Dru Smith was still recovering from an ACL injury when the Heat signed him to a two-way contract in July, and the third-year shooting guard is rewarding their faith in him, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Smith was nine games into last season when he hurt his knee on a fall off the courtside ledge in Cleveland. He was dropped from the roster so the Heat could add veteran help, but he remained in the team’s future plans.
Smith scored 11 points in the fourth quarter Sunday as Miami topped the East-leading Cavaliers. He admitted there was some satisfaction in having a big night against the team he was facing when his season ended so abruptly.
“I think it was definitely full circle,” he said. “I think despite whatever it was, it was just nice to have those moments. I don’t have any hard feelings toward the team or the organization.”
Winderman notes that Smith still wears a brace on his right knee and a sleeve to protect the leg, but otherwise there are no indications of the severe injury he suffered a little more than a year ago. He has become a recent fixture in the Heat’s rotation, playing 25:38 on Sunday after logging a career-high 29:19 on Saturday and being on the court for the entire fourth quarter in both games.
“The ball finds energy,” he said, “so just continuing to try to play hard and just make the right play, and eventually things work out.”
There’s more from Miami:
- Thomas Bryant discussed several topics in an interview with Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype, including the possibility of being traded after re-signing with the Heat on a one-year, minimum-salary contract. “You deal with that throughout the NBA, man,” Bryant said. “So it’s a business. You can’t take anything personal. And for me, I’ve never looked at a team to be like, I wanna be traded from here, this or that. No, I look at it as this is who I’m with. This is the guys that I’m trying to build with and build the chemistry and win games with. So I never go into the season thinking that mindset.”
- Bryant played ahead of Kevin Love as the Heat’s primary backup center in the second half of Sunday’s game, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Coach Erik Spoelstra explained that it was a situational decision after Cleveland outscored Miami by 11 points in Love’s 4:50 on the court. “The way they were shifting us and moving us around, it’s not an indictment on K-Love at all,” Spoelstra said. “It’s just what they do for this particular night was kind of getting us scrambled. So we went a different way, and TB gave us a spark. We were able to stabilize.”
- Terry Rozier was more aggressive about looking for his shot in his new role off the bench, Chiang adds. Rozier put up nine shots in the first half on Sunday, and then five more after halftime. “All my coaches and all my teammates always just remind me to be who I am and telling me to attack and be myself,” he said. “I just got to do that every night.”
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