Dunkin’ teams with Duncan Robinson to support underserved communities

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Dunkin’ is excited to announce its newest partnership with record-breaking NBA basketball player Duncan Robinson.

Through the partnership, Dunkin’ is committing to donating a pound of coffee to local food bank Feeding South Florida for every three-point scored by Duncan during the basketball season starting Oct. 19. Robinson has proven to be one of the best three-point shooters over the past two seasons and looks to exceed last season’s treys.

“I’m thrilled to join Dunkin’ in this partnership to give back to Feeding South Florida while doing what I love,” Robinson said. “My goal is to try and surpass last season’s totals to help benefit food insecure families in South Florida.”

Feeding South Florida is the largest, most efficient food bank serving Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. Coffee is a choice for most people. For many working families who struggle to make ends meet, the choice surrounding coffee may not be an option this week. To ensure families have a taste of home every morning, Feeding South Florida is happy to reignite its partnership with Duncan Robinson and Dunkin’ to bring coffee into the homes of families they serve across South Florida.

The Heat have lost four of their last five games. Don’t panic.

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The pendulum has swung on the Miami Heat’s season in the last 10 days. The Heat dominated the Dallas Mavericks 125-110 Nov. 2 to improve to 6-1. And the one loss came without Kyle Lowry, leading some fans to discount it as a one-off. Last night, Miami lost 112-109 to the Los Angeles Clippers, falling to 7-5 on the season.

Jimmy Butler is injured. (On the other hand, LeBron James was out for the Lakers, and Kawhi Leonard was out for the Clippers.) Duncan Robinson, after shooting 2 of 11 from 3-point range against the Clippers, is mired in something that’s more than a normal slump. Bam Adebayo dominated the first quarter, and Kyle Lowry dominated the fourth quarter against the Clippers. They both needed to show up more than intermittently to pull off that win, though.

Bam Usage Rate vs. Clippers

1st Quarter: 45.8%

Rest of game: 15.4% — Simon Smith (@SimonSperling) November 12, 2021

And Miami’s next game is at the Utah Jazz.

After a strong preseason and a hot start to the season, the Heat are experiencing some growing pains. Erik Spoelstra said last night that he has “no doubt” that Robinson will break through. Spoelstra and Robinson talked about imposter syndrome when Robinson rocketed from a two-way player who couldn’t get on the court for a lottery team (2018-19) to a starter on a contender (2019-20). Perhaps the two have already spoken about the pressure on Robinson to now live up to his contract.

Spoelstra on Robinson: “It’s a tough league. You have to manage those situations, stay the course. He will break through. I have no doubt about that.” — Five Reasons Sports (@5ReasonsSports) November 12, 2021

A bigger concern than just one player, though, has been Miami’s inability to close games. Even the Heat’s win over the Jazz last Saturday was a bit concerning; the Heat nearly squandered a 19-point fourth-quarter lead. Aside from the Utah win, all of Miami’s victories have been blowouts.

When the Heat have played in close games — like the Oct. 23 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers and these back-to-back losses in Los Angeles — they haven’t found ways to win. Miami missed multiple opportunities late against the Lakers Wednesday night.

Despite the worrying signs, it’s still early. Teams often battle through skids during the 82-game slog (remember the 2010-11 season, when Miami started 9-8 and then went on a five-game losing streak in March?) Spoelstra called these two losses “opportunities to improve.”

Spoelstra on the two close Heat losses in LA: “These, I think, are great opportunities to improve. As disappointing as these kind of games can be, you just have to stay the course, stay with it, stay together.” — Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) November 12, 2021

And it’s also worth pointing out that Pat Riley discussed Miami’s challenging start in his October press conference previewing the season. Thirteen of the Heat’s first 20 games are on the road. These struggles aren’t surprising. The Heat players and coaches know what the issues are; they just need to work on them and improve.

‘Yours Truly’ Responds to Rough Comments From Jimmy Butler

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Jimmy Butler has a penchant for saying whatever is on his mind. Some would call it charming, unless he’s taking aim at a teammate’s intelligence. That was the issue brewing in South Beach between Butler and Duncan Robinson.

The “sleeper pick” for NBA MVP recently referred to Robinson as “dumb” during a post-game press conference. He threw the insult out there twice: once with a straight face, then again with a smirk. Robinson seemed a bit confused by the apparent diss as he attempted to respond to Butler’s disparaging comment on his “Long Shot” podcast.

“I think it is partially tongue-in-cheek. Jimmy just has this kind of way of just speaking his mind in media sessions and for whatever reasons, he was inclined to say some disparaging things about yours truly,” Robinson said. “To be honest with you, I thought that the question was going to involve me in some capacity and it didn’t. He just kind of pulled my name out of thin air.

“Which, you know, whatever. It is something him and I kind of go back and forth on, I like to pride myself on having a pretty high basketball IQ, he doesn’t, clearly, think that’s true. But it’s just some good, quality, productive, teammate back-and-forth.”

