Miami Heat’s Duncan Robinson on pace to break these two obscure NBA records

A quick Miami Heat 6-pack on a Monday night:

▪ What’s the point?

That pretty much sums up the Heat’s philosophy on Duncan Robinson attempting two-point shots, aside from layups.

Not only is Robinson on pace to produce perhaps the best three-point shooting season in NBA history by anyone not named Steph Curry (if you weigh accuracy every bit as much as volume), but he also is on pace to set two records involving two-point shots, or specifically, lack of them.

According to the good folks at Elias Sports Bureau, the record for fewest two-point attempts in a season by a player who played at least 2400 minutes is 136 by P.J. Tucker in 2018-19.

Robinson has 70 two-point attempts in 1914 minutes, putting him on a pace to play 2453 minutes and attempt 90 two-point shots, which would easily break Tucker’s record.

Also, 88.3 percent of Robinson’s field goal attempts have been three-pointers. The record for highest percentage of shots taken from three-point range in a season (minimum: 400 attempts) is 82.7 by Wayne Ellington (2017-18), per Elias.

So Robinson is on pace to break that record, just as he recently broke Ellington’s franchise record for 3-pointers in a season.

Just 70 of Robinson’s 600 shot attempts this season have been two-pointers.

Robinson wants to keep taking layups, obviously, when he gets to the rim, something he has done effectively on cuts to the basket in recent weeks.

But the staff doesn’t want him taking mid-range twos.

“For a while, I took mid range twos [at Michigan],” he said. “As soon as I got here, they made clear they would like it to be a three.”

With Robinson shooting an absurd 45.3 percent on three pointers (240 for 530), there is simply no need to shoot more twos.

“At this point,” he said, “there’s no need to experiment.”

For the record, Robinson is shooting 31 for 38 at the rim, 9 for 17 (52.9 percent) from 3 to 9 feet, 1 for 6 (16.7 percent) from 10 to 15 feet and 2 for 9 (22.2 percent) from 16 feet to the 3-point line.

So he’s a far better shooter on three-pointers than he is from 10 feet to the three-point line (3 for 15).

▪ Robinson said he appreciated that Knicks guard Wayne Ellington called to congratulate him on Saturday, a day after Robinson broke his franchise record for three-pointers in a season.

“He was always willing to help me and take me under his wing” during their several months together as teammates last season. “Him calling meant a lot.”

Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler “has been congratulating me every five minutes.”

▪ Bradley Beal, on being held to 1 for 14 shooting in the second half against the Heat on Sunday: “They took away all my drives, everything to the paint. They wanted to force me to shoot jumpers all night. They are a really good rebounding team and that will play into their favor.”

Beal finished with 23 points on 8 for 14 shooting, after scoring 38 points the last time the teams met.

“Really, they just loaded up,” he said. “They were switching pick-and-rolls with a double, late switch. They did a good job just keeping me off balance.”

▪ The Heat went 3-1 in the season series against Washington, but Beal said: “We’ve shown that we can compete with them. We know that this is a very talented team one through 15.

“We feel like every time we play them, we make it very difficult for them to get in their stuff and for them to win. We will never go down without a battle and a fight. I think out of all of our divisional games, we face them the toughest and competed against them every time. I can definitely say that.”

▪ Tyler Herro is moving close to a return, with a full practice the next step. Clarity should be offered after the team’s Tuesday practice. He has missed 15 games with a foot/ankle injury. Meyers Leonard, who had a more serious ankle injury, remains out indefinitely. He also has missed 15 games.

▪ ESPN added next Monday’s Heat-at-Bucks game and dropped Golden State-at-Toronto. The Heat game also will be on Fox Sports Sun. The Heat’s only other remainining national TV game is the April 14 regular season finale against visiting Toronto.

Here’s my Monday piece on Bam Adebayo’s approach regarding whether to recruit Giannis Antetokounmpo or Bradley Beal to the Heat.

Here’s my Monday Dolphins piece, part 2 of a 7-part series.