The Miami Heat had a chance to sweep on Sunday. They didn’t, but they know they sucked and Khris Middleton’s identity crisis didn’t help either.
Miami Heat Knew They Sucked
The Miami Heat know that they were bad on Sunday. You could literally hear it in their sentiments after the game.
Per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald, Coach Spoelstra said “They reality is they deserved to win the game.” Also from Chiang, Bam Adebayo said ” We didn’t play as hard as we should have. I feel like we didn’t play at maximum effort the whole game.”
Per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald Goran Dragic also said they had “some breakdowns in the defense, some silly ones too.” and that they “knew they would play more small” with Giannis out.
Basically, the Miami Heat knew that they should have been better. With comments and awareness like this, you can expect they’ll be better on Tuesday. That’s the first reason for optimism.
Khris Middleton ISO Touches
Khris Middleton was someone else on Sunday. Literally.
He stepped so far outside the typical parameters of his game, that he almost looked like a different player. Here’s what we mean.
When you think of Khris Middleton’s game, you think of a guy who is supremely adept at finding shots off of scheme, plays, picks, pin-downs, and other hard-working forms of shot-finding and making.
On Sunday though, Khris Middleton thought he was James Harden. Let’s look at the numbers. Per a tweet from the NBA’s Couper Moorhead, here is some informative data.
"Khris Middleton recorded 25 isolation possessions in Game 4, the most he’s ever had in a single game, playoffs or regular season. His previous high was 14."
In response to that tweet, I asked the following, which drew a response from Moorhead with more depth on his perspective. Here it is.
I generally agree, although it wasn't wild efficiency or anything. Volume, as you said, would be tough to repeat.
— Couper Moorhead (@CoupNBA) September 7, 2020
Basically, the number of isolation touches or the sheer volume of possessions he had in the game is so far from the norm that you couldn’t possibly expect him to have that volume again. Even if he does, you can’t expect him to be as successful. That is the second reason for optimism.