A look at the positives and negatives from the last week of Miami Heat Basketball.
There’s something about the Miami Heat and the month of January.
Once again, the Heat are surging in the standings to start the calendar year, ascending to fourth in the Eastern Conference and just a game behind the third place Cleveland Cavaliers with a matchup looming. A 10-4 month (so far) has erased the uneven start of the season, that kept the team hovering around the .500 mark.
The last week of games for the Heat once again solidified the team’s “next man up” ethos, as they played a pair of shorthanded games on the road in Charlotte and Houston, beating the Hornets and controlling the Rockets until a late run by James Harden and Chris Paul put the game away. It was back home to Miami for a frustrating, lethargic last second loss against Sacramento and finally another win over division rival Charlotte.
Even though the Heat were 2-2 during this stretch, they competed in every game thanks to their versatility and depth. Even if the final result wasn’t what they wanted, the Heat are beginning to find that total consistency that they’ve been searching for, since injuries plagued the beginning of their year.
More than that, a surge of young talent is beginning to round into form, including rookie Bam Adebayo, along with third-year players Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow. Combined with the versatility of veterans like Kelly Olynyk and Wayne Ellington, the Heat have been able to deploy a number of different offense and defensive looks to keep their opponent guessing.
Make: Kelly Olynyk and Bam Adebayo
The Heat’s frontcourt has been the topic of much conversation over the course of the season, with Hassan Whiteside proving inconsistent in the long run and James Johnson unable to find his footing on the offensive end. But the emergence of rookie Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk has opened up head coach Erik Spoelstra’s options, as he showed throughout this past week.
The combination of Olynyk and Adebayo in the front court, opened up the Heat’s offense to another level. Over this four game stretch, lineups featuring those two posted a 108.7 offensive rating and a suffocating 88.3 defensive rating. In their 74 minutes together, the rookie and newcomer teamed up for the best stretch of Heat Basketball all season.
Against Sacramento, where the Heat fell behind by eight in the third quarter, in a game plagued by lethargic play, Spoelstra summoned the Olynyk/Adebayo front court along with Josh Richardson, Wayne Ellington and Justise Winslow. That group managed to tie the game at 64, before another player came into the game for Miami.
Unfortunately, that group never saw the floor in the fourth quarter, where the Heat would squander a lead, scoring just 16 total points.
Specificially to Adebayo and Olynyk, the Heat’s offense opens up when those two are in the game because they fit the mold of the big man that Spoelstra is looking for within the offense.
Per Synergy, the Heat are currently second only to Detroit in shot attempts generated off of hand offs, many of which are initiated by the big men. Adebayo and Ellington have particularly found a groove in that section of the offense, with the sharpshooter ranking in the 83rd percentile of all shooters off a hand off (Josh Richardson is 84th).
Ellington runs those “pass routes” through a series of screens and Adebayo does a good job of recognizing that Winslow isn’t going to be able to make the pass. But the Heat have Sacramento where they want them, with Ellington and Adebayo both facing single coverage.
All the rookie has to do is flash to the ball and wait for Ellington to circle back around. As long as he sets a solid (legal) screen, Ellington is free to shoot.
Once again, the Heat found themselves down at home against Charlotte. Olynyk and Adebayo entered in the second quarter with the Heat trailing by six. They exited some minutes later with a six-point lead. Both big men cashed in six points apiece.
Both Adebayo and Olynyk also excel in the pick and roll game, where (per Synergy) the Heat’s screeners rank 10th in the league. Olynyk and Adebayo (66th and 67th percentile, respectively) are the two best they have in this situation.
Olynyk works well with his patience and sometimes awkward style of attacking, while Adebayo hits opponents with brute force and speed, launching himself to the rim as he does above. There is nothing Hornets center Patrick O’Bryant can do when Adebayo gets a step on him towards the rim; he is either surrendering a dunk or a layup to Winslow.
Here’s an example of Olynyk’s patience in the Sacramento game, reading the play properly and slipping so Winslow can deliver an excellent pocket pass for an easy basket.
Moving forward, this’ll continue to be the more effective alternative to the starting front court, which experienced its own problems this week. Olynyk and Adebayo are more in line of the future of the Miami Heat under Spoelstra, and so far it is paying dividends.
Miss: The Starting Lineup
A lineup that was so dominant for the Heat just a year ago, had a difficult week and continues to have a difficult year. Much of the heavy lifting this week came at the hands of the bench players (who have nicknamed themselves The Platinum Group).
A net -3.1 over the last week, the Heat were just a better team when this combination wasn’t on the floor. Particularly in the front court, Hassan Whiteside and James Johnson struggled to play next to each other.
In their 96 minutes together, they compiled a -16.4 net rating with a brutal 112.4 defensive rating. For two of the best individual defenders on the team, this number cannot be that high when they’re on the floor together. Odds are, the Heat will need both on the floor to make key defensive stops come playoff time.
Together, Whiteside and Johnson were bad and individually, the numbers don’t get much better. A combined -23 against Charlotte, -22 vs. Sacramento and -15 vs. Houston, rendered both big men unplayable in key situations, with Spoelstra deferring to the bench in crunch time where the Heat have been very good.
Spoelstra opted to roll with the starting lineup in the fourth quarter against Sacramento, after the reserves did their part to bring Miami all the way back from a second half deficit. They were able to score just 16 points on one of the worst teams in the league (the worst defense in the league), and lost the game in the final seconds.
The problem extended beyond the big men, as Goran Dragic also didn’t look himself as he works his way back from injury. The point guard was a -36 in his two games played, including a poor showing in the recent win over Charlotte, where he sat out the entire fourth quarter.
The Heat were just a better team with Dragic off the floor for this stretch. Their net rating rose from -21.1 to 11.9 when the point guard went to the bench and their true shooting percentage ballooned to 56.4 from 47.9 with Dragic on the floor.
Surely these numbers will change as Dragic rounds back into form, but it’s worth noting especially as the team makes important decisions regarding their future, with the February 8 trade deadline approaching. The starting lineup can’t struggle to this extent, particularly against teams like Sacramento who are in the running for the top pick in the draft.
Next: What the Miami Heat need to succeed is consistency
This is a worrying trend for the Heat as they move forward, but thankfully they’ve built up enough depth where this can happen from time to time, without costing them ground in the standings.