Heat man defense finally trending in positive direction. Also, Jimmy Butler out vs. Thunder
Just minutes after the Miami Heat won the lowest-scoring game of this NBA season on Monday night, coach Erik Spoelstra sat down for his postgame press conference with a smile on his face.
“Throwback game for our young kids,” Spoelstra said. “Probably the two happiest guys in the organization would be Pat [Riley], for sure, and myself.”
The Heat put together one of its best defensive performances of the season in Monday’s 87-82 win against the Indiana Pacers to begin a four-game trip. It marked just the second game that the Heat has won since the start of the 2019-20 season when scoring 90 points or fewer.
Led by defensive anchors Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler and a standout defensive showing by Victor Oladipo, the Heat limited the Pacers to a season-low 82 points on a season-worst 35.4 percent shooting from the field. Miami posted its season-best single-game defensive rating of just 87.2 points allowed per 100 possessions on Monday.
But the most noteworthy aspect of the Heat’s defensive display in Indianapolis is that it came in a game that it relied on its man-to-man defense. The Heat used its man defense on 77 possessions compared to just five zone possessions against the Pacers.
“Our man-to-man defense was probably, that was probably one of our better most complete games of the season,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat (13-15) continuing its trip on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “This is not an easy team to defend with the shooting and the ball movement, their ability to put the ball on the floor. Just a lot of multiple efforts. It was good to see three or four possessions in the final four minutes that ended in a loose ball with us hitting the deck, which is what we need to continue to commit to.”
Miami entered Monday’s game with the NBA’s worst man-to-man defense, allowing an NBA-high 1.03 points per possession while using man in half-court situations this season, according to Synergy Sports. That’s a big reason why the Heat is on pace to shatter the modern-day NBA record for most zone possessions played in a season.
But with most of the Heat’s best defenders available again after weeks of injuries issues, Miami’s man defense has been trending in a positive direction recently on the way to its best outing of the season on Monday. The Heat’s man defense allowed a season-low 0.78 points per possession in its win over the Pacers as it went back to its switch-heavy defensive base.
The challenge for the Heat’s man defense is to continue taking steps forward. With its improved play on that end of the court over the last few weeks, Miami entered Tuesday with the NBA’s eighth-best defensive rating for the season.
“Now we have to build that consistency,” Spoelstra said after the Heat’s dominant defensive effort against the Pacers. “But certainly you want to have that kind of toughness and mental stability that you can find a different way to win if the shots aren’t going down and that you can generate the energy and effort regardless of whether the ball is going in. That’s usually a good sign for your basketball team. We have not developed enough of those kind of habits. But hopefully we can build on this one.”
BUTLER OUT
The Heat will be without Butler for Wednesday’s road game against the Thunder on the front end of a back-to-back set because of what the team has labeled as “right knee injury management.”
Butler recently returned from right knee soreness that forced him to miss seven straight games from Nov. 18-30. He already sat out one game because of right knee injury management since returning from that injury — a Dec. 6 loss to the Detroit Pistons on the second night of a back-to-back.
The expectation is that Butler will be back to play in Thursday’s game against the Rockets in Houston on the back end of the back-to-back. The Heat is taking a cautious approach with Butler in back-to-backs this month because of his recent knee issue.
Along with missing Butler, the Heat will be without Jamal Cain (G League), Nikola Jovic (G League), Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) against the Thunder.
Dewayne Dedmon (left foot plantar fasciitis) is listed as questionable.
Tyler Herro (left ankle sprain), Oladipo (left knee tendinosis), Duncan Robinson (left ankle sprain) and Max Strus (right shoulder impingement) are probable to play.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 3:04 PM.
