Heat returns home with six-game win streak and an identity: ‘We know we can get stops’
A lot has changed for the Heat in the past two weeks.
On Nov. 1, the Heat fell to 1-4 after blowing a 16-point lead in a home loss to the Brooklyn Nets. It marked the Heat’s worst five-game start since opening the 2007-08 season at 0-5.
But since losing to the Nets, the Heat (7-4) has won six in a row, the latest a 111-105 victory over the Hornets in Charlotte on Tuesday night that completed an undefeated four-game trip. The Heat’s current six-game winning streak is its longest since winning six consecutive games late in the 2021-22 season.
So, what changed?
“I would just say we’re really getting it done on the defensive end,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said ahead of Thursday’s rematch against the Nets at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and NBA TV). “Really starting to get more deflections, starting to play in passing lanes. So we’re getting stops and we’re starting to play in transition.”
During the Heat’s six-game winning streak, the team recorded a defensive rating of 109.1 points per 100 possessions that ranks fifth best in the NBA since the string of wins began on Nov. 3.
Like last season, the Heat is winning games behind a top-10 defense despite being one of the most inefficient teams on the other end of the court. Miami entered Wednesday with the league’s ninth-ranked defensive rating and 25th-ranked offensive rating this season.
“It’s our identity, it’s our commitment,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about the team’s defense that has again using different coverages from zone to man to full-court pressure to keep offenses off balance. “It takes a great deal of effort every single night and I’m seeing more multiple efforts, more commitment to do tough things, which is required to have a very good defense. It’s never easy with the way teams are playing, with the pace and the space and the talent. But we’re showing more resolve to do those tough things.”
That defense helps fuel the Heat’s sometimes shaky offense, as the unit anchored by the leading duo of Adebayo and Jimmy Butler entered Wednesday tied for the NBA’s top opponent turnover rate (percentage of opponent possessions that end in a turnover) at 17.2 percent this season. As a result, Miami is averaging the fourth-most points off turnovers in the league at 20.5 per game.
The Heat’s defense has also managed to be effective without fouling much, entering Wednesday with the NBA’s third-lowest opponent free-throw attempt rate (the number of free throw attempts a team allows in comparison to the number of shot attempts that team allows) at 0.219 this season. That’s allowed Miami to outscore opponents 208-153 from the foul line through the first 11 games.
“It’s the hustle plays,” Butler said. “Defense is all if you want to do it or not. Being in the passing lane, getting hands on loose balls, diving on the floor. If the ball is up in the air, rebounding. And it’s fun whenever you’re playing that way because you’re playing off of a stop and getting in transition instead of taking the ball out the net every single time. That’s really how we want want to play, get some stops and go down and score on the other end.”
The Heat has done this while missing important players.
Heat starting guard Tyler Herro, who is the team’s second-leading scorer behind Adebayo, has missed the past three games after spraining his right ankle. Herro will miss at least one more week before being re-evaluated.
Heat wing Caleb Martin, who is expected to be the team’s top reserve this season, has not played since the opener because of lingering left knee tendinosis. Martin has missed 10 games in a row.
Others have stepped up around Adebayo and Butler in their absence, though, with Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, Kyle Lowry, Josh Richardson, Kevin Love, Dru Smith and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. all contributing during the Heat’s winning streak.
“I think we’re just more connected, more locked in, more dialed in and we’re just doing the little things to help impact winning and get the win,” said Highsmith, who has established himself as one of the Heat’s best defenders while totaling 10 steals and eight blocks in seven appearances this season. “If our offense is not flowing, we know we can get stops and rely on our defense and we can get out and run in transition and get easy buckets. So just doing a little bit of everything.”
This has also happened during what’s probably the most challenging stretch of the Heat’s schedule in terms of travel.
After finishing its undefeated four-game trip on Tuesday, the Heat returns to Miami for just two days to host the Nets on Thursday before hitting the road again Friday for a five-game trip that begins Saturday against the Bulls in Chicago.
The Heat is in the middle of a 10-game stretch that includes nine road games. When this stretch is over, the Heat will have played 12 of its first 17 games on the road (the most in the NBA after 17 games).
“We talked about it when we started this trip that this month would be an opportunity for us to be able to galvanize around a tough schedule, to galvanize and pour into each other and just get into the competition and see if we can become better from all of this,” Spoelstra said. “You always have to expect that things will be tough on the road and they sure have been. It’s always harrowing and we found different ways to win.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Heat’s schedule has been tough from an opponent standpoint, as only two of the Heat’s first seven wins have come against teams with a winning record. The Heat’s seven wins have come against opponents with a combined 24-51 record this season.
And even after the Heat won six straight, it still holds a negative total point differential at minus 2 for the season.
The bottom line, though, is the Heat is finding its identity early on. Miami returned home from its undefeated four-game trip understanding that defense is again at the center of its winning formula.
“That’s our quickest path to success,” Spoelstra said. “Our guys are wrapping their minds around that.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2023 at 10:15 AM.
