Max Strus is knocking on the door. Duncan Robinson is attempting to maintain his foothold. And teammates appreciate that this thing is far from over.
When it came to the Miami Heat’s short-handed blowout loss Monday night against the Boston Celtics, coach Erik Spoelstra said there were few talking points.
“We played about seven good minutes of basketball,” he said of the 122-92 loss at the start of the six-game, 11-day trip, “and the rest of it I’d just like to put in a dumpster truck. The rest of it was just unwatchable.”
But it did have eyes turning in the direction of the franchise record book, with forward Max Strus closing 9 of 17 on 3-pointers.
That not only gave Strus the most in a game by a Heat player this season, but also left him one conversion shy of the franchise record set by Brian Shaw in 1993 and tied by Mario Chalmers in 2013 and then Duncan Robinson in Dec. 2019.
While Robinson shot just 2 of 8 from beyond the arc in the loss at TD Garden, he had been tied with Strus entering Monday night with a season-high of eight conversions, something he had done twice and Strus once.
Based on the best of both, teammates sense a shootout for the record could be in the offing.
“Those two are the best shooters I’ve played with, obviously,” third-year forward Caleb Martin said. “So they do a great job and our team does a great job of getting those guys open.
“But they move so well without the ball, you never know what type of night it’s going to be for either one of ‘em or both of ‘em. They’re great shooters and they know how to put it in the basket. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they alternate records.”
Monday was somewhat of an exception, with Spoelstra giving Jimmy Butler and P.J. Tucker the night off in the midst of the run of four games in five nights, culminating Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.
“I knew we had to get ‘em up,” Strus said of the Heat shooting 17 of 44 on 3-pointers in Boston. “The goal was to shoot 45 of ‘em as a team. So I knew me and Dunc were going to have to shoot at least 10 each.
“So looking into the game, I knew I was going to have to get some threes up.”
Strus said they ultimately were hollow attempts.
“Threes don’t really matter,” he said, “when you lose a game.”
Strus closed 9 of 19 from the field.
Strus’ performance tied him with Robinson (twice) , Ricky Davis, Dan Majerle and Rex Chapman as the only Heat players to make nine 3-pointers in a game.
Having played four seasons alongside Robinson, center Bam Adebayo said he could envision an enduring battle between the two for the franchise record, all while being done in the context of winning.
“Yeah,” Adebayo said. “I feel like they’ll end up going back and forth, and in a matter that they both enjoy each others’ success. They both want to get to that record and break that record.
“So the fact that they’re both encouraging one another to do it, you never know how the game might go. They both might be hot one night.”
That wasn’t the case Monday for Robinson. But it was almost as good for Strus as it ever has gotten for a Heat 3-point shooter.
“He was finding open spots and he was able to knock down a bunch of shots,” Spoelstra said. “He did some good things offensively.”
