Heat’s depth is showing, and it’s becoming a strength: ‘We just got a lot of talented dudes’

It didn’t take long for Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to notice that the team’s depth would be a major strength this season.

“I think we’re deeper than we were last year,” Spoelstra said on the third day of training camp in early October.

That depth has been on display lately, and it made an appearance in Thursday night’s 142-132 win against the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center that snapped the Heat’s three-game losing skid.

With Tyler Herro missing his 11th game in a row because of a sprained right ankle and Bam Adebayo exiting Thursday’s game midway through the second quarter after re-aggravating his left hip contusion, the Heat’s bench stepped up to outscore the Pacers’ reserves 66-23 in the victory.

The Heat’s four primary reserves continue to be Josh Richardson (19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, four rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes on Thursday), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (24 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and five rebounds in 33 minutes), Kevin Love (five points, eight rebounds and six assists in 17 minutes) and Caleb Martin (14 points, five rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes). On Thursday, Miami extended the bench rotation to six players, with Thomas Bryant (six minutes) and Orlando Robinson (seven minutes) logging limited minutes after Adebayo left the game with his injury.

“We’re figuring it out,” Martin said of the bench unit, with the Heat (11-8) preparing for another matchup against the high-scoring and fast-paced Pacers (9-8) on Saturday at Kaseya Center (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “I think that we’re just showing our versatility when it comes to that end of the ball. We’re able to put points on the board and get stops at the same time.”

Among the Heat’s top four reserves at the moment, Richardson and Jaquez are the new faces after Richardson signed with the Heat in free agency and Jaquez was selected in the first round of the draft this past summer. In addition, Love only played off the bench in four games last regular season after joining the Heat in February following a buyout agreement with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“We don’t even fully know each other’s game like that,” Martin continued. “We just don’t know each other like that. So I think we’re starting to jell game by game and it’s getting easier with each other.”

It also helps that the Heat’s reserves all understand the goal is to produce positive minutes when the starters are out of the game. They met that goal in Thursday’s win over the Pacers, as Richardson finished with a team-best plus/minus of plus 22, Jaquez with a plus/minus of plus 18, Love with a plus/minus of plus-10 and Martin with a plus/minus of plus-15.

“That’s the gang,” Richardson said when asked about the Heat’s bench. “We talk about it a lot, we try not to be negatives when we’re out there. I mean, it’s bound to happen sometimes. But we just go out there putting our best foot forward and try to play as hard as we can, hold the rope for the starters.”

The best example of that came in Thursday’s fourth quarter when the Heat began the period with a lineup of Richardson, Martin, Jaquez, Duncan Robinson and Orlando Robinson on the court.

With Adebayo back in the locker room because of his hip injury and Butler taking his usual rest at the start of the fourth quarter, that lineup made up of mostly reserves began the final period on a 13-7 run turn a three-point deficit at the start of the quarter into a three-point lead by the time Butler re-entered the game with 7:52 to play.

That set the tone for a fourth quarter that the Heat dominated 45-32 on its way to the 10-point win. The Heat’s 45 points in the fourth quarter went down as the second-highest-scoring fourth quarter in franchise history behind only a 48-point fourth quarter in a March 2, 1989 loss to the New York Knicks.

“You can tell that’s the main thing that everybody looks at whenever they’re on the court, especially in the second unit,” Martin said of the plus/minus column on the box score. “You take pride in impacting the game and winning. So it’s hard for guys in our position to look at points and that type of stuff. You want to go in there and have an impact winning. So of course, that’s the first thing we look at is the plus/minus. I think that’s what we do really well in the second unit.”

This doesn’t mean the Heat’s bench will produce positive minutes every night while Adebayo and Butler are out of the game, but the improved depth has helped the team survive those minutes this season.

According to Cleaning The Glass, the Heat has only been outscored by 0.6 points per 100 possessions with Adebeyo and Butler off the court this season compared to being outscored by 3.6 points per 100 possessions when they both weren’t in the game last season.

“There’s a lot of versatility,” Richardson said of the Heat’s bench mix. “I can handle, Caleb can handle, rook [Jaquez] can handle. They’re great cutters, great shooters. We just are kind of finding a chemistry. We get stops, we all sit down on defense and communicate. K-Love being out there just spraying the ball around just makes it that much easier for us.”

The Heat bench’s numbers don’t stand out but are solid, entering Friday as the 12th-highest scoring unit (36 points per game) on 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 34.1 percent shooting from three-point range. Miami’s reserves also have combined to outscore opponents by 1.1 points per 100 possessions.

Context makes that production more impressive, considering injuries have already forced the Heat to use 12 different starting lineups in the first 19 games. All of those different starting combinations have led to constant changes throughout the bench rotation.

One of those changes: Duncan Robinson, who began the season playing off the bench, has started in nine straight appearances in place of the injured Herro.

Also, Martin was forced to miss 10 straight games before returning two weeks ago.

“I’m proud of that second unit and proud of how everybody is adjusting to different lineups and different rotations, that type of stuff,” Martin said. “Everybody is in a good mental place. That’s what I like about our group. We’re just so willing to do what it takes.”

Herro is expected to return at some point in December and that could push Duncan Robinson back into a bench role, making the Heat even deeper.

“That’s scary, man,” Martin said. “Shoot, Duncan is coming off a hand injury, you got Tyler who’s not even back in the mix. We got a lot of guys we can turn to and that’s the scary thing about it. ... We just got a lot of talented dudes who are ready whenever their name is going to be called.

“Everybody knows about Tyler. He’s going to come in and be Tyler. He’s been so big for us the last couple years I’ve been here and I’m excited to get him back in the mix, too, just to add to the depth and get him back rolling. We’re going to be in good shape.”