Heat’s Victor Oladipo already making his presence felt with his defense: ‘Vic is electric’

When asked after his season debut last week whether he could help the Miami Heat with his on-ball defense, guard Victor Oladipo responded with a short but very clear answer.

“Yes, without a question,” Oladipo said after his first game of the season.

It’s almost as if Oladipo felt like he didn’t have to answer that question with his words because his play on the court in the ensuing week would be enough.

In his first give games after missing the first 24 games of the season because of left knee tendinosis, Oladipo has made his greatest impact on the defense. His best effort came in the Heat’s 110-108 win against the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, when he recorded season highs in points (12), steals (three) and minutes (31) off the bench.

Whether it was at the top of the Heat’s 2-3 zone or defending one of the Thunders’ top attackers in man-to-man, Oladipo was consistently disruptive to finish Wednesday’s victory with a team-high three deflections and one loose ball recovered on defense. He also closed with a team-best plus/minus of plus-18.

“I thought his 12-point, three-steal game was as impactful as any could be with that kind of stat line,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat continuing its four-game trip Thursday against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center to complete the road back-to-back set.

“He turned the game defensively. Whether we were in the zone or the man, he just seemed like he was all over the place. He really was our best guy containing the ball 1-on-1 and keeping the ball out of the paint. Then he has that X-factor ability with his hands and his anticipation. He can get in passing lanes and he can steal the ball and turn errant passes into turnovers going the other way as well as anybody. He’s very much like Jimmy [Butler] in that regard.”

Just how much of a difference did Oladipo make on defense against the Thunder?

The Heat posted an excellent defensive rating of just 93.5 points allowed per 100 possessions in the 31 minutes Oladipo played on Wednesday. But in the 17 minutes he spent on the bench, Miami allowed 138.9 points per 100 possessions.

Thunder players also combined to shoot just 6 of 20 (30 percent) from the field with Oladipo as their primary defender, according to NBA tracking stats.

“Vic is electric,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “Everybody knows how good of a player Vic is and he’s working his way back and he’s a hell of a defender. We saw that last year in the playoffs, and tonight he showed it once he checked in. He was tough at the top of the zone. He was able to get deflections, get steals and get out in transition.”

It reached a point that Spoelstra simply could not take Oladipo out of Wednesday’s game because of his high-level defensive play. Oladipo played the entire fourth quarter to reach the 30-minute mark for the first time this season despite being on somewhat of a minutes restriction after recently returning from injury.

Oladipo, 30, averaged 20.4 minutes per game in his first four games of the season before logging 31 minutes Wednesday.

“There’s not a hard set line of his minutes,” Spoelstra said. “We would like to keep it less than it was [Wednesday]. But I communicated with him and the training staff and they said, ‘OK, let it roll.’ He felt great. He’s been putting in a lot of work, and this is something that I think he’s been able to really take the last 2.5 months at a healthy rate to build himself up to be able to handle minutes.”

Oladipo said he wasn’t surprised that Spoelstra extended him to 30 minutes against the Thunder, noting that “I think he would have let me play a little longer but I just got a little tired in the second quarter.”

Oladipo was among those who missed Thursday’s game against the Rockets on the second night of the Heat’s back-to-back as a precaution. He was out for what the team listed as left knee injury management.

“Vic did it last year in the playoffs,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “He was really good for us defensively in the playoffs. I just think his ability, his arms and his anticipation, his lateral movements are elite. It’s really impressive for a guy that hasn’t played too much in the last couple years to be able to do that defensive effort.”

Wednesday’s performance shouldn’t be surprising considering Oladipo was voted to the NBA All-Defensive First Team for the 2017-18 season while he was with the Indiana Pacers. But the question has been whether Oladipo could get close to that defensive level after undergoing two significant surgeries on his right knee in the past three-plus years.

“I’m just getting better and better, stronger and stronger every game,” Oladipo said. “It’s different, obviously, right now we’re kind of in the thick of things to find my rhythm. But I have to do other things while I find my rhythm. So just go out there and just play as hard as I can for as long as I can and just continue to stay confident.”

HERRO’S GAME-WINNER

Herro said Spoelstra and Lowry both wanted him to get the ball on the Heat’s final possession with Wednesday’s game tied at 108. Herro delivered, isolating against Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins and dribbling to his right before pulling up for a 19-foot jumper from just outside the paint to hit the game-winner with 5.7 seconds to play.

“I got to my spot,” Herro said. “Coach and Kyle [Lowry] wanted me to get the ball at the top. They wanted me to shoot as late as I could. I tried to get the shot clock down and was able to get to my spot, raise up and knock it down.”

When asked why he wanted Herro to take the final shot, Lowry said: “Boy Wonder, he’s really good, man. Honestly, he really is super talented. His basketball skill work. He really is elite with his skill work, his shot-making ability, getting to his spots. I know he wants it. I said, ‘This is yours and just get to your spot. Take your time. Get to your spot and we’ll live with the result.’”

Along with hitting the game-winner, Herro tied his regular-season career-high with 35 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field and 9-of-17 shooting from three-point range in Wednesday’s victory over the Thunder. The nine three-point makes also set a new career-high for Herro.

“This is just part of the evolution of a very skilled offensive player,” Spoelstra said. “But you just really respect the poise that he had. He wants those situations and now he’s starting to stack up some experience in those moments.”

WHAT TODAY REPRESENTS

While the Heat has never made a trade in December, Dec. 15 marks the unofficial start to NBA trade season.

That’s because just more than 70 free agents who signed with their teams this past offseason became eligible to be traded on Thursday. For the Heat, Udonis Haslem and Caleb Martin became eligible to be included in a trade on Thursday

As unlikely as dealing Haslem is during his 20th and final NBA season, he can’t be traded without his consent. But Martin does not have this veto power.

Then next month on Jan. 15, the final two players on the Heat’s 14-man standard NBA roster who are not yet able to be included in a deal become eligible to be traded. Dewayne Dedmon and Oladipo are eligible to be traded starting on Jan. 15.

Like Haslem, Oladipo also can’t be traded without his consent this season. Dedmon does not have that power.