Miami Heat center Kel'el Ware is coming one of his best games of the season in last night's victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and center Kel'el Ware had their share of differences the past two seasons.
It's a relationship that is continuing to grow but Spoelstra was all smiles after Ware's big performance in Wednesday's victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had 13 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in the 120-103 win.
“Kel'el down the stretch was terrific," Spoelstra said. "I really liked his response yesterday after a disappointing game as a team. I met with him (had) a productive film session where he wanted to get better. He had a very good practice and it carried over. He was very good in that second half."
Ware was 5 of 5 from the field, including making all three of his 3-point attempts. It was an improvement from a thud of a performance against the Houston Rockets. Ware had just seven points on 3 of 10 shooting.
The next step, obviously, is for Ware to gain more consistency. He's shown he can play brilliant at times before disappearing for a few games. Both Spoelstra and Ware grew frustrated.
Ware, who is in his second year after being a first-round pick from the Indiana Hoosiers, is dealing with some of the same issues center Bam Adebayo had early in his career. It wasn't until Adebayo's third season before he became a constant threat.
Spoelstra is hoping Ware can make similar progress, perhaps one day becoming an NBA All-Star as well. If that happens, the Heat will feature one of the league's top frontcourts.
"Let's do it more often," Spoelstra said of Ware's performance against the Cavs. "He wants it right now. In some of these games it hasn't gone necessarily his way or our way those minutes when he's in the game, he's just coming back the next day and trying to correct and be better. For a young guy, that's what you want. It was important also just to have that size and rebounding and rim protection during that stretch."
The Heat return to action Friday when they complete consecutive games against the Cavs in Cleveland.
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com