The last time Wayne Ellington played any meaningful minutes in a postseason game was nine years ago.

At the Final Four.

Ellington was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 NCAA Tournament after leading North Carolina to the national title. But since turning pro Lane Taylor Jersey , postseasons have marked the start of vacations for Ellington, who has been in only two NBA playoff games, logging 13 1/2 minutes – all in the fourth quarters of blowouts.

That’s about to change.

Coming off a record-setting regular season, Ellington will play a vital role for No. 6 seed Miami in an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series that starts Saturday in his hometown of Philadelphia against the third-seeded 76ers.

”It’s so sweet the way it’s coming,” Ellington said. ”I don’t want to get religious, but I really feel like it’s God’s plan the way that everything’s worked out, where I ended up at and where I’m headed to. I’m appreciative. After all this time, now to be here, I don’t think a player could be more grateful. You couldn’t script this.”

Ellington set Miami’s single-season 3-point record with 227, and also set an NBA record for 3-pointers by a reserve with 218 (he made nine in his two appearances as a Heat starter this season). He’s going into the postseason coming off the best game of his pro career, a 32-point night that tied the franchise mark for scoring by a reserve in a game.

As Ellington goes, Miami goes: In his two Heat seasons, they are 34-7 when he makes at least half of his 3-point tries, 43-54 when he does not.

”None of them come easy Cody Whitehair Jersey ,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. ”He has to work for his shots, he really does. It is great to have a guy that has that ability. When he gets hot, there’s not much you can do about it.”

Before Wednesday’s regular-season finale victory over Toronto, which sealed the No. 6 seed for Miami, Ellington was slumping – shooting 14 for 48 from 3-point range in those games, or 29 percent. The Heat gave players Tuesday off as a needed rest day, and coach Erik Spoelstra was lured out of his office at one point by the sounds of dribbling and sneaker-squeaking on the practice floor.

It was Ellington, putting himself through a 45-minute workout with Heat assistant coach Octavio De La Grana. Their routines, whether it’s on an off day or a half-hour before game time, are always the same: cut, catch, shot, swish, over and over and over. And as he watched Jaylon Smith Jersey , Spoelstra found himself simultaneously worried and impressed.

”I almost thought it was too much on a day before a game,” Spoelstra said. ”But that’s the vision of a champion before you’re a champion, drenched in sweat, totally exhausted, empty gym with a coach, working your (butt) off.”

The result: Ellington was 8 for 12 from deep on Wednesday, leading the Heat rally to a win over the top seed in the East.

What happened Tuesday was not uncommon. The Heat didn’t make the playoffs last season, and Ellington was back in the gym about a week after the regular season ended – even though at the time, there was no guarantee he’d be back with Miami this season. He would put himself through intense workouts, sometimes to the point where De La Grana would quietly suggest he take the next day off and enjoy life.

The Heat locker room is filled with hard workers, but teammates say Ellington stands out.

”Wayne’s like my right-hand man,” rookie center Bam Adebayo said. ”He does everything that he needs to do behind closed doors. He takes care of his body, eats right, and I’m learning from him.”

And now Demarcus Lawrence Jersey , the playoff chance is finally here for Ellington.

He sat at his locker for a few postgame minutes after the regular season ended, his thoughts drifting back to that Final Four run and championship moment.

”Up until now, that’s been my best experience as a player,” Ellington said. ”I’m looking forward to trumping that.”

—


SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — When Jimmy Garoppolo got thrown into the lineup as San Francisco’s quarterback just weeks after joining the 49ers, simply getting a play off in time was an accomplishment.

Garoppolo overcame that limited knowledge of coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense to put together an impressive 5-0 finish to the season as one of the NFL’s most productive quarterbacks down the stretch.

It will be a very different Garoppolo heading into Sunday’s season opener at Minnesota than he was in his first start in Chicago in December. He was given a $137.5 million contract in the offseason and has had months to learn the whys and hows of Shanahan’s complex offense.

“We were trying to avoid the delay of game in Chicago,” he said. “That was a big part of it. I think every week last year I progressively got more and more comfortable with winning obviously and learning new things every week. Every week I was hearing new things for the first time that I had never heard before. So, it was that comfort level that just keeps growing as you get more along with the offense and learn more.”

That comfort level is astronomically higher after getting more practice time with his receivers and offense.

Garoppolo also took advantage of the opportunity to spend more time away from the 49ers facility with his teammates, whether it was informal sessions or non-football bonding to build chemistry with players who were almost strangers when he played last year.

“Last year I was in a tough situation because I really didn’t have any extra time to go out and hang out with the guys,” he said. “I was trying to learn as quickly as possible. So, this offseason we’ve had a lot more time to do things together away from football and kind of get to know each other on a more personal level.”

How Garoppolo fares this year is one of the most intriguing questions in the NFL as he has shown great promise winning all seven of his career starts to earn the lucrative contract but still has very little track record.

What Garoppolo has done on the field has been impressive. He completed 67.4 percent of his passes last season, averaging 8.8 yards per attempt with seven TDs, five interceptions and a 96.2 rating.

Among quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts last season, Garoppolo ranked first in yards per attempt Logan Thomas Jersey , fourth in completion percentage. His 308.4 yards passing per game in his five starts also would have led the league had he played a full season.

Defenses now have had plenty of time to study Garoppolo in San Francisco’s system but Shanahan doesn’t see that being a major hindrance.

“You hear that all the time with quarterbacks,” he said. “You figure the scheme out and then you stop plays. Then, you put other stuff in to get other people open and you see if the quarterback is capable of doing other stuff. I think Jimmy’s capable of making any type of throw. I think he sees the field very well. It’s not like they’re going to learn how to stop him from running with the ball and then stop him from throwing it. Jimmy has a very talented arm. He knows how to play in the pocket. Hopefully we can continue to get guys here to separate, help get people open in zone and give him time to go through progressions and give him a running game not to put all the pressure on him.”

The 49ers running game took a big hit over the weekend when projected starter Jerick McKinnon went down with a season-ending right knee injury. He was one of San Francisco’s main additions in free agency and was being counted on to be a big threat as a runner and a receiver.

Now the 49ers will count on second-year back Matt Breida, who has 105 career carries, and veteran Alfred Morris, who was signed midway through training camp and has never caught more than 17 passes in his six seasons, instead of McKinnon.

“Since the day we signed him we’ve been game planning for Minnesota,” Shanahan said. “So, I’m not going to lie, it changes things pretty drastically.”

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