The Phoenix Suns are 8-2 this season when Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are all available, but are 1-7 when Durant is out.
On Saturday night, when the Suns visit the Miami Heat, Durant won’t play due to an injured left ankle.
That puts more pressure on Booker, who is averaging 25.1 points and 6.3 assists.
The Suns are 6-1 when Booker dishes eight or more assists, and he likes to play the entire first quarter so he can get in the flow.
“That allows me to score,” Booker said, “and also to facilitate.”
The Suns are also without starting center Jusuf Nurkic (right thigh contusion). Nurkic is averaging 8.9 points and a team-high 9.9 rebounds.
Royce O’Neale (10 points, 6 rebounds) has replaced Durant as a starter. Mason Plumlee (4.6 points, 5.9 rebounds) has filled in for Nurkic.
The Suns will especially miss Durant, who is expected to be out for a week. He leads them in scoring (25.8) and averages 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists.
But the Suns still have starters such as Beal (18.0 points) and Tyus Jones (11.8 points, team-high 7 assists).
Role players such as Grayson Allen (10.6 points) are hugely important on this top-heavy team.
The Suns earned a 115-112 home win over the Heat earlier this season. However, the Suns were fully healthy then.
Miami’s Tyler Herro had 28 points and six assists in that game, and he will surely be at the top of the Suns’ scouting report.
For the season, Herro leads Miami in scoring (24.1 points) and averages 5.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists while shooting a career-high 42 percent on 3-pointers.
Versatile Heat center Bam Adebayo’s scoring is down nearly four points from last season, to 15.6, but he leads the team in rebounds (9.9) and assists (5).
Miami’s third star is Jimmy Butler, who has missed five games due to injuries already this season. Meanwhile, Herro and Adebayo have played every game.
Butler is averaging 18.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists over 15 games.
There has been a lot of speculation regarding possible slippage in the 35-year-old Butler’s game. He doesn’t take many 3-pointers and makes them at a pedestrian rate (36.4 percent).
However, Butler draws fouls, leads the team in free-throw attempts (7.6 per game) and his offensive rating (points produced per 100 possessions) is the best of any Heat player at 136.
For context, Adebayo is second on the team at four free throws per game. And, for perspective, Herro’s offensive rating is 117 and Adebayo’s is 111.
Like the Suns, role players are big for the Heat, and that includes Terry Rozier, who ranks fourth on the team in scoring (12.7), and shooter Duncan Robinson (10.2 points, 36 percent on 3-pointers).
Kevin Love, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Haywood Highsmith provide plenty of depth for Miami.
All nine of those players have started at least one game this season.
Jovic, who has eight starts, has found himself out of Miami’s rotation, getting zero playing time over the past six games.
“I know I’m a good player — I don’t think it’s that,” Jovic told The Miami Herald. “It’s the style of play and the things (coach Erik Spoelstra) wants from certain lineups.”
–Field Level Media
