Putting solution to good use
Heat hope to resume defensive resurrection
MIAMI — The “harsh realities,” as Erik Spoelstra calls them, have given way to hardened responsibility.
As the Miami Heat return to the practice court Thursday at Kaseya Center and then resume their schedule Friday after an eight-day All-Star break, they will regroup at a familiar place:
As one of the league’s leading defenses. As the Heat exited their Jan. 29 home defeat to the Phoenix Suns, a setback that extended their losing streak to seven, they stood 13th in the NBA in defensive rating, not exactly prime positioning for a team with a middling offense.
Since then, in the run of six victories over eight games they carried into the break, the Heat stand second, only the Minnesota Timberwolves with a better defensive rating since the Heat’s skid-busting Jan. 31 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
And Spoelstra’s team also has been finishing those defensive sequences, no NBA team with a better defensive-rebounding percentage since the Heat’s start of this run of six wins in eight games.
“Sometimes,” Spoelstra said, “you have to go through that in a season, where you have to deal with your harsh realities. We were not defending the way we needed to and were losing games because of it.
“And after a certain point, you get sick and tired of being sick and tired of losing, and the pain of losing, and then you work toward solutions.”
The solution was found on defense, where the Heat have allowed only 102.6 points per game over their last eight, second only to the Timberwolves over that span.
“That was the lowest-hanging fruit for us,” Spoelstra said, “was to commit to defend and do tough things — do things with physicality, with force, with toughness and multiple efforts. And that’s now seven, eight games where we’ve done it and committing to it.
“And some of the games have been great offense. Some of them have been average. But we’ve been able to win games either way with that, and I think that’s the key takeaway from this.”
Even in the intervening losses, the Heat have stepped up on defense, allowing 103 points to a Los Angeles Clippers team averaging 118.3 and 110 to a Boston Celtics team averaging 120.7.
That, in fact, has been a Spoelstra talking point for weeks, the goal of holding opponents 10 points below their averages.
It is a push the Heat hope to continue, with their schedule resuming on Friday night against a New Orleans Pelicans team averaging 116.5 points per game, as part of a four-game trip that also includes going against a Kings team averaging 118.4.
“Holding teams 10 under their average, 12 under their average, we’re doing so much on defense,” center Bam Adebayo said. “Obviously it makes it easier on our offense when we get stops.”
And that matters, with the Heat 27th in the 30-team league in points per game, 22nd in offensive rating.
“I think we’re playing faster. I think we’re playing more free, as far as the movement of our bodies,” guard Tyler Herro said of the offensive rhythm created by the defensive disposition. “I think we’re harder to guard when we have guys that are moving fast as opposed to just standing and watching.
“So that’s part of how we’ve been coached during these last eight games, just moving our bodies and trying to be hard to guard.”
So not letting go of the rope on defense, which, in turn, has created a team on a string on offense.
“I think we’ve just kind of been enjoying playing with each other, finding a rhythm in that sense,” guard Duncan Robinson said. “Offense for us is really just about building and finding that connection.”
Balance achieved.
“You want to manage the highs and lows of a season, but they come regardless,” Herro said.
“And I think we weathered it well.”