The Miami Heat will be without one of their top scorers for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics, as Gabe Vincent was ruled out with a sprained ankle.
That might sound like a troubling circumstance to most, but Miami is claiming to see a luxury in the absence of their 17.5-point per game scorer.
"We haven't played traditionally (through the point guard) basically all season. That's the luxury of the versatility of this roster, having guys like Jimmy and Bam that can handle and shoulder a lot of those responsibilities," Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said Thursday, per CLNS' Bobby Manning. "Kyle (Lowry), obviously, is feeling great where he is physically. He loves to compete, loves these moments and Caleb has really grown as a ball-handler as well. This is go time. This is not January (for Lowry). There's a confidence level."
Though he didn't confirm as much during the Heat shootaround, Spoelstra appeared to hint at starting Lowry for Game 5 at TD Garden.
Lowry has been extremely hot-and-cold during the series against Boston, following up a 15-point performance in Game 1 with scoring outputs of zero, seven and five. Though he hasn't been a tremendous scoring asset, the 37-year-old has provided stability and ball handling to Miami's second unit. That could force the Heat to keep him on the bench and choose another option in the starting lineup.
"Lowry brought that to the second unit," Spoelstra said, per Manning. "That has really helped stabilize that group. It was what we really needed, it was a real bonus that happened unfortunately because he was out for five weeks and we had to take this step to get him back into it. You can expect a pretty decent amount of minutes from him, however we do it."
The Heat have plenty of options to replace Vincent, though the decision really comes down to either Lowry or Caleb Martin, who very well could receive the Larry Bird Trophy as Eastern Conference finals MVP should Miami close things out. The 27-year-old has averaged 18.5 points per game in the series, playing a total 132 minutes off the bench.
