Miami Heat's Victor Oladipo Impacting At Both Ends Of Floor

Oladipo contributing as a scorer and defender since returning
Miami Heat's Victor Oladipo Impacting At Both Ends Of Floor
Miami Heat's Victor Oladipo Impacting At Both Ends Of Floor /

Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo will only get more comfortable with time. 

Oladipo has only played five games this season because of injuries but feels it's only a matter of time before he is fully back. 

"I feel comfortable," Oladipo said. "Obviously if you look at the grand scheme of things, I really haven't had a lot of minutes with pretty much everybody. At the end of the day, these are great reps for us. I'm trying to get used to playing everybody and just playing in general and finding my rhythm and finding my stride as I do that."

Oladipo had 12 points and three steals in the Heat's 110-108 victory Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. While the Heat eventually want more scoring, they're fine with his defensive player. 

"Vic was electric," Heat guard Tyler Herro said. "Everyone knows how good of a player Vic is. He's working his way back. He's a hell of a defender. We seen it last year in the playoffs. Once he checked in, he was tough on top of the zone. He was able to get deflections, get steals and get out in transition."

The next question is the pace of Oladipo's return. He played a season-high 31 minutes Wednesday, but the Heat staff will monitor it the remainder of the season. 

"There's not a hard set line of his minutes," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We would like to keep less than it was tonight. I communicated with him and the training staff and they said, `OK, let it roll.' He felt great. He's been putting in a lot of work and this is something I think he's been able to really take the last two and a half months at a healthy rate to build himself up to to be able to handle minutes."'

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Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Inside The Heat.

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here