Heat's Erik Spoelstra gets 100% real on potential play-in tournament X-factor (2025)

MIAMI – As the Miami Heat are experiencing a turnaround in the form of a six-game winning streak before Thursday's contest after going on a 10-game skid, the team looks to continue their winning ways. While the Heat believe they're trending in the right direction, the team is still awaiting the returns of such stars from injury such as Andrew Wiggins, but the good news is the unit is getting back Duncan Robinson.

Miami's dynamic three-point shooter since 2018 had missed the last five games due to what was labeled as “Left Sacroiliac Joint; Dysfunction” per the team. It's a back injury that could concern some fans since Robinson dealt with an issue in the same area towards the end of last season that made him miss a sizable amount of time.

Fortunately, he made his return as the team hosted the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night as head coach Erik Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints that it isn't the same injury as last season. He would also emphasize how crucial Robinson is to the Heat's offense since he activates “offensive triggers” for them as he's been a premier three-pointer shooter since his emergence in the league.

“The most important thing is he feels a lot better,” Spoelstra said. “This is not what he was dealing with last year. He was able to get some really good work in. And he creates a lot of, you know, offensive triggers for us, and it is good to have him back in the mix.”

This season in 68 games before Thursday, the 30-year-old is averaging 11 points, 2.5 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from three-point range.

Pelle Larsson also could give Heat a spark off the bench

There's no doubt that Robinson will be integral for the remainder of the regular season, especially once the Heat competes in the play-in tournament where any spark is needed. Still, Robinson has been engrained into Spoelstra's system where his absence is felt as while the team has been doing well without him, it's likely not to be sustainable as his three-point shooting is part of their success.

While Robinson's return is huge, there's been a few players that have shown up big-time during the six-game winning streak whether it be newcomers Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson. However, rookie Pelle Larsson has had his number called by Spoelstra for the last four games in the starting lineup, scoring in double-digits for the first three.

Spoelstra would speak before Thursday's game about Larsson and how he's been able to learn the NBA throughout the season and the “nuances of really good offensive players.”

“He’s always had the ability to be a plug-and-play role player, he has the intangibles, the winning stuff that doesn't necessarily show up in the box score,” Spoelstra said. “But then learning the league, learning the nuances of really good offensive players, how they know how to draw fouls, how they know how to get away from coverages, that's been really important. And then, you know, his work ethic has allowed him to improve. He's much different now than the player offensively we got in July, and he's much different than who he was in November and December. It's just consistent work every day.”

Robinson, Larsson, and others look to make a major impact alongside Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo come the play-in tourney, but the Heat first look to solidify their seeding as they're currently ninth before Thursday's outing.