After 20 games, what has Heat learned about itself? Takeaways from overtime win in Toronto
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 121-110 overtime win over the Toronto Raptors (15-5) on Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena. The Heat is now 2-0 on its current three-game trip, with wins over the Nets and Raptors ...
1. The Heat hit the 20-game mark with arguably its most impressive win of the season, and is now 15-5. That’s tied for the best 20-game start in franchise history.
Who is the Heat after 20 games? It’s an elite defensive team with an above average offense that is more than capable of winning on the road. Miami owns the league’s sixth-best defensive rating and 12th best offensive rating, and is 7-5 on the road this season.
The top five teams in the Eastern Conference own a combined 43-2 home record, with the Heat responsible for both of those losses. The Heat is the only team to defeat the Bucks in Milwaukee and the only team to defeat the Raptors in Toronto this season.
“We’re capable of it. We are,” Jimmy Butler said when asked what he has learned about the Heat over the first 20 games. “When we lock in and we worry about ourselves and we get lost in it and play hard, we’re going to be a very good team. Coach, he has a way of making sure that we’re prepared, that we’re ready to go. Like we always say, I think we’re the only team that can beat us.”
Another thing the Heat has shown through the first 20 games is it has a variety of offensive weapons. Seven Heat players are averaging double-digit points this season (Butler, Goran Dragic, Kendrick Nunn, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Justise Winslow and Duncan Robinson).
The Heat also owns the league’s fifth-best team shooting percentage at 47.6 percent and third-best three-point shooting percentage at 39 percent.
As far as plus/minus, Miami ranks sixth in that category at plus-130. The only teams ahead of the Heat are the Bucks, Mavericks, Lakers, Raptors and Clippers.
The Heat currently stands in second-place in the Eastern Conference standings, 2.5 games behind the first-place Bucks. Miami will have a chance to make another statement Wednesday, when it closes its three-game trip against the Celtics (14-5).
Whatever angle you look at it, the Heat has been among the NBA’s best teams through the first 20 games.
“If this is who we are, it’s not a bad person to be,” Kelly Olynyk said with a smile.
2. In Butler’s first two “clutch” games with the Heat, he has come up big.
A “clutch” game is defined as a game that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. Butler missed the Heat’s first two “clutch” games of the season (Oct. 26 vs. Bucks and Oct. 27 vs. Timberwolves) while on paternity leave, but he has proven to be the team’s closer, as expected, in the two “clutch” games he has played in.
Sunday’s comeback win over the Nets was Butler’s first “clutch” game with the Heat, and he scored five of Miami’s final 10 points during its game-winning 10-0 run to close out the victory.
Tuesday’s overtime win over the Raptors was Butler’s second “clutch” game with the Heat, and he scored eight of Miami’s 13 points in overtime. The Heat outscored the Raptors 13-2 in overtime, and Butler scored the first eight points of the period.
“Where it really helps you are games like this against a really quality opponent on their home court,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler’s late-game play following Tuesday’s win in Toronto. “You face a little bit of stress and adversity, you know that you can just get the ball to somebody and you’re going to get something coherent, somebody that likes those moments. He has an ability to draw fouls, score off the dribble at the rim and pull-ups. He can manufacture his own shot at the end of the clock against virtually anybody, and he can also set up other guys.”
The late-game heroics were just part of Butler’s triple-double performance in Toronto, which included 22 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in 41 minutes. It marked the fifth triple-double of Butler’s NBA career, and he became the 10th different Heat player to accomplish the feat.
Going back to the “clutch” numbers, Butler is averaging six points per game on 50 percent shooting in these situations. He’s a plus-seven in five “clutch” minutes this season.
“Just his competitiveness. You can feel it defensively,” Winslow said of Butler. “Offensively, he’s just such a smart player. He finds the advantage and really just takes advantage of it. He makes others better. The triple-double tonight speaks for itself. But he was doing even more stuff that you won’t see in the box score. Encouraging guys, talking, being in gaps defensively. He was fantastic for us.”
3. Adebayo does plenty of things well, but his ability to defend virtually every position on the court is the most impressive part of his skill set.
