The Miami Heat find themselves in a slump, and many assume it's because their offense is struggling, but they've been a very bad defensive team of late. And perhaps even more than their offensive woes, it's their tanking defense that has played a bigger part in their struggles than many are willing to admit.
And if the Heat don't get back on track defensively, it won't matter how much they're able to bounce back on the offensive end of the floor.
The Heat also have some defensive issues to work through
Through the first 16 games of the season, the Heat had a top-5 defense in the NBA. In fact, there's a real argument to be made that their defense was a bigger part of their early success than their offense. Up to that point, while the Heat were No. 1 in the league in pace, they still just had the 12th most efficient offense in the league.
Their defense, though, despite not garnering the headlines, was the real difference-maker.
However, since then, the Heat have begun to fall off.
Since that point, the Heat's defensive ranks have fallen to 15th in the league. And it's been a clear problem for the Heat, especially since the Heat's offense hasn't been as efficient as it was before the start of the season.
Erik Spoelstra believes it's all about effort
What's at the core of the Heat's recent defensive drop-off? Well, Erik Spoelstra believes part of it revolves around the idea that players don't generally like to play defense when the shots aren't falling.
"We've been struggling with this concept recently -- if we're not making shots, we're not able to get tough defensive stops."Spo on recent defensive issues
While that could very well be true to a certain extent, especially since the team's defensive struggles seem to line up right around when their offense began to tank, it's certainly never that simple.
Time will ultimately tell whether Spo is right. Because if the offense does begin to find its groove again, then that should naturally equate to a boost on the defensive end of the floor.
But for a team whose success is generally predicated on the defensive end of the floor, I can't imagine this is a great habit to fall into. And if the Heat is going to make a real push to the playoffs this season, they're going to have to be more consistent on the defensive end of the floor, no matter what is going on offensively.
Even though there aren't many that will admit it, their recent defensive issues could be an even bigger deal than their inconsistencies on offense.