2018 NBA Playoffs: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Miami Heat preview

2. Who will Miami close games with?

The Miami Heat pride themselves on their deep rotation that gives head coach Erik Spoelstra a litany of options to throw on the court. He has a roster at his disposal that allows him to throw out a big lineup and slow it down with Whiteside at center, go five-out with multiple ball-handlers or dilute to full small-ball and have James Johnson play the 5.

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While this amount of depth is a great thing over a 82-game regular season, it can become a problem in the postseason when rotations are typically shrunk. Some decisions, like rarely playing Whiteside in the fourth quarter that led to some testy public comments, can cost you the series, not just a regular season game.

So with all of these options, how will Spoelstra manage his late-game rotations? I think a lot comes down to the availability of Joel Embiid. If he’s on the floor, Whiteside has to be on the court matching up with him. If he does miss multiple games, will Spo bench Whiteside and try to matchup with Philly’s quickness on the perimeter or have Whiteside punish Amir Johnson and whoever Philly deploys?

Outside of that, does Spo lean on Dwyane Wade in crunch time? Does he allow Dragic, his best player, to run the show? How many minutes will they give Justise Winslow to see how big of a liability he is on offense? Spoelstra has plenty of rotational decisions to make, and he has to get them right late in games, or Philly will make them pay.