South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
So far, it has been all pedal to the metal
PHILADELPHIA — The focus on the ultimate challenges is easy to muster, be it Saturday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, Tuesday on the road against the Houston Rockets, or even the upcoming three-game trip to Brooklyn, Toronto and Boston.
But what has distinguished the start of this season for the Heat has been the efficiency against the NBA’s lesser half.
From the opening-night victory over the Memphis Grizzlies to Friday’s victory at the United Center over the Chicago Bulls, the Heat have taken care of business in the league’s lower-rent district.
At 5-0 against teams with losing records, as well as success against the NBA’s middle of the pack, the Heat have been efficient where letdowns previously had proved stunting in the standings.
“I feel like we are more mature as a team, this team,” guard Goran Dragic said. “In previous years, we had a lot of ups and downs. We were not maybe mentally so strong, focused. And that’s really hurt us in past seasons.”
As a matter of perspective, in closing at 39-43 last season, the Heat finished 21-15 against teams with losing records, missing out on the playoffs. The previous time the Heat failed to make the playoffs, in 2017, there also were 15 losses against teams with losing records at the time the Heat faced them.
“We feel like this year we have a good group of guys who know what we need to do,” Dragic said. “They’re doing their job, and I feel like we’re mentally strong.”
In 2016 and ’18, when the Heat advanced to the playoffs, the Heat were 13 and 15 games above .500 against teams with losing records.
“In this league,” Dragic said, “anybody can beat anybody if you don’t bring your A-game. If we’re playing the worst team in the league, we still need to bring our A-game and build our confidence for the big games.
“And so far, we’re doing that. We still need to build our habits on offense and defense. And this year, we did that from Game 1.”
In some ways, that makes upcoming games such as Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Charlotte Hornets or Friday at home against the Golden State Warriors as significant as the potential upcoming statements against the Rockets, Nets, Raptors or Celtics.
“We were just inconsistent last season,” center Kelly Olynyk said. “We’re just playing at a more consistent level. It’s tough to pinpoint it to any one thing. I think if we knew what it was, we would have changed it last season.
“I think for us, we’re being
more consistent.”
Olynyk said it’s not as if the Heat are expecting credit for getting the expected results. It’s just, he said, about wanting to avoid the feeling of the ones that got away too often in recent seasons.
“We’re just doing our jobs, really,” he said. “We’ve just been winning the games we should win.”
Calm comportment
With Kendrick Nunn’s Chicago homecoming in his rearview mirror, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he was hardly surprised how his mature rookie guard tuned out the distractions and delivered a 21-point performance in Friday night’s victory over the Bulls.
“When he has 40 points or if he has zero points, what his facial expression and body language looks like, it would look the same, so I don’t know why I even though it potentially could be an issue with him,” Spoelstra said.
“He’s a very serious guy about this game and approach. He understands this is a tremendous opportunity for him and our team. He’s gone through a lot and overcome a lot to get to this point and he’s trying to take advantage of everything as well as he should.”