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The time has come for the Miami Heat to focus on defense

By Duncan Smith

WASHINGTON, DC -  DECEMBER 30: Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat shoots the ball against the Washington Wizards on December 30, 2019 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC -  DECEMBER 30: Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat shoots the ball against the Washington Wizards on December 30, 2019 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Miami Heat’s defense has struggled mightily in uncharacteristic ways lately. They spent some time working on it this week, and not a moment too soon.

Somehow, you wouldn’t really expect an Erik Spoelstra-coached Miami Heat team led by Jimmy Butler to struggle on defense, but that’s what’s been happening lately.

The Heat got off to a tremendous start on the defensive end over the first month and a half of the season. In the five game they played in October, they had the seventh-best defensive rating in the league, allowing just 99.3 points per 100 possessions. They went 4-1 in this stretch.

In November, they were solid, allowing 105 points per 100 possessions, eighth-best in the NBA. They went 9-4 in that month.

In December, somehow they kept winning with a defensive rating of 111.1. They went 11-4 in December, but this rating was the ninth-worst in the NBA. In the last 10 games, they allowed 113.8 points per 100 possessions, sixth-worst.

The decline has been precipitous. Some of it can be traced to rotational issues, lack of depth and the unavailability of perhaps their best defender, Justise Winslow. So far this season Winslow has only played 10 games, but the Heat have only allowed 99.4 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor.

As you might imagine, he missed most of December, and this defensive decline began right about when he went out.

On Monday, the Miami Heat allowed a Washington Wizards roster full of players you might have never heard of before that game to score 123 points against them, all without Bradley Beal. It’s inexcusable, with or without Justise Winslow, and head coach Erik Spoelstra took advantage of some extra practice time this week to work on this glaring weakness.

As the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang reports, the Heat took to the practice floor to emphasize that end of the floor.

Not just any practice, mind you, but a two and a half hour-long training camp-style boot camp of a practice.

"“A lot of defense,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said after practice, which included court work and a film session. “I think that’s the right approach. Our defense has been not so good the last few games and we need to work on it. Today’s practice was all about defense, and we knew it. We know that we have to get better as a team.”"

While some of what ails the Miami Heat does come down to personnel shortcomings as a result of a lack of depth and Winslow himself, Spoelstra is clearly determined to not accept these flaws.

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Up next for the Heat will be the Toronto Raptors, yet another shorthanded squad missing a healthy chunk of its offensive punch, including Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol. It will be a good test to see if that work pays off immediately.

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