MIAMI — In case anybody was wondering, Hassan Whiteside got the message.
Starting guards Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters spent the two days leading up to Wednesday’s game asking for better screens. Whiteside responded to their request by pointing the finger back at them after Tuesday’s practice, urging them to be patient when using his screens.
But they were all on the same page in Wednesday’s 104-98 win over the Celtics.
Whiteside finished Wednesday’s game with eight points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes. But those aren’t the numbers that tell the story.
Whiteside, who is averaging 2.4 screen assists per game, finished with five screen assists against Boston — one shy of his season-high of six that came in a win over the Jazz on Nov. 10. Wednesday’s impressive screening performance came just a few days after the Heat’s $98 million center recorded zero screen assists in Sunday’s blowout loss to the Pacers.
Screening is an important part of the Heat’s drive-and-kick offense, with Dragic and Waiters relying on solid screens to help give them space to get into the paint. During the 30-11 run over the final 41 games last season, Miami averaged 10.7 screen assists per game and Whiteside accounted for 3.6 of them.
“I would argue that this might have been Hassan’s best screening game,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after Wednesday’s win over Boston. “So you look at so many things that are deceptive about a box score. He has eight points and 10 rebounds, which is pretty pedestrian for him, and a minus-11 in a plus-minus and it doesn’t, at all, display the type of winning plays that he was making tonight.
Dragic and Waiters benefited from Whiteside’s inspired screening performance Wednesday. The Heat’s starting backcourt combined to record 53 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists while committing just four turnovers against the Celtics.
Those 53 points are the second-most Dragic and Waiters have combined to score in a game since they began playing together last season. They teamed up to score 58 in a win over the Bucks on Jan. 21, 2017.
When Wednesday’s game was done, 21 of Dragic and Waiters’ combined 41 shots came from inside the paint.
And Dragic and Waiters believe Whiteside did a great job setting screens. They’re all on the same page again.
“First and foremost, big shout out to Hassan Whiteside,” Waiters said. “Those screens, that’s how we preach to him all of the time. Whitey sometimes tries to come up there and get the roll. But most of the time if you’re not hitting the guys, it’s hard for us to really get into the paint because of how they’re playing us. Because they don’t want us to get the lob. He was coming up big. Then he was holding the screens, that allowed us to turn the corner, get downhill between us and the big.