victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cPelle is undeniable,\u201d\u00a0 Spoelstra said, with the Heat turning their attention to Friday night\u2019s rematch against the Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. \u201cYou can\u2019t take him off the floor. So I didn\u2019t think anything of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t think anything of it that we made the change. Because I know, and I know that he knows that I know that he\u2019s going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larsson did take the move in stride, to a degree, considering how it changed his stride.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like it had been a while,\u201d he said of hitting the floor while others already have been running. \u201cThe other guys get a little head start on you. They\u2019re a little bit warmer.\u201d<\/p>\n
But because of who he is, the 25-year-old Swede simply turned what some would perceive as a negative into a positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then my energy was higher than theirs when I got in, because I had the rest,\u201d he said of Wednesday\u2019s initial action off the bench. \u201cAnd then I could carry that throughout the whole second quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n
What mattered most to Larsson was still playing as a closer on Wednesday night, as the Heat pulled away in the fourth quarter to snap a five-game losing streak, with such a finishing role now the focus amid the lineup switch.<\/p>\n
\u201cClosing is definitely more important than starting,\u201d he said. \u201cJust being out there on the court as much as I can is a privilege and really fun. So the more I can be out there, the better. And if it\u2019s starting or not, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the statistics say otherwise, which is why it might not be as simple a transition from the starting lineup as unplug and play.<\/p>\n
While the averages are difficult to compare, considering Larsson has averaged 28.5 minutes per game in his 48 starts compared to 17.0 in his 14 games off the bench, the shooting percentages are considerably lower as a reserve, with the field-goal percentage .509 as a starter compared to .379 as a reserve, and a true shooting percentage of .621 as a starter compared to .509 as a reserve. But all but Wednesday night\u2019s reserve action came early in the season, when Larsson still was gaining his footing.<\/p>\n
Spoelstra said what Larsson provides any unit transcends shooting splits or role in the rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBall on the floor, ball in the air,\u00a0 I just love the way he competes, how he impacts the game,\u201d Spoelstra said, \u201cAnd his teammates really appreciate him, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powell, in fact, noted how inspiring it was to watch Larsson help spark the second unit on Wednesday night, particularly after some uneven moments by the new starting unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hustle plays, the second- and third-effort plays, the cut and move,\u201d Powell said.<\/p>\n
Now also with the confidence to help lead the second unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more time you spend with someone, the more comfortable you get in that relationship,\u201d he said of his evolving roles in his second season. \u201cAlso, being able to show a little bit more what I can do on the court, I think makes people trust me more. We have a pretty open locker room; anyone can kind of talk and share their voice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 The untold part of the NBA lineup\/rotation process is managing the egos, selling teammates on being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-208412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}