One of the most surprising things about the Miami Heat’s deep postseason run in the 2022 NBA Playoffs was how little sharpshooter Duncan Robinson played.
After averaging 25.9 minutes per game in the regular season and starting 68 of the 79 games he played in along the way, Robinson did not start a single game in the playoffs. In the 13 postseason games he did play in, he logged just 12.2 minutes per contest.
It was a big change for the Heat and for Robinson. The 28-year-old recently opened up about how the change impacted him.
Robinson had a decent season for the Heat during the regular season. He averaged 10.9 points per game and shot 37.2 percent from beyond the arc.
However, it likely wasn’t his offensive game that earned him a spot on the bench for a good chunk of the playoffs. Instead, it was almost certainly his weakness on the defensive end.
Of course, playoff basketball is known to get more intense and competitive than regular season ball for obvious reasons. Moreover, teams often shorten their rotations, opting to leave their best players in for longer stretches. That sometimes puts out players who struggle defensively.
Hopefully, Robinson can take the difficult experience and turn it into fuel to get better. At 6-foot-7 and 215 pounds, he has the size and frame to be a better defender than he is.
If he can find a way to defend opposing players better and continue to knock down 3-pointers at an impressive clip, chances are good he’ll earn far more playing time in future playoff runs.
