CLEVELAND — As the clock wound down Friday night in Atlanta, as Davion Mitchell drained another overtime 3-pointer, as it became clear that the Miami Heat were about to advance to the playoffs as a No. 10 seed, the euphoria on the bench was palpable.
Arguably no player in that moment, as captured in a photo posted by the Heat’s social-media team, was more effusive in his joy than Terry Rozier.
As in the guard who did not play in either of the two required play-in victories. As in the veteran who had lost his playing time to Mitchell and others in Erik Spoelstra’s rotation.
As the Heat prepared for Sunday night’s playoff opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena, Rozier said after the morning shootaround that he remains all-in when it comes to whatever energy is required, even as cheerleader.
Which reaction is your favorite, ours is all of them pic.twitter.com/cwKoJTSzUO
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 19, 2025
“I’m the type of guy that I don’t carry bad energy,” he said hours before the start of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference opening-round series. “I’m not a hater, especially on none of my teammates. I just feel like if you waste energy with that; it’s not going to change nothing.
“Davion didn’t do nothing to me. He’s playing very well. So I’m just happy to see his success.”
Rozier said he is ready to provide more if needed and called upon.
“I just still believe that this still could turn for me,” he said, out of a rotation role since mid-March. ” You’ve just got to be optimistic with it. And I’m just a positive guy. So I just love to see that if I’m not playing, we still got into the playoffs and hopefully we can do something special.”
Rozier said he believes the emotion provided from the bench can produce tangible results.
“I think it’s real,” the Cleveland-area native said, “Anybody that sees that, it just makes them feel good. I think it’s real, and especially playing on the road, when it’s just us. You want to rally around each other. I think when guys look at the bench and see their guys going crazy, I think they feel good.”
The Max factor
In his comments leading up to Sunday night’s game, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson noted the input from former Heat guard Max Strus when it came to series preparation.
“He was most vocal in film today and added three or four tidbits, a couple of strategic points on their style of play,” Atkinson said. “He knows the personnel, gave a couple of things the coaches didn’t bring up.”
As it is, the only players who remain from when Strus last played with the Heat, in Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals, are Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, Kevin Love and Nikola Jovic.
“A whole different scheme,” said Adebayo. “A whole different lineup, different personnel, so it’s not the same.”
But if the Cavaliers want to believe otherwise, Herro deadpanned after the morning shootaround, so be it.
“I think everything is the same, the exact same,” Herro said with a smile. “We’ve been doing the exact same stuff for two years. So he knows exactly what we’re doing.”
Helping hands
A day after Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy had a moment with Nuggets center Nikola Jokic when it came to refusal to hand over a ball that went into the Clippers’ bench, Heat players were asked which of their assistants could similarly strongarm Jokic to avoid a quick opposing inbounds.
Adebayo cited Caron Butler and Chris Quinn, a pair of former Heat players.
“I would say Caron. Him or Quinny,” Adebayo said with a grin. “They played in the league. They know how to manipulate the game a little bit.”
For his part, Herro leaned toward Butler or assistant Malik Allen, another former Heat player.
“I’m probably going to go with Malik, for sure. Definitely Malik or Caron,” Herro said. “It was Jeff Van Gundy? If he can do it, then Caron can definitely do it.”
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