Q: Victor Oladipo had an amazing game all around with 21 points. Now what do we do? — Bob, Davie.

A: What you have been doing the entire season: Put on the court the best combinations that give you the best chance to win. And that doesn’t always mean putting your best players necessarily out there. What a coaching staff has to extrapolate from Sunday’s breakout performance by Victor Oladipo is whether the same shots and the same payoff would have come if Jimmy Butler was in the mix. So perhaps what we have to see next is Erik Spoelstra perhaps play Vic in a game with the other rotation players, to see how that chemistry works. Let’s face it, it didn’t work all that well initially. But if Vic’s 6 of 9 on threes on Sunday is closer to who he is, then it might work. The problem is time is running short for experimentation. And the Heat have built their 51-28 record on what has been proven to work.

Q: By resting two starters and Dewayne Dedmon, Erik Spoelstra forced others to “prove their worth” and Victor Oladipo showed his. The Heat’s playoff rotation still is up for grabs. Duncan Robinson might be left out in place of Oladipo. — Martin.

A: Or it could be that Duncan Robinson is left out in favor of Caleb Martin. But at some point, if the Heat are going to stick with Max Strus in the starting lineup, and if Duncan Robinson is going to struggle like that with the second unit, then Erik Spoelstra might have to consider alternatives. Scoreless Duncan Robinson is becoming more than the exception.

Q: Kyle Lowry’s return was emotional. But he returned to a team led by Fred VanVleet, something that would not have happened without Lowry’s mentorship and then departure. — H.L.

A: Exactly. Which is why instead of rancor, there was appreciation with the way Kyle Lowry’s move to the Heat was orchestrated. It afforded a young team the opportunity to develop, and afforded an aging veteran the chance to again compete for a championship. And, as with Fred VanVleet, there could be a similar handoff to Tyler Herro when Kyle’s three-year, $85 million Heat contact expires after the 2023-24 season. In addition, the Raptors got the chance to develop Precious Achiuwa, whose path likely would have been blocked with the Heat by Bam Adebayo.

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