How Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin are thriving as starters-turned-closers for the Heat

Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images

Miami’s bench duo has been sensational through two rounds of the playoffs.

Amid Jimmy Butler’s 56-point, Game 4 detonation of the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round were critical crunch-time contributions from supporting cast members Caleb Martin and Kyle Lowry. Late in the fourth quarter, Martin sprinted from the left corner to the right corner and directed an offensive rebound toward Butler before dotting a jumper over Giannis Antetokounmpo’s outstretched arm. A minute later, he buried a three-ball to give Miami the lead.

As Butler and the Miami Heat diced up Milwaukee’s defense down the stretch, Lowry was setting punishing screens to spring Butler free downhill. Despite not starting, both Martin and Lowry closed that game for the Heat as they established firm control of the series, due in part to the contributions of their reserve duo. En route to a second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance, that sort of occurrence has become commonplace for Martin and Lowry. Before being supplanted by Gabe Vincent and Kevin Love, they combined for 93 regular season starts. Yet in various tightly contested playoff games, they’ve been on the floor as facets of Miami’s closing quintet.

Lowry assumed a full-time bench role when he returned from injury on March 11 and seemed to immediately hit his stride. In 22 games since then, he’s averaging 9.0 points (61.3 percent true shooting), 4.5 assists and 3.1 rebounds, including 10-4.5-3 on 58 percent true shooting in 11 playoff outings. As a starter, he averaged 12-5-4 on 55 percent true shooting. His minutes have decreased from 33 to 24, so the lower workload may have invigorated him physically. He’s maneuvering as spryly as he has in a long time the past couple months.

Martin, meanwhile, is averaging 10.8 points (66.9 percent true shooting) and 5.3 rebounds per game these playoffs. He’s draining 38.6 percent of his triples and 70.6 percent of his twos. He and Lowry are serving out complementary juice alongside Butler and Bam Adebayo. The bench tandem has shared the court for 517 possessions in the playoffs and the Heat have a plus-8.9 net rating during those possessions, according to Cleaning The Glass. Toss Butler and Adebayo in there, and the mark jumps to plus-19.1, albeit in just 178 possessions. Regardless, the Heat are comfortably winning the minutes when Lowry and Martin play, particularly alongside the stars, and their own performances are substantial reasons why.

When Lowry was signed nearly two years ago, the intent was for him to be the pick-and-roll igniter the Heat missed once Goran Dragic’s game declined. At times, Lowry’s brought that dynamic. Often, though, he was far too passive and overly reliant on the pocket pass to his big man. In the playoffs, he’s balancing gusto as a pull-up shooter and composure as a table-setter well, showcasing rapport with his screening partners, Adebayo and Cody Zeller.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Lowry captained 22.2 ball screens per 100 possessions and generated 0.956 points per chance (34th percentile) in the regular season. Through 11 playoff contests, he’s initiating 33.6 ball screens per 100 possessions and yielding 1.157 points per chance (76th percentile). A ton of the reps resemble vintage Lowry: the pop gun release off the bounce, a carousel of pivots until a preferable angle arises, and snaking into space for jumpers. He’s producing 1.23 points as an off-the-dribble marksman, which ranks in the 92nd percentile, per Synergy.

Miami operates slowly. It ranked 29th in pace during the regular season and is ninth among 16 playoff teams thus far. Lowry, though, embeds a quick-hitting dynamic to help spark some open floor hoops for an offense that can trudge to a malaise in the half-court. Just like Kevin Love’s outlet passing augments folks such as Butler and Adebayo’s penchant for leaking out, Lowry loves to scan the court and accelerate the tempo to avoid the potential constraints of half-court proceedings.

Whether it’s a hit-ahead loft, cross-court laser or foray into the lane himself, he enjoys a knack for transition opportunities. That was a hallmark of his game during his Toronto Raptors tenure, somewhat because so many of those teams were defensively inclined and didn’t always score reliably in the half-court. We saw less of it this season as Lowry looked limited through much of the year. It’s returned in waves as Miami marches to the doorstep of the NBA Finals.

The final play above is quintessential Lowry. He touched the paint five seconds into the possession, collapsed the New Yorks Knicks’ defense and immediately zipped beyond the arc for a relocation three after giving up the ball. His Raptors highlights are littered with drive-relocation-fire sequences like those. His burst, vigor and scoring approach hopped in a time machine for this playoff run, and that bucket best personifies his rejuvenation.

Some of that rejuvenation is seeping into his defense as well. He’s still prone to breakdowns at the point-of-attack — the lateral quickness just isn’t there anymore. Yet his signature interior rotations are more frequent, he’s been a pest playing atop Miami’s 2-3 zone and he’s applying his strength on and off the ball in differing manners. Among point guards, his 1.8 percent steal rate ranks in the 69th percentile and 1.6 percent block rate ranks in the 94th percentile. He’s been feisty, dexterous and impactful.

Whereas Lowry is orchestrating a slew of profitable offensive possessions, Martin is capitalizing on how guys like Lowry and Butler tilt defenses. His 38.6 percent clip from deep is second behind Duncan Robinson among Miami’s rotation players and his 70.6 mark inside the arc only trails Max Strus (73.1 percent), who also deserves his flowers in the playoffs.

Martin’s blend of credible long-range shooting and slashing aren’t replicated elsewhere on the roster. He’s not bashful as a shooter in the face of earnest rotations and that carves out lanes to the rim, where he’s shooting 67 percent (58th percentile among forwards, per Cleaning The Glass).

He’s both patient and explosive, and wields lengthy strides to cover ground. Defenders bite on his fakes and he’s keen about forging subtle advantages with savvy footwork. According to Sports Info Solutions, he’s scoring 1.32 points per chance (82nd percentile) against closeouts. He’s been a menace exploiting defenses on their heels scrambling to recover.

Martin’s 6’5 frame, discipline, and mobility have helped contain star guards Jrue Holiday and Jalen Brunson in spurts through two rounds. Brunson was sensational against Miami, but Martin’s size advantage occasionally disrupted his rhythm and invaded his space from midrange, funneling possessions elsewhere — a considerable win for the Heat defense.

Holiday was not good against Miami. Martin hounded him full court for periods, largely matched his strength to quell that as a means of creation and lured him into the tenuous decisions associated with his recent playoff foibles offensively. Miami will need more of this against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown next round.

Last season, Martin and Lowry (who was dealing with some injuries) struggled as Miami ventured to the precipice of a second NBA Finals in three years. This season, the Heat currently stand four wins away instead of one, but Martin and Lowry are integral and excelling in this run. They all get another crack at the Boston Celtics beginning Wednesday night, a chance for individual and collective redemption. To this point, Martin and Lowry are delivering on the former. They’ll likely have to keep doing so to give everyone a shot at the latter.