The Heat has had double-digit comebacks in 5 of past 6 wins. How’s Miami doing it?
The Miami Heat did it again Thursday. Down 17 points to the Boston Celtics in the first half of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Heat rallied to win 106-105 and take a surprising, commanding 2-0 series lead in Lake Buena Vista.
Was anyone really surprised? In five of the Heat’s last six wins in the 2020 NBA playoffs, Miami trailed by double digits.
In Game 1 of the East finals, the Heat was down 14 in the third quarter. In the second round against the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami trailed by 11 in the second quarter of Game 1, 14 in the third quarter of Game 3 and 13 in the first quarter of Game 5, rallying to win all three and win the series in five.
The Heat insists there’s no simple explanation for this penchant for comebacks and there can’t possibly be. They’ve now come against two different teams, at all different time periods and with a variety of styles leading them.
“We know when we’re not playing the way that we’re supposed to be playing and, as bad as it sounds, it’s like a switch,” All-Star wing Jimmy Butler said Thursday. “It just turns on and, oh, there we go right there. I’m telling you, straight-face communication, move on and get it done.”
Defensive adjustments and offensive faith
Guard Goran Dragic said Miami didn’t mention offense at all at halftime Thursday. The Heat had a top-10 offense in the regular season, but have moved within two wins of the NBA Finals because of a massive defensive improvement. It has taken incredible focus and ever-evolving game planning to have the No. 4 defense in the 2020 NBA playoffs.
Against the Bucks, it was all about focus as there was an obvious plan to slow down Giannis Antetokounmpo — build a wall, using multiple players, between the superstar forward and the basket — and it was just about executing every time the down the floor. Against the Celtics, Miami is changing defenses with frequency with a focus on disrupting Kemba Walker.
In Game 1, the Heat threw constant double teams at the All-Star point guard, forcing him to give up the ball near midcourt and letting Miami’s defensive-minded forwards try to win their assignments 1-on-1. The incredible mobility of All-Star post player Bam Adebayo helps massively, too, as he can trap the guard and then retreat quick enough to protect the rim.
In Game 2, coach Erik Spoelstra’s adjustment was a heavy helping of zone defense. The Heat used a 2-3 zone with frequency throughout the regular season, abandoned it entirely in the first two rounds of the postseason and brought it back against Boston, first dabbling with it in Game 1 and finally leaning on it in the second half of Game 2.
Miami played zone for 32 possessions Thursday and the Celtics scored just 25 points against it.
“We definitely had some direct, forceful conversation,” sharpshooting swingman Duncan Robinson said Thursday. “It wasn’t necessarily like emotional as in bad, but, obviously, you’re in a battle like this, winning comes with emotion or trying to win comes with emotion, so we really just tried to be direct as possible, us among players and obviously Spo to us, as well, about what we needed to adjust.”
The Heat can place such a heavy focus on defense because it trusts its offense so much. Miami averaged 111.9 points per 100 possessions in the regular season, had the league’s second best three-point percentage and made the sixth most three-pointers.
Teams with the Heat’s shot profile are tough to put away. All it takes is forwards Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Herro or Robinson to get hot for a few possessions and a 6-0 or 9-0 run can happen in a blink.
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Keeping it manageable
The most important stretches of the Miami’s win Thursday were All-Star post player Bam Adebayo’s 15-point third quarter, leading to a 20-point swing in the Heat’s favor, and Miami’s game-ending 17-6 run, fueled by Butler and Dragic.
None of might have been possible, though, were it not for a sneaky 1:02 stretch at the end of the first half.
The Heat was down 60-43 and in danger of getting blown out when Dragic and Butler hit back-to-back jumpers. Miami held Boston scoreless for the final two minutes of the half and went into the break down 60-47.
“That was an important stretch,” Spoelstra said. “Felt like we were down 30, and we looked up and it was 13. It was like, OK, let’s see if we can get control of the game. That’s how well they were playing and it felt like that’s how poor our defense was.”
As unsightly as these deficits have gotten in the last two rounds of the NBA playoffs, they’ve never been unmanageable. In three of the five comebacks, the Heat’s largest deficit came in the first half and Thursday was the only time the Miami’s hafltime deficit was double digits.
Of course, ‘Heat Culture’
Is it too easy to just say “Heat Culture” is why Miami keeps getting it done?
It’s worth noting the Heat at least buys into this and it has long been undeniable president Pat Riley seeks out a certain type of personality for his rosters. Butler, of course, is most emblematic of the hard-nosed attitude Miami espouses, but the Heat, the playoffs’ biggest underdog story, have a roster filled with underdogs.
Only 36-year-old wing Andre Iguodala was a top-10 pick. Robinson started his college career in Division III. Butler and forward Jae Crowder started at junior colleges. Star rookie guard Kendrick Nunn and hyper-athletic forward Derrick Jones Jr. were both undrafted.
Leading them all is Spoelstra, who climbed all the way from Miami’s video room to coaching some of the biggest stars on the planet in the Big 3 era. Now one of the best coaches in the league has a team perfectly embodying everything he wants to be.
“We got grit. That’s about all I can tell you. We got grit, man,” Adebayo said. “I’m happy to be with these guys because everybody here has a different story. We all come from nothing and that’s what’s beautiful about this team — some guys that come from nothing and guys that have a vision. We’re just trying to oversee that vision.”
