Consistently winning in the NBA can be a tall order.
Shots must fall on a routine basis. Trusting your defense is also vital, but mastering either element requires prioritizing possession control. Even though shooting 3s and floor-spacing have changed basketball in recent years, it remains key for most teams to have reliable size … if they can help it.
The Miami Heat remain one of the league’s smallest teams, especially given starting center Bam Adebayo is only 6-foot-9. While that can have its drawbacks, Miami’s defense wouldn’t be so versatile without Adebayo’s comfort roaming the perimeter, using his hands to disrupt plays and blitz pick-and-rolls. He’s also really comfortable with converting defensive wins into transition opportunities, which allow him to use his ballhandling and court vision to set up teammates or take advantage of mismatches.
Close losses have been a common theme behind Miami’s season so far, but the issue can be routinely traced back to rebounding. Entering Friday, the Heat are 7-0 when outrebounding their opponents and have a 6-11 record when on the wrong end of that battle. That was the case in Monday’s 125-124 loss to the Detroit Pistons, who had a plus-eight advantage on the boards while leading by as many as 19 points.
With the Oklahoma City Thunder visiting on Friday, Miami has an opportunity to test itself against one of the NBA’s best teams, given both teams’ comfort with small-ball lineups. Adebayo is routinely complemented by Jimmy Butler at the power forward spot as coach Erik Spoelstra trusts consistent guard play to round out his defense. On occasion, backup center Kevin Love or Nikola Jović steps in as the team’s center so Miami can run in transition if they’re not playing alongside Adebayo at all. When the Heat do enjoy a two-man front, it’s worked, as evidenced by their plus-12.4 net rating when Adebayo and Love play together (50 minutes). Despite shelling out a three-year, $87 million contract for 7-footer Isaiah Hartenstein as their starting center, the Thunder — who are currently missing injured big man Chet Holmgren — are even more comfortable playing small. They’ll leave a big off the court altogether. Miami both respects and relates to that approach.
“They’re really good for a lot of different reasons,” Spoelstra said of the Thunder. “They have great personnel. They have versatility. They do it on both ends of the court, so you have to be able to attack them in different ways. I think our versatility is one of our best strengths. They do play big, and they do play small. We feel we have the ability to do both. We want to not be on our heels. We respect what they’ve done. They’re a quality opponent, but we want to try to get the game on our terms.”
Better controlling games is Miami’s best course of action this season. Doing so against dominant opponents capable of pushing tempo, creating open 3s and stifling your offense can be where the trouble begins, though. The Heat rank only 18th in rebound percentage this season, but Oklahoma City’s ranking (29th) illustrates how well the team has maximized possessions without having to dominate the glass. Wins against contenders like the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this month show Miami can hang fine against bigger squads, but building on those wins can be the difference between either climbing the standings or remaining in Play-In territory.
In each of Miami’s league-high six losses by three or fewer points, it has been outrebounded each time, so any frustration with close defeats credibly begins there. But Love is among those remaining confident in the team correcting its shortcomings. Miami feels it’s trending in the right direction despite knowing a few winnable matchups have slipped away.
“Obviously, there was that crazy end-of-game shot against Sacramento that we had here,” Love told The Athletic. “Certain games like that stick out in my mind, where we get a few more games in the win column and a few less losses, and we could be almost damn near in the third seed. So, we know it’s such a fragile game. We just need to take care of business, but I do think we’re gonna get on the right track.”
Correcting such a trend against arguably the league’s best team is definitely ambitious, but it can also be a start. After hosting the Thunder, four of Miami’s next five games will be on the road, with four of those matchups coming against teams sitting at .500 or better (Dec. 21 and 26 against the Orlando Magic, Dec. 28 at the Atlanta Hawks and Dec. 29 at the Houston Rockets).
(Top photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images )
