Heat feels like ‘everything is headed in the right direction.’ Also, Tyler Herro receives honor
Life comes at you fast — just ask the Miami Heat.
Just one week ago, the Heat was coming off a 19-point drubbing at the hands of the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics. The loss dropped the Heat to 9-10 for the season.
Since then, the Heat has put together its best stretch of the young season to win three games in a row and improve to 12-10. It’s the Heat’s first three-game winning streak of the season.
“It feels like everything, honestly,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said when asked what’s trending in the right direction for the team during this string of positive results. “Everything is headed in the right direction on both sides.”
The Heat’s third victory in a row goes down as its most impressive result of the season yet, handing the Cleveland Cavaliers just their fourth loss of the season in a 122-113 win on Sunday night at Kaseya Center. Even after the loss, the Cavaliers hold the NBA’s top record at 21-4 this season.
“You’re playing against a very good team, obviously,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Sunday’s win over the Cavaliers. ”... You have to be able to sustain a high level of basketball on both ends of the court. If they didn’t hit those two threes at the end, you’re holding them under 110. And then scoring 120-plus against a really good defense, that means you have a lot of intentional things going on and you’re not just doing it in spurs. It was a consistent game, we were able to sustain it and earn the win.”
The three-game winning streak has included three home victories against teams with winning records — a 134-93 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, a 121-111 win against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday and Sunday’s victory against the Cavaliers.
Yes, the Lakers are in disarray with seven losses in their past 10 games, the Suns were missing two starters (Kevin Durant and Jusuf Nurkic) against the Heat on Saturday because of injuries, and the Cavaliers were without starter Evan Mobley in the second half on Sunday after he sprained his ankle early in the contest.
But considering where the Heat was just one week ago following its Dec. 2 loss in Boston, any win is a good win in its search for consistency amid what was an underwhelming start to the season.
“We got some fight in us. We beat the No. 1 team in the East,” Heat guard Terry Rozier said, referring to Sunday’s win over the Cavaliers. “Obviously, it doesn’t mean everything. But we’re heading in the right direction. We knew how important this week was for us. We handled our business and now we just want to keep doing that.”
As the Heat enters a three-day break before closing its four-game homestand on Thursday against the Toronto Raptors, what exactly has been better during this three-game winning streak?
The defense has been solid, as it has hovered around the NBA’s top 10 for most of the season. Miami entered Monday with the NBA’s 11th-best defensive rating for the season (allowing 111.5 points per 100 possessions) and has been a little better on that side of the court recently with 110.1 points allowed per 100 possessions during this string of three straight wins.
But it’s the offense that has been the difference for the Heat lately, scoring an NBA-best 130 points per 100 possessions over the last three games. The Heat has also scored at least 121 points in each of the last three games, tying the longest such streak in Heat history.
The Heat entered this three-game stretch with the NBA’s 20th-ranked offensive rating (scoring 111.7 points per 100 possessions) for the season. Just three wins later, the Heat has moved up that list to enter Monday with the ninth-ranked offensive rating (scoring 114.1 points per 100 possessions) this season after finishing each of the last two regular seasons with a bottom-10 offensive rating.
A big part of that recent surge has been the Heat’s improved three-point shooting efficiency and finishing ability around the rim. The Heat is shooting a league-best 45.7 percent from three-point range while also converting on 70.9 percent of its shots from within the restricted area during its three-game winning streak after shooting 37.1 percent on threes and 57.9 percent at the rim during its 9-10 start to the season.
The Heat is also now 7-2 this season when opening a game with its new starting lineup of Herro, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Bam Adebayo. This unit has outscored opponents by 20.7 points per 100 possessions in 116 minutes together since becoming the Heat’s starting lineup three weeks ago.
“I feel like everyone is sharing the ball and making the right play offensively,” Herro said. “Defensively, playing together, talking, communicating, covering for each other, doing all the things that are required to win in this league. Then, obviously, the goal is to win a championship. But I think it starts now with building the habits, building all the things that we’re going to need come April, May.”
It helps that the Heat’s leading trio of Adebayo, Butler and Herro have all played well together during this three-game stretch.
Adebayo, Butler and Herro have combined to average 65.3 points per game on 59.7 percent shooting from the field during the last three games. The Heat has outscored opponents by an eye-opening 47.4 points per 100 possessions during the 60 minutes they’ve played together during this span.
Prior to this three-game winning streak, Adebayo, Butler and Herro combined to average 58.2 points per game on 46.2 percent shooting from the field this season. The Heat was outscored by 3.1 points per 100 possessions in the 282 minutes they played together during this time.
The Heat has also used quality contributions from others on the roster to help spark this encouraging three-game stretch. Robinson has shot 10 of 17 (58.8 percent) threes, Highsmith has posted a plus/minus plus 63, Rozier has shot 4 of 10 (40 percent) on threes while recording 12 rebounds, seven assists and just two turnovers, and Dru Smith has totaled 21 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block during the Heat’s three-game winning streak.
“I think it’s collectively just playing great basketball,” Adebayo said. “Everybody is doing their part. No matter what that last column says, we’re all doing our part trying to figure out how we can get wins. You don’t realize how hard it is to actually get a win in this league. It’s very easy to lose a game.”
The Heat learned that early this season, blowing multiple double-digit leads in the opening days of the season. The Heat wasted three double-digit leads just in the first two weeks of the season.
But the Heat is now learning what it can be when it’s playing at a high level on both ends of the court, as it enters the week in fifth place in the Eastern Conference just one loss behind the fourth-place New York Knicks and third-place Orlando Magic. Now, the challenge is to sustain it.
“You just want your team to see the possibilities with that type of intentional play and doing things to our identity more often,” Spoelstra said. “That doesn’t mean it’s always going to look perfect. It just puts yourself in the best position to win and then you want to build on that. So I think the locker room sees the possibilities with this team. We just have to keep on going.”
HERRO’S HONOR
The NBA announced Monday that Herro is the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from Dec. 2 through Dec. 8.
It marks the first time Herro has earned the honor in his NBA career. Herro is the 17th different player in team history to be named the East Player of the Week, with the last time coming when Adebayo received the award in January midway through last season.
Herro helped lead the Heat to a 3-1 record last week, averaging 25.3 points, six rebounds and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 50.7 percent from the field, 43.6 percent from three-point range and 87.5 percent from the foul line over those four games.
This story was originally published December 9, 2024 at 11:49 AM.
