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Terry Rozier still waiting to get the drop on his Heat fit, ‘I can’t hit a jump shot’

ira winderman, south florida sun-sentinel
·3 min read

MIAMI – For now, instead of baskets, candor will have to do at the moment for Terry Rozier.

“I can’t hit a jump shot,” the recently acquired Heat guard said after going 0 for 5 on 3-pointers in Sunday night’s 103-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. “Part of it is you just got to keep shooting, shoot yourself out of the slump.”

To teammates, there is another element of the equation, the adjustment factor, with Rozier acquired Jan. 23 from the Charlotte Hornets for Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick.

Forward Kevin Love said he recalled similar acclimation issues when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015 and in-season moves were made.

“It definitely takes a minute for guys to get acclimated,” Love said. “I know when we made midseason trades, we brought in Timofey Mozgov, we bright in Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, even Channing Frye that year, as well. It definitely takes time to acclimate, to find ourselves, especially on the offensive end. The good news is we have some time, but we certainly need to keep racking up wins.”

Guard Josh Richardson said it hasn’t been made any easier with Rozier brought in during the Heat’s seven-game losing streak, with the Heat having lost the first three in that slide before Rozier’s Jan. 24 Heat debut.

“It’s different, being traded at midseason, coming to a contending team, is never easy,” said Richardson, who three times in his career has been traded during a season. “It’s a lot of pressure on a lot of things you do. But I think T-Ro has been good so far. I think that he’s been aggressive, he’s been trying to play in the offense and has been trying to get guys involved and play with pace. I think he’s been good so far.”

Except for the shooting percentages, although Sunday’s 7 of 17 still was somewhat of a step forward, as were Rozier’s 17 points.

“I don’t try to get too much into myself,” Rozier said, with the Heat next facing the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night at Kaseya Center. “I’m a team player. You look at the end, and you worry about wins and losses. I’m not happy that we got the L (Sunday). But like I say, I’m my toughest critic. I got to keep putting the work in. It’s going to fall for me.”

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Because it’s not as if there isn’t a stroke there, with Rozer having made his last 19 free throws.

“We want him to be aggressive,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Everybody is saying the same thing. He is very respectful of everybody in the locker room. But we’re better with his aggressiveness, for sure.”

Lineup shuffle

With Tyler Herro missing Sunday’s game due to a migraine, it left the Heat with 26 starting lineups in their 26 games. That puts them third in the NBA behind the 29 lineups of the Memphis Grizzlies and the 28 of the Dallas Mavericks . . .

With his 21 points Sunday, Jimmy Butler has now scored 20 or more in five consecutive games, his longest such run of the season.. Over his last five games, he is averaging 26 points on .573 shooting . . .

With Sunday’s 14 points and 13 rebounds, Heat center Bam Adebayo now has double-doubles in 17 of his last 22 games. He is the first Heat player with 17 double-doubles in a 22-game span since Hassan Whiteside did it from March 3, 21- April 12, 2017.