Miami Heat: 5 takeaways after 5 games - Hot Hot Hoops

Miami Heat (Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports)

We are officially one week through the NBA season, with the Miami Heat in the midst of a four-game road trip at 3-2! There is still way too much basketball left to be played, but what are a few of our takeaways? Let’s examine!

Pace, pace, pace!:

Erik Spoelstra-led teams have never finished top-15 in pace with nine bottom-12 finishes in transition frequency over the last 11 seasons. After three straight bottom-third finishes offensively, changes needed to be made.

The Heat were marginally slower without Jimmy Butler than they were with him last season. Now, they’re outpacing the rest of the NBA through five games. Even when Miami’s not generating deflections, it’s initiating offense with ~18-19 seconds left on the clock off misses, as opposed to ~14-16. It’s paid dividends, and I’m curious to see how sustainable it is — especially once the Heat continue to face better point-of-attack defenses.

Shooting has not been an issue for Heat:

A big question of mine — that still exists — heading into the new season was the team’s shooting. They lost Duncan Robinson, the greatest shooter in their franchise’s history, one who commanded unparalleled gravity, and would be without Tyler Herro for the first month of the season.

Never fear, Simone Fontecchio is now here! The fourth-year leads the NBA in 3-point percentage at 59.3 percent (min. 20 3PA) through five games, while Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson, Dru Smith and Nikola Jovic are all knocking down at least 40 percent of their triples.

I don’t think the Heat’s 40.5 mark is sustainable, but they’ve done an excellent job generating open 3s off paint touches and superior ball movement.

Jaime Jaquez’s breakout may be legit:

I did a deeper dive on this here, but Jaquez has fit seamlessly into the Heat’s new up-tempo offense. He’s not thinking, he’s getting downhill and isn’t as predictable on his drives. He’s also finishing exceptionally well at the rim, which may regress back to the mean.

Nevertheless, a Jaquez breakout is huge for the Heat. It’s just five games, but he’s consistently stacked positive games together — whether he’s scoring, rebounding, playmaking or defending.

Dru Smith hasn’t missed a beat:

I don’t know how Smith keeps doing it. Coming off three major knee/lower leg surgeries in four years, he’s been quite impactful off the bench like he was never injured in the first place.

Through five games, Smith, 27, is averaging 5.8 points, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals on 48.0 percent shooting and 41.7 percent from deep. He doesn’t make poor decisions very often and knows how to excel in his role.

Miami’s bench has been best in the NBA:

Its bench has been the best in the NBA through the first week, posting a league-best 10.6 NET Rating (and a league-leading 66.8 TS%). Smith and Jaquez play into that, but they’ve also got valiant contributions, at different points, from Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic and Fontecchio.

The Heat’s bench has been the No. 4 offense among second units with the 12th-best defense. It’s a far cry from how it was last year. If they can sustain this productivity, they will be a tough out on a night-to-night basis.

Miami Heat: 5 takeaways after 5 games – Hot Hot Hoops

Tags: