Miami Heat: Running May Actually Be A Reality This Season.
Few things in the NBA are as associated with culture as the Miami Heat.
That is until coach Erik Spoelstra says something along the lines of “increasing the tempo.”
Spoelstra has been adamant about converting the Heat into a club that refuses to walk the ball up and down the floor since the Big Three split.
Unfortunately, his media day wish is more like an annual Groundhog Day joke than a reality.
Is it too harsh? No, not at all.
Season after season, Spoelstra’s half-court timeout sprints are faster than his team’s fastbreaks,
and he flails his arms in disgust.
The eye test seems to be faulty in the eyes of some observers.
When what is observed is combined with data,
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however, history presents an even more dismal image.
Last season, the Heat finished 29th out of 30 teams in the league in terms of speed.
Their 97.09 rating was only.03 points higher than the New York Knicks’ 96.33,
contributing to Miami’s 25th place points per game average (108.1).
These statistics should alter throughout Kyle Lowry’s experience, according to Spoelstra and Bam Adebayo. Miami’s ability to use a more conventional point guard enables them to not only run faster initial breaks but also operate more efficiently inside the 24-second shot clock.
Lowry’s defense, when coupled with P.J. Tucker, Jimmy Butler, and Adebayo,
will create turnover incentives, allowing them to go down the floor for easy baskets.
Take the first half of the preseason game on Monday night.
Except for Butler, those 24 minutes featured the Heat’s rotation of players who would be targeted the most throughout the early part of the season.
On attack, there was a lot of fast-hitting, and on defense,
there was a lot of welcome to the doghouse attitude. By the conclusion of the first two quarters, the team had scored 26 points off turnovers and had a 109.00 tempo rating.
During the preseason, some of the harshest judgments are made,
but if Lowry can keep the ball moving, Spoelstra’s media day vision will eventually become more than a joke.
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