Patty Mills is still annoying Miami Heat supporters ten years after she first tormented them, but for a completely different reason.
When the “Big 3” played together in the 2014 NBA Finals, Patty Mills, then a player for the San Antonio Spurs, tormented Heat supporters with his accurate shooting ten years earlier.
In the present day, Mills continues torture Heat supporters. It is no longer an enemy; rather, it is now a member. However, Mills’ shooting woes have jeopardized more than just the Heat’s chances of winning the championship. In the event that Mills is unable to break out of his current rut, this may be his final appearance in a key role for a playoff contender.
It makes no difference how much success he has had in the postseason. In a league that is blatantly “What recently have you done for me?” Recent performance history for Mills whimpers “not much.”
He’s had trouble creating an impression since he set a Nets record in 2021–22 with 227 three-pointers. He played 14.2 minutes a game last season for Brooklyn, the fewest since the 2012–2013 campaign, and had the worst three-point shooting percentage (36.7%) since the 2014–15 campaign.
He was dealt to the Rockets by the Nets this past offseason in order to free up cap space. After that, he was traded in another off-season deal to the Thunder and subsequently the Hawks. He recorded 36 DNPs (did not play) this season before being waived by Atlanta on February 29. Mills averaged 2.7 points and 10.6 minutes per game in the 19 games he did participate in.
This explains why Mills’ present decline is so significant. He can be pardoned for not getting much playing time since the 2021–2022 campaign, but not for missing the chance to make the most of it when it presented itself. Postseason competitors may consider him as an unstable 36-year-old who can only offer wisdom when he hits the market this offseason.
Is it fair to blame them?
He averaged less than four points per game and shot only 3-for-31 from three since making a strong debut for Miami. In addition, he is playing at a career low in terms of points (11.3) and three-point percentage (17.1%) per 36 minutes.
Mills played just 12 minutes in the 111-88 loss to the Pelicans on Friday, going 2 for 7 from the field and 0 for 4 from three. During the first eight minutes of the blast, those pictures were taken.
For a couple reasons in particular, this performance is concerning. To begin with, Mills started for the second consecutive game in place of the injured Duncan Robinson. Now he could do what he does best, practice three-point shooting. However, he missed 11 of his 12 three-point shots in his two starts.
Before the Pelicans game, coach Erik Spoelstra told the Miami Herald, “Patty is such a savvy veteran winning player that if you don’t look past whatever the shooting numbers may be, you don’t see all the nuances of how he helps.” Spoelstra was aware of Mills’ current shooting slump.
Should that be the case, then why did he only give Mills four minutes on Friday night during the second and third quarters?
It’s not a complex answer. The reason is that Spoelstra is aware that if Mills isn’t making shots, the team won’t benefit.
Can Mills win Spoelstra over in the final 12 games of the regular season? Will he keep sinking deeper and deeper into insignificance? In the event of the latter, an extremely influential career both on and off the court will come to an abrupt end.
Being the first native Australian to play in the NBA Finals, he took use of his increased notoriety to give fellow native Australians, a traditionally oppressed and silent group, a voice.
During his ten-year tenure with the Spurs, Mills is second all-time in 3-pointers made (1,220), and he contributed significantly to San Antonio’s four Western Conference Finals appearances, back-to-back NBA Finals, and 2014 NBA Championship win under famous coach Gregg Popovich.
If Mills is concerned that he won’t be able to do those same feats, he ought to consider a quotation that Popovich had framed in the Spurs’ locker room:
“When all else fails, I watch a stonecutter as he hammers away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without even a crack showing. However, it will split in two at the hundred and first strike, and I know that everything that came before it accomplished the killing.”
Now more than ever, perseverance is needed.
One issue: Mills has run out of chances to demonstrate that he merits a prominent position on a playoff-contending team.
