The Miami Heat season came to a close when they were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. As the NBA Finals begin without the Heat involved, we look to next season to see what it might have in store for the Heat.
Although Miami was not one hundred percent healthy in the series against Boston, you have to give credit to Boston’s defense. They exposed some major weaknesses of the Miami Heat, which often led to them trailing in games in the series.
If the Heat want to continue to contend for a title and return to the NBA Finals, these weaknesses will need to be addressed this offseason. Here are the three biggest things that the Heat will need to improve for next season.
1. Ball Security
Turnovers were a problem for Miami all year. In the regular season, they ranked 28th in the fewest turnovers per game. In the playoffs, the numbers were slightly better, but they still had many careless turnovers.
What made the issue worse is that teams like the Celtics were effective at scoring in transition off of Miami turnovers. This, essentially, lost them the game in the first quarter of Game 7.
This should be an easy one to fix. It starts with Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler.
There are too many skilled playmakers on this team for this to be an issue. Even Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro are comfortable taking the ball up the court and making plays for others.
Particularly with Lowry on the floor, the Heat like to play with pace. Next year, the Heat will need to do a better job of controlling the tempo of the game, while also making smarter decisions with the ball.