Play

Duncan Robinson On Jimmy Butler Calling Him The Dumbest Teammate He’s Ever Had Duncan Robinson and Davis Reid are BACK for a front-of-show. Topics include: Duncan’s new residence, the Miami Heat’s hot start to the season, Jimmy Butler calling Duncan the dumbest teammate he’s ever had, how quotes can be taken out of context, what traveling is like for NBA players, and more. Subscribe to The Long Shot… 2021-11-05T12:00:25Z

Friendly trash talk aside, the Miami Heat have been rolling – prior to a 95-78 loss to Boston on November 4 – and own the second-best record in the Eastern Conference at 6-2. Butler was named Player of the Week after averaging 28.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 3.25 steals in four wins. It marked the sixth time he has earned the honor in his career.

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Robinson’s Defense Snubbed by PJ Tucker?

Butler wasn’t the only teammate throwing shade at Robinson. Forward PJ Tucker omitted his name – purposefully or not – when talking about the team’s defensive intelligence and their ability to switch off screens easily.

The Heat have a 94.0 defensive rating this season. That would be the best defense by any team since the three-point era (1980). pic.twitter.com/3imU9GlIOp — StatMuse (@statmuse) October 30, 2021

To be fair, Tucker only mentioned four players by name in the quote: himself, Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo. But Robinson felt a need to defend his honor, adding that the part where Tucker says “we can yell at each other” included him.

“I think there was an omission in name-dropping,” Robinson said, “but I think that the part of the quote where I really shine is the, ‘We can yell at each other, and go out out there and play and be good.’ I think a lot of the yelling, I am involved with.

“Some of it’s motivating, some of it is encouraging, some of it is about doing something better, this or that. So while I wasn’t mixed in with talking about the switching and those guys obviously were, I still think there was a reference to me.”

Heat Ready for Utah Jazz

Miami hosts the Utah Jazz tonight (Saturday, November 6) at FTX Arena at 7:30 p.m. The team heads in relatively healthy despite a scary scene the other night when Kyle Lowry rolled his ankle trying to draw a charge. The starting point guard is listed questionable versus Utah, along with KZ Okpala (ankle). Marcus Garrett, Max Strus, Victor Oladipo have been ruled out, per Anthony Chiang of Miami Herald.

Gameday Rundown: Rematch In Utah

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Miami HEAT vs. Utah Jazz

Saturday, November 13th @ 5:00 PM

Location: Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, UT

Tipoff: 5:10 pm

TV: Bally Sports Sun, NBA TV

Radio: 790AM, WAQI 710AM (Español)

Item of the Game:

Uniform: Association - White

Injury Updates:

Series Notes:

-The HEAT and Jazz meet for the second and final matchup this regular season.

-Earlier this season, Miami recorded a, 118-115, victory on 11/6.

-This will mark the first team the HEAT will close its series against this season and it also marks as the earliest in a season the HEAT and Jazz will complete their series.

What to watch for:

-Kyle Lowry scored 22 points in the fourth quarter on 11/11 at LAC, tying for the most points in a quarter in his career. The 22 points also marked as the fourth time Lowry has recorded a 20-point quarter in his career, all coming in the final frame.

-Tyler Herro has scored at least 20 points off the bench seven times this season and has now totaled 26 as a member of the HEAT, the most in team history.

-Duncan Robinson has currently connected on a three-point field goal in 60-straight games, the longest streak in team history, surpassing a record he previously set.

-The HEAT have outscored opponents by +75 points in the first quarter this season (356-281).

Paul George Calls Nicolas Batum ‘So Valuable’

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Nicolas Batum has done everything the Clippers have wanted and more.

Time after time, Batum has saved the Clippers, and he’s one of the main catalysts for their six-game winning streak. His stellar performances have drawn the praise of his teammates and coaches.

“I know what he’s capable of,” Paul George said. “He’s just so valuable and he’s one guy that I really enjoy playing with. I think what stands out more than anything is what he’s able to do at his age. He has a lot of miles in his legs; playing for the league, playing for his country and that’s what’s most impressive every night.”

In an incredibly nerve-wracking game against the Miami Heat, Batum made the game-saving steal to prevent a potential overtime. His reads and his versatility have given the Clippers so many options offensively and defensively because he’s such a terrific swiss army knife for the team.

“I just tried to anticipate a little bit the play,” Batum said. “Kyle [Lowry] was the guy on fire for them so I figured the play was for him. With Tyler Herro and [Duncan] Robinson on top, I mean I don’t know how I figured it out, but he got the open throw for Lowry so anticipate d the lob play, just waited and it’s there.”

The LA Clippers currently hold a 7-4 record from a six-game winning streak, which is tied for the best winning streak in the league. They’ll face the Minnesota Timberwolves and Chicago Bulls in a grueling weekend back-to-back; the Clippers are playing 3 games in 4 nights. They’ll need all they can get from Paul George, Nicolas Batum, and the entire team.

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