In Houston last week, Adebayo’s defensive assignment was athletic 6-3 guard Russell Westbrook. In Toronto on Tuesday, Adebayo’s defensive assignment was 6-9 forward Pascal Siakam.
Siakam entered as one of the (very) early MVP candidates, averaging 25.6 points on 47 percent shooting, 8.4 rebounds and four assists. He finished Tuesday’s game with 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting as Adebayo served as his primary defender.
Along with impressive defense, Adebayo also finished with 18 points and seven rebounds in 37 minutes.
“It really helps because you’re talking about a great player on the other end,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo’s defensive versatility. “If you don’t have the right kind of players that can physically and mentally match up against that kind of talent, you’re just going to get totally worked over. Bam likes all these kind of challenges night to night and guarding different positons and stepping up for his team. He just has incredible defensive versatility. We won’t talk about any of those awards or anything, but he has just proven it every night.”
Entering Tuesday, players defended by Adebayo had combined to shoot 39.4 percent from the field this season — 7.1 percent worse than their usual shooting percentage. It’s still early, but it continues to look like Adebayo will be a legitimate candidate for a spot on one of the NBA’s All-Defensive teams at the end of the season because of his ability to effectively guard every position on the court.
The trio of Adebayo, Butler and Winslow have been on the court together to close two consecutive games, and have proven to be an especially impactful group on the defensive end. Their ability to switch on to different positions and stay in front of their man has led to the Heat posting an elite defensive rating of 78.6 points per 100 possessions when Adebayo, Butler and Winslow have played together over the past two games.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Winslow said of playing alongside Adebayo and Butler. “A lot of times our defense allows us to turn right into offense, get out on easy runs. The three of us, we can guard anybody out there and we take any challenge. Late games, it’s definitely going to be a problem for opposing offenses.”
4. Don’t look now, but the Heat has managed to fix its turnover issue over the past few games.
The Heat committed 14 turnovers against the Raptors. That’s after committing a season-low nine turnovers in Sunday’s win over the Nets and finishing Friday’s win over the Warriors with 16 turnovers.
The Heat, which entered Tuesday averaging a league-high 18.4 turnovers, has averaged 13 turnovers over the past three games. Before this three-game stretch, Miami had committed 18 or more turnovers in eight consecutive games.
And that doesn’t mean the Heat has curtailed its ball movement, as it managed to dish out 29 assists while limiting its turnovers against the Raptors.
5. Guard Dion Waiters was on the Heat’s active roster Tuesday for the third time this regular season. But again, he did not play.
Waiters has yet to play this season, as he has already served two team-issued suspensions for conduct detrimental to the team that have kept him away for a combined 11 games. Tuesday can still be considered progress since he was in uniform on the Heat’s bench for the first time this regular season.
In the first two games Waiters was active for — a Nov. 3 win over the Rockets and a Nov. 7 win over the Suns — he did not make an appearance on the team’s bench. He was in another part of AmericanAirlines Arena working out during the Heat-Rockets game and he was dealing with a stomach illness the day of the Heat-Suns game.
With guard Goran Dragic unavailable for Tuesday’s contest because of a strained right groin, it at least opened the door for Waiters to get on the active roster. If Dragic is out for an extended period, Waiters’ season debut could be coming because the Heat somehow needs to find a way to replace Dragic’s scoring off the bench.
On Tuesday, the Heat used a nine-man rotation of Butler, Adebayo, Meyers Leonard, Robinson, Nunn, Winslow, Derrick Jones Jr., Olynyk and Herro.
Miami got 44 points off the bench against the Raptors, led by 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists from Winslow. Olynyk contributed 16 points off the bench with the help of 3-of-7 shooting on threes.
And Robinson helped space the court as a starter, with a 22-point performance that included a 6-of-9 display on threes.
“He’s becoming a complete basketball player, where he can affect winning on both ends of the court,” Spoelstra said of Robinson. “But now his confidence is really starting to soar, and he’s one of the best shooters in this game.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 12:42 AM.
