The Miami Heat got a huge road win on Wednesday night over the undefeated Portland Trail Blazers to boost their record to 2-3. Outscoring the Blazers, 119-98, they would, not only, shoot the ball well from deep but play a Miami Heat brand of defense.
That’s what it’s always been about for the Miami Heat and the thing that has escaped them for most of this short season thus far. They have not been in sync on either side, which allows them to get stops and then get out to run.
If all else is going right, then the ball and players have energy, thus leading to higher quality shot attempts and likely, more makes on those attempts. You can just say that the culture was on full display Wednesday night.
Well, that and the Miami Heat’s latest rookie draft pick. Nikola Jovic would make his debut and man, would it be glorious.
Miami Heat Pace And Space Immediately Impacted By Nikola Jovic
Well, gloriously chippy and whistly for the 19-year-old Miami Heater that’s barely fresh out of high school.
Getting his first taste of real NBA action, with that being his first regular season NBA appearance ever, the rookie would quickly pick up four fouls. He would finish his 14 minutes of action with five of them overall, but that was ok.
The first reason is that he has to play to continue to develop and get better but secondly, he still had a pretty good impact on the team.
If nothing else having Jovic out there lets Miami play five out, which makes Jimmy's life much easier.
— Couper Moorhead (@CoupNBA) October 27, 2022
As noted here by the Miami Heat’s Couper Moorhead, Jovic’s presence gives the Miami Heat something that they typically don’t deploy. That’s a big man that allows you to truly play “five out”.
Dewayne Dedmon can shoot the three and Bam Adebayo has all the ball skills you ever could want from a big man, but neither of them are the seven-foot guard, at his core essence, that Jovic is.
Miami Heat Would Do Themselves And Nikola Jovic Favor To Get Him Minutes
That’s different and will allow the Heat to operate that way when they so choose.
It helps the team keep things open in the middle and actually helps the spacing everywhere, as the defense has to account for all five oppositional players being spread out, with no one near the paint or “close enough” to multiple players simultaneously to clog certain spaces or areas.
It's pretty notable that despite Jović not doing much other than picking up fouls, him simply being on the floor really helped to grease the wheels and get Jimmy mismatch hunting.
— Couper Moorhead (@CoupNBA) October 27, 2022
It gets deeper than that too though.
Because Jovic has the perimeter and ball skills that he has, plus when you consider that he makes the defense adjust to him by playing a big capable of guarding him wherever he lines up on the floor, that actually helps the Heat get out more in transition.
Be that because anyone can start the break, because it allows them to be more electric on defense due to mobility and athleticism all-around, due to the opposing team gets smaller which allows for easier or quicker rebounds to outlets, or any other unnamed reason—his presence allows them to play with more pace and space because of the type of player that Jovic is.
He still has a ton to learn, however, he needs to keep getting these valuable minutes. You trust Spo with whatever he does, but it’s so valuable to Jovic’s development and could turn out to be extremely valuable to the team as well in the long run of this season.