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Caleb Martin’s game growing for Heat. How Martin and P.J. Tucker compare

P.J. Tucker was the quintessential example of a player whose contributions couldn’t be fully measured by a box score.

Caleb Martin also cannot be judged simply on numbers, because of his defensive activity and the do-the-dirty-work component of his game, which is essential in a starting lineup that includes three players who have been All-Stars (Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry) and one who has flirted with becoming one (Tyler Herro).

But this much is clear more than a quarter into the season: Replacing Tucker - who left for Philadelphia — with Martin hasn’t been a problem for a Heat team that enters Monday night’s game at Memphis still below .500 at 11-12 but with momentum from a Friday win in Boston.

Miami would be better with both players, but the Heat didn’t want to give Tucker a three-year deal topping $30 million, which would have left the team operating under a hard cap this season. And Martin has validated his promotion to the starting lineup.

From a statistical standpoint, Martin has the edge, though Tucker’s impact has never been about numbers.

Through 22 games (all starts), Martin is averaging 11.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 40.5 from three-point range in 32.1 minutes per game.

Tucker last season averaged 7.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.8 steals while shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 41.5 from three-point range (30 for 74) in 27.9 minutes per game.

This season, despite playing slightly more than a year ago, Tucker’s numbers have dropped in Philadelphia, to 3.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. His three-point shooting is still strong at 40.5, though his 15 threes are half as many as Martin’s total this season.

So purely statistically, Martin has given the Heat more than Tucker.

From a defensive standpoint, Tucker had the edge over Martin because of Tucker’s unique ability to guard bigs as well as he guards wings.

Martin — who like Tucker is 6-foot-5 — has been a good defender, but few players that size can defend bigs as well as Tucker can.

Overall this season, players defended by Martin are shooting 48.6 percent; those same players shoot 46.4 percent overall.

That’s worse than the 43.5 percent shooting that Tucker allowed last season against the man he defended.

This season, Tucker has remained above the curve in that defensive metric, allowing the player he’s defending to shoot 45.3 percent.

The Heat could switch Adebayo onto guards — and not be as exposed in the paint — with Tucker because of his skill defending taller players. That’s something the Heat has lost somewhat with Tucker relocating to Philadelphia.

Last season, Tucker held Milwaukee’s 6-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo to 3-for-12 shooting and Chicago’s 6-10 Nik Vucevic to 3 for 14. During the playoffs, Philadelphia 7-0 center Joel Embiid shot 1 for 5 when Tucker guarded him.

This season, Martin has had mixed success against much taller players. As an example, Washington’s Kristaps Porzingis shot 5 for 11 against him, Minnesota’s Karl Anthony Towns 3 for 5.

Martin has defended wings more than post-up players and the Heat has played more zone and hasn’t switched Adebayo off bigs as much in recent weeks, particularly when Butler missed seven games with a knee injury.

Martin has studied tape of how other undersized power forwards have defended with a height deficit.

“Guys like Draymond Green, I’ve taken a good look at the way they defend,” Martin said. “He’s undersized but guards fives [centers]. It’s very doable. There’s a lot of technical things you can do to get around guys and make sure they don’t catch it.”

Offensively, when he’s guarded by a power forward, “speed helps me get around those guys when they’re trying to muscle me. My feet are going to be quicker. I love being able to go in and try to get stops on bigs and then go up there and guard the point guard.”

Among elite perimeter players, Martin has done good work, holding Damian Lillard to 1-for-6 shooting and Donovan Mitchell to 1-for-5.

Offensively, there has been substantial growth, including three consecutive games of 20 or more points before scoring 10 points in each of the two games in Boston last week.

“I think overall I’m starting to figure out the [power forward] role in terms of how I am able to get shots,” he said. “Last year, I was more on the wing and created more on catch and gos, going downhill, attacking in transition. Now I’m creating more for other guys and finding open windows for me to get passes and be outlets for certain guys.”

He notices when teams put one of their top scorers on him, such as when Washington defended him with Porzingis recently.

“When they put certain guys like that on me, you kind of tell they’re trying to take a back seat defensively. I kind of take offense to that,” he said.

Martin said he studied Tucker closely last season and has tried to incorporate aspects of his game, particularly on offense.

“I talked a lot with him last year about the timing and spots to be in,” he said. “I took a lot of those timing and spacing from him.”

Martin is on pace to make 112 shots from beyond the arc this season; Tucker made 80 last season. Teammates have encouraged Martin to shoot even more threes.

“He’s a great shooter,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Martin said his three-year, $20.5 million deal hasn’t affected his mentality.

He said the best advice he got this past summer came from assistant coach Eric Glass, who told him: “You are not living up to the contract. You have been paid for what you did.”

That, Martin said, is “the biggest thing that stuck with me. A lot of guys come in with a new contract and you’re trying to live up to it. But what you’re doing now is to work for the next one. That’s the way I’m looking at it.”

After concluding a four-game road trip on Monday in Memphis, the Heat returns home to play Detroit on Tuesday (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).