5 Defining Miami Heat stats that explain the season so far, and where it's going

The Heat have stacked wins against bad teams

The Heat are 27-12 against teams with a bottom-20 point differential and 3-13 against teams with a top-10 point differential.

In other words, the Heat beat the teams they are supposed to beat but fall short against elite competition. Miami is 0-3 against Boston, 1-2 against Milwaukee and 0-2 against New York.

The main problem is that the Heat struggle to score against elite opponents, posting an offensive rating of 110.5 against those top-10 teams, per Cleaning The Glass. That’s like going into every game against a top-10 team with the league’s 27th-ranked offense.

Fortunately, the Heat’s remaining schedule is packed with more bottom-20 teams than top-10 teams (and they don’t have to face the Celtics again), but games against the Nuggets (Feb. 29), Cavaliers (March 20, 24) and Knicks (April 2) will serve as important measuring sticks.