Wolverines in the NBA: Duncan Robinson making big impact in Eastern Conference Finals, sets Miami Heat record
Former Michigan Wolverines basketball standout Duncan Robinson, a forward for Miami, has come up big in the postseason, helping the eighth-seeded Heat win series over the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks, before building a 3-0 lead over the Boston Celtics.
Robinson has been hot and cold at times during the playoffs — and he was more cold than hot for long stretches of the regular season — but he’s been crucial in a number of games. Sunday night’s 22-point performance (7-of-11 on field goals, 5-of-7 on threes, 3-of-3 from the free throw line) was the latest example.
Robinson’s fourth three of the night tied him with LeBron James for the Heat franchise record in made three-pointers during the postseason, and his fifth set a new mark. He’s now splashed 124 triples in 52 career playoff games. For reference, James’ 123 threes came in 87 outings.
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Robinson also added 4 assists and 2 rebounds in 23 minutes during the 128-102 stunning blowout victory.
The former Michigan sharpshooter was especially effective in the two-man game with big man Bam Adebayo.
“It’s like five years of just Malcolm Gladwell, the 10,000 hour rule; this is 10,000 hours of drilling with those two guys a long time ago, forever,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And initially it was all dribble hand-offs, that kind of trigger, and then we needed Bam to be also a scorer. Then we needed Duncan to be able to put the ball on the floor and be able to back-cut and all this stuff and correct that and try to get everybody synergistic, and that takes some time, and both guys are trying to develop new parts of their game.
“But this is the constant evolution of two guys trying to get it right, and knowing that there has to be improvement in that two-man action. But when both guys are a threat and both guys can just read the defense and both guys are not just pre-determining, that’s when it’s at its best.”
That marked Robinson’s highest-scoring game of the entire season, in which he’s appeared in 56 contests, including the playoffs. He hadn’t put up that many points since April 17, 2022, when he exploded for 27 with 8 made three-pointers in a first-round win over the Atlanta Hawks last season.
Robinson posted 15 points in a 111-105 Game 2 victory, playing 21 minutes. He went 12-of-42 (28.6 percent) from three-point range in the last series against the Knicks. That came on the heels of converting on an incredible 73.7 percent (14-of-19) of his triple tries in the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Robinson, who made 237 career three-pointers in three seasons at Michigan, and his Heat are just one win away from becoming the second-ever No. 8 seed to advance to the NBA Finals. The Denver Nuggets have a 3-0 lead on the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. No team in NBA Playoffs history has ever come back from down 3-0.
Game 4 of the Heat-Celtics series tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
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