Coach Of The Year Awards Or Not, Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra Made All The Right Moves In Milwaukee Series
Here's one of the most bizarre stats in the NBA right now:
Mike Budenholzer 2, Erik Spoelstra 0
That's how many Coach of the Year awards Budenholzer has more than Spoelstra. After watching the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks in their first-round series, it would leave many scratching their heads.
Spoelstra easily won the coaching competition, leading the Heat to an upset of the top-seeded Bucks. He made all right moves while Budenholzer was yet again exposed.
The Heat trailed by 16 in the fourth quarter when Spoelstra took over. Midway through, he put the ball more in center Bam Adebayo's hands to make him a facilitator. That allowed Jimmy Butler to play off the ball more, so he could add to his 42-point effort. Then with the game on the line, Spoelstra allowed himself to defer to Butler. Spoelstra had a play called but switched at Butler's request.
“He looked me dead in the eye and he just said, 'No. Let me be that guy,"' Spoelstra said of Butler.
The plan worked, forcing overtime and eventually led to victory. Spoelstra became just the sixth coach with 100 playoff wins, joining Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers and Larry Brown.
Now, let's take a look at the other side of the ball.
Butler averaged 37.6 points in the series on nearly 60 percent shooting. After Game 5, Giannis Antetokounmpo said he would have taken the challenge of defending Butler but respected his coach's decision of staying with Jrue Holiday. Never mind that Antetokounmpo is annually up for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
When Spoelstra coached LeBron James, he always made sure James was on the opposing team's best or effective player in the fourth quarter. Remember James guarding Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo? The Heat called it "cutting off the head" of the offense. Same with Tony Parker when they played the San Antonio Spurs.
"I don't think as a team we made the right, or we didn't make as many, adjustments as we could against [Butler]," Antetokounmpo said.
And then there was the timeout situation.
Budenholzer twice refused to call one, at the end of regulation with 0.5 seconds left and during the final possession in overtime. In regulation, a timeout advances the ball to halfcourt and the Bucks at least have a chance to attempt a winning play. Budenholzer then watched Grayson Allen, of all players, dribble out the clock in overtime ... of a season-ending loss.
Does that happen on a Spoelstra-led team? Probably not.
No wonder Spoelstra doesn't have any Coach of the Year trophies at his office.
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Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Inside The Heat.
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