Heat’s up-tempo offense reaching new heights

Hot streak with 3-pointers fuels recent output

OKLAHOMA CITY — It only looks easy.

Because when it comes to playing at pace, the Miami Heat are aware of the pitfalls, including so many mindless early-season turnovers that coach Erik Spoelstra had to pull in the reins.

But in three of the past four games, the Heat have scored at least 119 points. The Heat. 119. “We’re trying to push the tempo a little bit,” guard Goran Dragic said, as the Heat turned their attention to tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the start of a twogame trip. “We feel comfortable with that. We tried to play a little bit faster at the beginning of the season, but we had a lot of turnovers. So hopefully now everything comes together really nice. We have players who can play fast, who can play slow. We just have a great chemistry on offense.”

Last Friday, there was no need for speed, with a grind-out 92-91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. There then was a franchiserecord 149 points in Monday’s double-overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets, followed by 119 in Wednesday’s victory over the New York Knicks to close out the two-game homestand.

“I think we’re just clicking. We’re playing well together,” center Kelly Olynyk said. “I think guys are just feeding off each other. Guys are really enjoying when other people are playing well, and it’s kind of like a contagious thing out there.

“You can see the ball is really moving. It doesn’t get stuck a lot. Guys aren’t forcing anything. Guys are turning down good shots for great shots. And we’re getting out on the break more. I think being out on the West Coast a little bit and playing some of those teams and seeing how tough it is when teams get up the floor real quick, I think we’ve kind of picked up our pace a little.”

Most meaningful to coach Erik Spoelstra was scoring those 119 against the Knicks while committing only eight turnovers.

“That’s been a big turn, since we started to get healthy again and find a little bit more continuity,” he said. “We’ve taken care of the ball much better in the second half of the season than we did earlier on. And then, for us, that took time to find some continuity. Guys got comfortable and understand how we’re generating looks and to feel comfortable with the offensive package.

“So guys are still aggressive. If anything, we’re more aggressive right now. But we understand our spacing and understand where the looks are coming from.” of threes?’ ” Spoelstra said. “It depends. You got to have the right guys and you have to shoot the right ones. You just don’t want to come down and shoot contested threes or ill-advised threes. For us, it has to come within the flow, inside out.

“You want your shooters playing free in the mind, to play aggressively and to shoot those with great confidence. Our guys, at this point, know where they’re generating the look, how they’re generating the look and we practice it as such, and drill it and work on player development.”

By going 4-of-7 from beyond the arc Wednesday, guard Wayne Ellington has 26 games with three or more 3-pointers this season, breaking the franchise record of 25 such games, by Tim Hardaway in 1996-97.

“It’s been fun,” Ellington said. “It’s been enjoyable, just to have the freedom to shoot the shots that I’ve been shooting this year, and to have Coach behind me telling me to fire away. Any shooter, that’s all you ask for.”