Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra talked about the new look that big man Kristaps Porzingis brings to the Boston Celtics following yesterday’s 110-106 home loss (25 points/9 rebounds/3 assists/2 blocks/8-14 FG/2-4 3-PT/7-9 FT/+2 +/-).
(via Miami Heat):
Reporter: “Now you’ve seen him for a few games, how has Porzingis kind of changed the look and feel of this matchup? And how do you evaluate when he’s getting a shorter guy on him, but he’s also just kind of shooting over the top of those guys?”
Spoelstra: “I think it gives them a different look of somebody that’s… he’s not 6-9, so if you switch or do some different things, he can shoot it right over the top. With him, it’s always been about health, because he’s always been a very impactful player. His nickname, whatever, that’s for a reason. There’s just not a lot of guys that size, that shooting ability, and so forth. But even with that said, I thought we managed that well enough. The efforts we were making were good enough. Probably the most collapsing plays were the second chance opportunity plays, and now, that gave them a little bit more life or put a little bit more pressure on us at the other end where we felt like we had to score.”
