A year ago, Duncan Robinson essentially was finished at the start when it came to the postseason. Even with a 27-point playoff-opening performance in a victory over the Atlanta Hawks, the writing was on the wall for the Miami Heat’s 3-point specialist.
Soon enough, his job would become Max Strus’ job, largely because of concerns on the defensive end.
By the second game of the 2022 postseason, Robinson was down to seven minutes of action. He would not play more than 14 for over a month. Five times during the Heat’s run within a game of the NBA Finals, he was held out by coach’s decision, including the playoff finale against the Boston Celtics.
This season, it appeared it would be trending in that direction again for the fifth-year guard.
Then starting shooting guard Tyler Herro broke his right hand in Game 1 of this best-of-seven Eastern Conference series against the Milwaukee Bucks. And then Robinson became something he hadn’t been for most of the past 12 months — essential.
Going into Wednesday night’s Game 5 against the Bucks at Fiserv Forum, Robinson had logged at least 24 minutes in each of the previous three games, as the Heat built their 3-1 lead. To put that into perspective, Robinson had played 24 minutes or more just once in 2023 before the Heat went mostly with reserves over their final two meaningless regular-season games, with January finger surgery factoring into that lack of action.
“I’ve been working to really just stay ready for these moments and do whatever I can day to day to just control my habits, control what I can control,” he said. “And then when I do have opportunities, just put my best foot forward and try to make the most of them.”
The footing in the first four games of the series could not have been better, Robinson at 13 of 17 on 3-pointers, with at least three a game since the series opener, going into Wednesday night.
As with Robinson’s best of times, when he was taking the league by storm after going undrafted out of Michigan in 2018, the mandate remains to launch early, often, relentlessly.
During Monday night’s Game 4 victory at Kaseya Center, no sooner had Robinson bypassed an open 3-point look in favor of a pass than coach Erik Spoelstra stomped to midcourt with the type of ire typically reserved for the worst of mental blunders.
Message received.
“Our staff and team is yelling at me on the shots I don’t shoot,” said Robinson, who turned 29 Saturday. “So that’s a pretty freeing place to be between the ears, just knowing you got to go out there and fulfill your job to the best of your ability.
“You know, they’re a good defense, so they take some stuff away. They’re going to take the easy ones away. But you just got to be persistent to find openings.”
With Robinson’s 3-point percentage having dropped during each of the past three regular seasons from his .446 in 2019-20 to .328 this season, the Heat proved unable to sustain their 3-pointer success, closing 27th in the NBA this season.
But this series has been different, decidedly different.
Now Spoelstra said, doubt at your own peril.
“We’ve been one of the best three-point shooting teams since the All-Star break,” Spoelstra said, “and a lot of guys have been contributing to that and we’re getting them in a lot of different ways. So I hope everybody just starts continuing to use the November, December scouting report.”
For years, Robinson had been near the top of opposing scouting reports. Then his shot disappeared. Then, at the start of last season’s playoffs, he disappeared.
But the work, he said, continued unabated, even as he went from undrafted revelation to five-year, $90 million contract.
“I like to think that I’ve been just kind of slowly grinding, working to piece together a moment like this,” he said.
Now he’s back in the mix, teammates again seeking to set him free.
“Obviously I rely on my teammates a lot, set screens and move the ball and stuff like that,” he said. “It makes it easier for me to be aggressive when they’re encouraging me and imploring me to continue to be aggressive.”
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