SAN FRANCISCO -- Erik Spoelstra will run his first full-contact practice since training camp on Monday at the University of San Francisco. The Heat’s coach will have about two hours to tinker and toil over a team that has been, well, nearly perfect.

The Heat (8-1) holds the best record in the NBA and leads the league in scoring and field-goal percentage. It seems the juggernaut that everyone envisioned when Pat Riley combined the talents of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade finally is taking shape.

Even with Wade missing significant time with a foot injury, the Heat has maintained a level of excellence that seemed unlikely for any team considering the shortened training camp and grueling demands of a truncated, 66-game schedule. Familiarity among teammates, points in the paint and the transition game have all been contributing factors to the Heat’s dominance to begin the season. Oh, and one other thing: James has been playing like he invented the game.

But whereas it’s easy to point to the Heat’s offensive superlatives for its early success, the team’s company line remains unsurprisingly consistent. Its ethos is defense, and, given a rare practice day amid this hellish schedule, you had better believe that’s where Spoelstra will focus his energy.

“It’s because of our defense,” James said of the Heat’s impressive start. “We’re able to get stops and get out and run and use our speed to get fast-break points or get on the other end and create things offensively because of our defense.

“That’s what it’s all about here. We preach defense every single day and our offense just kind of falls on its own.”

Such is the harmony of this team with three games remaining on its first extended road trip of the season. James, who leads the NBA in scoring, averaging 30.2 points per game, and is shooting a mind-boggling 60.1 percent from the field, only wants to take about stopping the other team from scoring and espouses the same fundamental philosophies of his coach as if they had the same brain.

On Saturday, the Nets shot 33.7 percent from the field, a season low for a Heat opponent. The Heat has held opponents below 40-percent shooting in its past three games. The franchise record is five consecutive games.

Only when pushed and prodded will James start in on his individual offensive preeminence. But even then, it’s all about team.

“I think the chemistry is the No. 1 thing, knowing one another, knowing where guys are going to be,” James said. “We’re at a point now where we can close our eyes and know where someone is going to be out on the court.”

More often that not, James has been in the paint. He has refashioned his game so dramatically that you can count his three-point attempts this season on one hand. Udonis Haslem said Saturday that the offense has been most effective when “we’re able to post up LeBron early” in the shot clock. The numbers support that.

James is shooting 78.4 percent (58 of 74) inside the paint. From midrange, James is 31 of 72 (43 percent). He’s 0 of 2 from three-point range.

“There are really not too many people or no one in the league who’s going to guard him at the one, two or three when we get him down there on the block,” Haslem said.

The Heat has scored at least 50 points in the paint in six of its first nine games. Fast-break points have been a major factor. The Heat is averaging 21.1 fast-break points. Last season, it averaged 14.2. On Saturday, the Heat had 34 fast-break points, a season high.

“It’s a combination of everything — defense getting out on the break and obviously getting easy plays with the athletes that we have,” Haslem said.