Coming off their first win of the season, the expectation, especially as they prepare to take on a beat-up Indiana Pacers team, is for the Miami Heat to keep the momentum going. That's far from a guarantee, especially with the way the first four games of the season went for this team, but that's what's at stake heading into Friday night.
So how could the Heat find a way to keep the momentum from their win over the Atlanta Hawks going? That's the golden question for Erik Spoelstra and the Heat.
Logistically, though, it could be a matter of carrying three specific trends into their game against Indiana. It may not be that simple, but there's certainly hope that it is. If so, it may all come down to the pick-and-roll game, Bam Adebayo finding a comfort zone again, and featuring Andrew Wiggins more.
Keep the pick and rolls coming
The Heat ran a season-high 57 pick-and-roll sets in their win over the Hawks. With this adjustment to the game plan, Bam was able to settle into a comfort zone once again, and Giannis Antetokounmpo managed to feast on the boards.
In a perfect world, the Heat could just repeat their game plan against the Hawks here, but it's never that simple. Especially when a Rick Carlisle-coached team is on the other end. There will have to be tweaks, but in theory, the pick-and-rolls have to be here to stay.
Bam and Giannis are best when there's a little structure to the offense, and the pick-and-roll sets significantly helped in their win against the Hawks. There should continue to be some variation of it adopted in the Heat's offense from here on out.
Get Bam Adebayo going early
Getting Bam Adebayo into a comfort zone early could be a byproduct of the inclusion of more pick-and-roll sets in the offense, but either way, this is something the Heat desperately needs to do once again.
Miami is at its best when Bam and Giannis are both clicking. Giannis is so good that he'll find his spots either way, but especially on offense, Bam needs to be put in a position to succeed. And, especially to start off games, that's on Erik Spoelstra.
The Heat needs to scheme ways to get Bam open looks to start the game. That should open up so much else for everything else the Heat may want to do after that.
More Andrew Wiggins
The Heat are going to be a really good team the moment Giannis and Bam can click while on the floor together. But there's reason to believe that they'll be able to take their game to an entirely different level if/when Andrew Wiggins can tap back into the offensive efficiency he had a year ago.
It's no surprise that the Heat finally broke their losing streak when Wiggins had the best game of the season. The challenge is: how can Miami keep that going?
That won't just fall on Wiggins' shoulders; the Heat also need to scheme ways to find him looks that fall in his comfort spots on the floor.
While this may be an oversimplification, if the Heat are able to check all three of these boxes, I have a hard time envisioning them not extending their winning streak to two against the Pacers.
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