MIAMI — The Knicks have had one of the NBA’s best benches all season, the Heat one of the worst.
But Miami has turned the tables in the playoffs, with the single biggest key being former starter — and star — Kyle Lowry.
The veteran has helped spark the Heat to a 2-1 series lead entering Monday’s Game 4 versus the Knicks, coming off the bench despite coach Erik Spoelstra proclaiming him a Hall of Famer.
Many former stars with that pedigree would chafe at a reserve role, but for Lowry, winning is more important than résumé.
“He’s the ultimate winner. What drives him more than anything is winning,” Spoelstra said. “And there were just unfortunate circumstances how we got to this; his injury shutting him down for five weeks. … It just made the most sense initially to bring him off the bench.
“Then it just got so late, we didn’t have a lot of time, we just stayed with it. And he’s been fantastic about it. You’re bringing a Hall of Fame mind off the bench, and our second unit was struggling for much of the year, you shift him into there, a lot of these things we were working on endlessly just kind of get taken care of.
“He’s smart enough and experienced enough to get it. He’s wrapping his mind on just this, what we need from this team right now for this playoff run. That’s [an] incredible luxury. We’re not taking that for granted. Even a guy as smart as him, and he gets it, it’s still not an easy thing to sacrifice. He’s a starter, but right now the mix is really helpful.”
While Bam Adebayo called it a “grown-man move” for Lowry to accept the reserve role after that knee injury, the guard shrugged it off.
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“It’s been working for us as a group, and for me, and we’ve all been on the same page,” Lowry, 37, said. “You all have one common goal. That’s the most important thing.”
Miami’s bench ranked just 22nd in aggregate point differential per 100 possessions, while the Knicks had been fourth-best.
But so far in the playoffs, Miami’s Lowry-led reserves have been No. 1 in the league.
“At this point it’s all about the team and figuring out what the team needs and what’s best for us. At the end of the day, we’re trying to get the total amount of wins to win a championship,” Lowry said. “I’m doing whatever it takes for my team to win games and that’s all that really matters.”
Lowry had 14 points in Miami’s Game 3 win on Saturday.
He started the second quarter with a unit of Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin, Haywood Highsmith and Cody Zeller and the Heat up eight.
By the time stars Jimmy Butler and Adebayo checked back in, the bench had padded the cushion to 19, and Lowry guided most of that run.
The veteran with a 115 playoff appearances — and a 2019 ring with Toronto — was not just an assistant on the floor, but an assistant in Spoelstra’s ear as well.
“I enjoy it. I really do. I like to have players engaged in the game and having suggestions,” Spoelstra said. “I love the dialogue, love learning new things, new perspectives, especially guys that are out there, seeing it, experiencing it. Kyle has so much vast playoff experience, it’d be irresponsible for us not to tap into that knowledge.”