MIAMI — The pace race was a far more impressive metric when the Miami Heat stood as an early-season upstart, the league-leading pace equaled by success in the standings.
At 7-6 going into Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Kaseya Center, a deeper dive is showing that the tempo is not necessarily translating to tangible success. Erik Spoelstra’s team entered the weekend 13th in the league in offensive rating, just ahead of the Charlotte Hornets and six spots below the Toronto Raptors.
The feel-good story of late October and early November now stands with a question mark alongside.
“We’re just trying to get something that makes sense for our team,” Spoelstra said. “I said it in our opening press conference: I want to be open and embrace the unknown, embrace the possibilities, see where this goes and we’ll adjust as necessary.
“I don’t know and I didn’t know where our pace will land, but it has to make sense for us. And right now, the guys are buying into something that they feel can be good right now, but also something that can scale.”
Yes, the Heat scored 132 points on Friday night in New York . . . but the Knicks scored 140.
Yes, the Heat scored 116 on Wednesday night against Cleveland . . . but the Cavaliers scored 130.
The next challenge will be reintegrating center Bam Adebayo back into the mix, with Monday night making it six consecutive games missed with a toe sprain, and getting to a game for Tyler Herro, with the 2025 All-Star having been sidelined since September ankle surgery.
So soon more pick-and-roll, which has been all but eliminated from the offense?
More dribble handoffs?
Amid his team’s rebounding and defensive struggles, the one-way focus on the new offense has Spoelstra questioning the questions.
“I don’t know. Nor do I care,” he said, when asked about moving to a game perhaps more conducive to the stylings of Herro and Adebayo. “Everybody’s focusing on the wrong stuff.”
He will do, he said, whatever is necessary to get his team out of its funk, playing more toward defined identities on both ends of the court.
“I’m not about to give a coaching class,” Spoelstra said when pressed on the offensive direction. “It just has to make sense for us. It has to make sense for whatever team. There’s some teams that it definitely makes sense, and you better run 60 or 70 (pick-and-rolls), because it’s a nightmare to guard those situations. For us, it didn’t make as much sense. So, we’ll see.”
That is when Spoelstra returned to the concept of scale, to mold something that can be effective now and even more efficient down the road, as the Heat again teeter in the play-in bracket of the Eastern Conference standings.
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“I just think there’s a bunch of different ways to organize an offense that makes sense for your team,” he said. “You can’t necessarily just be a copycat. You can, not like we steal as much as anybody, but it just has to make sense. I think this league is the highest level of talent, obviously, but also of coaching minds. There’s a lot of things that make sense in this league.
“When you scout and you really dive into it, you see why teams are doing what they’re doing, and it’s competitive. So you’re looking for any competitive advantage you can get.”
Advantages gained through coherence, Spoelstra said.
“For us, it’s not about trying to trick people or reinvent the wheel,” he said. “Really, we’re trying to maximize the roster of what we have and something that they can wrap their minds around, rally around.
“Ideally, that will bring out the best version of us now and then hopefully scale. We want it to scale. We don’t want to be where we are right now in March and April. We hope that this is a whole lot better.”
