turn and spin and dance. Make him shoot over the top and make every shot.
Most important — when he inevitably succeeds, when his flip shots and 3-pointers and runners swish with his trademark precision, it’s not to be discouraged. Jokić can be so demoralizing. To fight as hard as you can, as best you can, to muster all your strength, only to have him score, can weigh on the psyche. And if the plan involves keeping his teammates in check, that means possibly being the prey in one of his historic performances.
It takes a certain mentality to weather and keep coming for more. Shoulders are where one can carry more while still moving forward. Adebayo is here because of this mindset. Jokić is a daunting figure. But the Heat are in the finals, three wins from a championship, with a 6-foot-9 center playing 40 minutes a night because Adebayo wants this type of weight on his shoulders.
“This is the finals. This is what we live for,” he said. “This is the opportunity that we have. This is the opportunity that we don’t want to let slip away. So the biggest thing for me, man, I go out there, I play with a will. I play with passion. And I try to leave it all on the court.”
Adebayo has four parallel scars on the back of his right shoulder. It looks as if something with claws scratched him and left a permanent mark. It’d be perfect for him to explain it with a story about a time he wrestled a bear or saved a kid from a tiger attack.
But, nah, Adebayo passes on embellishment.
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He shared the innocuous story of what happened. It was a crash during a game in the bubble. The scratches came from some apparatus he fell into. No riveting tale of toughness. Just the markings of an accident.
“What I’ve seen, and what I’ve been through,” Adebayo said, “I can just tell the truth. I don’t need to make up scary stories. I’ve lived through it. And I made it out.”
He’s got the shoulders to prove it.
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(Photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
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