The Miami Heat are off to an uninspiring 4-3 start where they have lost games both Philadelphia and Boston. It’s reminiscent of last season, when the Heat coasted through the start of the season, losing games to teams like the banged-up Wizards, then they woke up around the All-Star break, won 27 in a row and went on to another title.
This year things were going to be different, Heat players said from the start. They were going to be focused during the season, build good habits. So far, not so much.
LeBron James sees the issue is on the defensive end, as he told ESPN’s Michael Wallace.
“It’s simple,” James said as the Heat prepared for Tuesday’s home game against the Milwaukee. “These first seven games, we’re playing like s— defensively. It’s that simple. We’re not a sugarcoat team. We came in and got right down to it. We’re terrible on defense, and we’ve got to change that.”
He’s right.
Miami is 25th in the NBA in defensive efficiency allowing 105.4 points per 100 possessions. For comparison, last season they allowed 100.5 (and remember, that was after coasting through the fist half). The only reason they have four wins is their offense has been fantastic (best in the league so far).
The Heat play a gambling, aggressive defense and that has forced turnovers on 18.7 percent of opponents possessions (third best in the league) but the bottom line is teams are shooting 47.3 percent overall (26th in the league) and 37.1 percent from three (19th), which combined is an eFG% of 52.7, 28th in the league.
A lack of rim protection in Miami remains in issue, with teams shooting a strong 62.7 percent inside 8 feet.
Honestly, this is still not that big a deal.
Why? We know Miami can change this around because they have done it before. The defense we’ve seen from them come late in the season and the playoffs is different from November. It was last year, it will be this year (if they are healthy).
It’s just a question of when they decide to get serious and flip the switch. Then we can discuss if this year in a deeper East whether that will that be enough.