Heat playing fast, having fun. Can it be sustained? ‘We’re trying to make it last all season’
After finishing with one of the NBA’s 10 worst offensive ratings in three straight seasons, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra knew something needed to change.
“We knew after last year that Spo was going to switch up the whole philosophy of his offense,” Heat captain and franchise cornerstone Bam Adebayo said. “He told me that. He said he wanted us to play faster and we are.”
That’s an understatement, as the Heat ran one of the NBA’s fastest teams out of the building Friday night. The Heat (1-1) dominated the Memphis Grizzlies 146-114 on Friday night at FedExForum behind its new up-tempo offensive attack to split its season-opening two-game trip
Friday’s game between Miami and Memphis was played at a pace of 113 possessions per 48 minutes for the Heat’s fastest game since October 2019.
It’s only been two games, but the Heat actually entered Saturday as the fastest-pace team in the NBA this season at 112.3 possessions per 48 minutes. Miami also entered Saturday averaging the third-most fast-break points in the league this season at 24 per game.
Most importantly, the Heat’s offense has been efficient while playing at this up-tempo pace. Miami entered Saturday with the league’s eighth-best offensive rating with 118.7 points scored per 100 possessions.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said of playing a speedier style, with the team back in Miami for Sunday’s home opener against the New York Knicks (6 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun). “It’s something we’ve been working on for a while. Something we’ve really bought into, I think, as a team. And you’re just seeing all that buy-in come to life on the floor.”
It may be fun for Heat players, but this new-look offense is also shocking considering that Miami has consistently been one of the slowest teams in the NBA under Spoelstra.
Not only has the Heat been one of the five slowest-pace teams in the NBA in each of the past six regular seasons, but Miami has also never finished the regular season as a top-15 team in pace through Spoelstra’s first 17 seasons as the Heat’s head coach.
Along with this new relentless fast pace, the Heat tweaked the offense to use fewer pick-and-rolls, fewer handoffs and fewer play calls while generating more paint attacks this season.
“We always say that we’re going to play fast every year,” Heat forward Nikola Jovic said. “But we don’t really do it. Then we kind of go back to a slow pace, get stagnant in the post, and make sure you know how to attack. This year, from the jump, really, [Spoelstra] really wanted us to play this way.”
It led to a historic offensive explosion in Memphis, as the Heat scored 86 first-half points and took a commanding 39-point lead into halftime on Friday to set new franchise records.
The Heat’s 86 first-half points represent the highest scoring half in franchise history. And the 39-point advantage goes down as the Heat’s biggest halftime lead in franchise history, surpassing a 34-point halftime lead against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 29, 2024.
In addition, the Heat’s 146 points on Friday are the third-most the team has scored in a game in franchise history.
“It was good to see us show this in a game where it’s not just our practice sessions behind the scenes,” Spoelstra said following the Heat’s blow out win over the Grizzlies.
Those preseason practices have helped Heat players prepare for this faster style, as conditioning work was emphasized even more than usual.
“I think a lot of guys will tell you we did a lot of running in training camp and even preseason leading up,” Jaquez said. “We were always doing drills to get us conditioned. It’s prepared us for this. We feel very confident in our conditioning going into the third quarter, fourth quarter. We know that we can lean on that and understand that we put the work in to get our bodies in the best shape possible.”
Adebayo added: “We had some hard days in training camp to get ourselves ready for this type of playing style and playing that fast. It started from early, playing in pickup. When we’re playing, we got to get the ball ahead in four seconds. And playing with that type of pace all summer, you get used to it. So now it’s just second nature for us at this point.”
The Heat’s challenge will not only be sustaining this type of pace for a full season, but also making sure its defense doesn’t suffer because of it.
The Heat has finished with a top-10 defensive rating in nine of the last 10 regular seasons behind its usual slow-it-down style, but playing defense while also playing faster is an adjustment. So far, so good for the Heat, as it entered Saturday with the league’s fourth-best defensive rating (allowing 106.7 points per possessions) at this early stage of the season.
“I mean, having a great defense I feel like is really important. But I think defense can get you only to one point,” Jovic said. “I feel like offensively you have to be great. You have to put the ball in the basket if you want to win. We maybe don’t have the best names in the league, but playing this way helps us put more points on the board and just look better. It’s easier for guys like me, Jaime, [Andrew Wiggins] to just score easier and be more efficient this way. This is for sure going to help us win.”
It’s still very early in the schedule, so the Heat needs to prove it can sustain this style and not revert to its usual methodical and slow approach. But the Heat’s plan is to make this part of their identity this season.
“Playing with a pace like this, you love to see everybody collectively having fun, everybody getting to touch the ball,” Adebayo said. “You can’t really scout plays for us. There are no plays. In the whole first half [Friday against the Grizzlies], I don’t think Spo ran a play.
“We’re trying to make it last all season. It’s fun when we play like this. It’s fun when we can get up and down, and run with that pace. And obviously, we need to make shots to dictate that. But our thing is just to keep playing this style of basketball, where there’s no hold. We’re swinging, we’re cutting. It’s hard to scout a team when everybody is live. So that’s what we’re trying to get to and that’s starting to be our identity.”
INJURY REPORT
The Heat ruled out Tyler Herro (ankle surgery), Kasparas Jakucionis (groin strain) and Terry Rozier (not with team) for Sunday’s home opener against the Knicks.
The Knicks ruled out Mitchell Robinson (left ankle injury replacement). Miles McBride (personal reasons) and Karl-Anthony Towns (right quad strain) are listed as questionable, and Josh Hart (lower back lumbar spasms) is probable.
This story was originally published October 25, 2025 at 11:48 AM.
