With the Miami Heat in the middle of an offensive overhaul, it's easy to think that's been the biggest source of their strong start to the 2025-26 NBA season. Especially when it has accomplished things like helping Jaime Jaquez Jr. return to form following a disappointing sophomore campaign and highlighting Norman Powell as the most obvious steal of the offseason.
The stat sheet, though, says Miami's new-look offense isn't what has fueled this sprint out of the starting blocks. Rather, it's the Heat's fourth-ranked defense, per NBA.com, doing the heaviest lifting.
And when you think about both the identity of this franchise and the makeup of this roster, that totally makes sense. Moreover, it figures to be a reliable, sustainable strength of this squad, which may not be the case with the team's new offense.
A team led by Erik Spoelstra and Bam Adebayo will always do its best work on the defensive end.
When prognosticators were predicting more mediocrity for Miami, those doom-and-gloom discussions always revolved around two things (which are functionally the same concern): the lack of a sure-fire superstar and an offense that typically grades out below-average.
You rarely heard even a mention of the defense. Almost as if it was a given that this group would hold its own on that end of the floor.
Because it sort of is.
Look, maybe you cringe any time that "Heat culture" gets mentioned, by this relentless commitment to hard work almost always results in defensive dominance. The Heat are perenially perched among the league's stingiest squads. You have to travel all the way back to 2019-20 to find the last time they didn't have a top-10 defensive efficiency—and they were a respectable 12th that season.
Now, the focus on the offense happened for a reason. History holds that it typically takes top-10 rankings on both ends of the floor to fuel a championship run. So, the challenge was always going to be for the offense not to be so brutally bad that it held back the defense.
Make no mistake, though, this is a defense-first organization through and through. So, while you can (and probably should) raise some alarms about Adebayo's offensive struggles, always remember you're still discussing one of the league's premier stoppers.
Andrew Wiggins is another lockdown defender. Davion Mitchell and Dru Smith are relentless on the ball, too. And for all of the excitement around Kel'el Ware's blend of rim-running and floor-spacing on offense, he is—when fully dialed-in—just as important on defense for his rim protection, rebounding, and mobility away from the basket.
This is a group that, frankly, has to win with defense. The offense should be improved—remember, it's making all of these strides without injured All-Star Tyler Herro—but it doesn't have the firepower to carry this club.
The defense just might, though. And if you look carefully at this sizzling start, it's kind of doing it already.