Miami Heat’s Nikola Jovic, Kel’el Ware fail to measure up

LOS ANGELES —By the end of Thursday night’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs, smallball was the only call for Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Because beyond Bam Adebayo, none of the others in a limited power rotation were able to stand tall.

No, it was not a good night for Nikola Jovic.

And it was even worse for Kel’el Ware.

As for the remaining component in the power rotation, all that needed to be said about the developmental needs of undrafted 7-foot rookie Vlad Goldin is that he was sent to the Sioux Falls Skyforce after the game for seasoning in the G League.

By Thursday’s close, the only playable Heat options at power forward were Simone Fontecchio and Jaime Jaquez Jr., at 6 feet 7 and 6-6, respectively.

Jovic, who had been a spark with the second unit, missed all five of his shots and ended with just one rebound, played for only 9:30, minutes when the Heat were outscored by 13 in the 107-101 loss.

With Ware, the action was longer, but also with the only worse plus/minus on the roster than Jovic, the Heat outscored by 20 in his 20:54, closing scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting, with seven rebounds. A proof of the passivity was that all four shots came at the 3-point line.

Spoelstra initially spoke of needing to go smaller against an opponent that surrounded 7-5 Victor Wembbanyama mostly with wings.

“Well, it’s not necessarily just aggression and scoring,” Spoelstra said. “It’s like OK, this is this type of game. This game is a little bit less fluid. Alright, how else can we make an impact on the game?”

But that’s when Spoelstra also made clear more was needed from Ware and Jovic.

“For Kel’el, it might be 12 rebounds and three changed shots at the rim, playing with energy or whatever. Just whatever, just impact that unit where it’s a positive,” he said.

“Niko, he had a great transition layup and he missed his first layup. And then that kind of changed his energy now for the rest of the game. It’s going to happen. That’s competition.”

It was not what Spoelstra wanted to see from the duo at the start of a challenging four-game western swing that continues Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

“It’s tough on the road,” Spoelstra said. “But now can you come away with 10 rebounds, three deflections, a couple great offensive ball-movement plays where you help somebody else or drive, and then you just feel great about it because you contribute to a win?

“But that’s part of the evolution for young players. It’s all about, can you make your final box score number a positive and a positive in a big way?”

Spoelstra didn’t mention the specific plus/minus of either, but was pointed in his critique.

“I just want everybody to at least be a neutral or positive,” he said. “And you don’t want to be deep in the negative, whatever that may be on the plus-minus.”

The other side

For all the Heat had done in their first four games with pace and scoring, Thursday’s third quarter was the diametric opposite, closing the 12 minutes with just 14 points on 5-of-23 shooting, outrebounded 15-8, with Ware a minus-18 in that period, alone.

“I think we just made a lot of bad decisions on offense,” Fontecchio said. “We stopped shooting the ball for a couple of minutes, and then they hit some shots on the other end. They’re a very good team, and especially at home it’s not easy to beat them.”

Said Spoelstra, “It’s not about how many points can we put up on the board. You have to credit their defense, they played well. When we got in the paint, they were there. We missed some shots that during the course of the game that could change things.”