As opponents focus on slowing Duncan Robinson, Heat in search of offensive solutions
There were certain things the Miami Heat could rely on to help it win games last season.
Many of those things came on the offensive end, as elite three-point shooting, impressive ball movement and a lot of free throws helped to make the Heat’s offense a top-10 unit last season with the All-Star duo of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler leading the way. Miami finished last regular season with the NBA’s seventh-best offensive rating (111.9 points scored per 100 possessions).
This season? So far, the Heat’s offense has been one of the least efficient units in the league, entering Sunday with the fifth-worst offensive rating (106 points scored per 100 possessions).
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Some of Miami’s offensive issues made an appearance in Saturday night’s 112-94 road loss to the team with the NBA’s top record, the Utah Jazz. The Heat’s four-game winning streak came to an end, as it shot 40.7 percent from the field, went through an offensive drought that included just six points on 3-of-24 shooting during a span of 13:53, and scored at an underwhelming pace of 92.2 points per 100 possessions in the loss.
“We’re not where we want to be offensively,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after Sunday’s practice in Los Angeles, with the Heat (11-15) moving on to face the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday (10 p.m., Fox Sports Sun and NBA TV) in the third game of its seven-game trip. “We have much more to maximize with this group. We’re working at it.”
But how can a team returning 13 players from a roster that represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals last season produce such different offensive results just one season later? Opponents have made adjustments to take away certain triggers that were there for the Heat last season.
Adebayo vocalized one of the adjustments he has noticed during the first eight weeks of the season.
“They’re trying to take Duncan [Robinson] out of the game,” Adebayo said. “The stuff we were doing with Duncan last year, we can’t do this year. So, we just got to adjust and watch film, get together and figure that out.”
Robinson finished Saturday’s loss to the Jazz with eight points on 2-of-4 shooting on threes, as the Jazz kept a defender on him at all times, face-guarded him for most of the game, and never sagged off of him to help in the paint. Utah also took a physical approach and often sent a second defender to slow Miami’s off-ball actions involving Robinson.
“It’s just similar coverages to kind of what you saw in the playoffs last year,” said Robinson, who finished last regular season tied for the third-most made threes in the NBA at 270 and set a new Heat record for most threes made in a season. “So a lot of stuff that we could get away with in the regular season last year isn’t working anymore. But we just gotta adjust and find solutions.
“In terms of what they’re doing, just more tuned in first and foremost. Trying to limit my catches and limit my ability to come off of stuff freely and sending everything down to the baseline and trying to make it difficult. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, so I just gotta continue to be persistent.”
Spoelstra said of Robinson: “He has earned this respect from around the league. He’s being game planned for every single night as a priority where probably the first few months of the season last year, he might’ve been further down on a scouting report. As a group, we have to do a better job of executing details in getting him open and being persistent.”
Robinson is averaging 12.5 points while making 3.3 threes on 8.2 three-point attempts per game for a percentage of 39.9. Other than the percentage, those numbers aren’t far off from Robinson’s record-setting pace last season when he averaged 13.5 points while making 3.7 threes on 8.3 three-point attempts per game for a percentage of 44.6.
Opponents have found a way to more effectively defend Robinson in dribble handoff situations this season, though. He’s averaging one point per possession off of handoffs, compared to 1.38 points per possession last season.
Robinson has scored on 33.3 percent of his handoff opportunities this season, which ranks in the 63rd percentile in the NBA. He scored on 47 percent of his handoffs last season, which ranked in the 98th percentile in the league.
“They’re being physical and just trying to knock it down and not letting me get to it,” Robinson said of how teams are defending his dribble handoffs with Adebayo this season. “It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before. It’s just particularly in the regular season last year, teams weren’t as keyed in on that so I could get to it more freely in different sets that we ran consistently. It’s gonna require some creativity and also just being intentional with trying to get to that because it’s just not something that we can just flow into anymore.”
Robinson noted that “what I can control is just being more persistent with freeing myself and trying to get open.” The Heat is 5-10 this season in games with eight or fewer three-point attempts from Robinson.
“As far as Duncan, that’s part of being a pro,” Butler said. “You have to watch the film and figure out ways that you can get open. Like I always say, nobody feels sorry for us. We’re all going to be better. But I think just as much he can work on getting open, we got to do a better job of getting his shots, as well.”
Robinson said he has talked to New Orleans Pelicans sharpshooter JJ Redick and former Heat teammate Wayne Ellington recently in his effort to find solutions.
However, Robinson is only one, albeit important, part of the Heat’s offense. Turnovers and inefficient three-point shooting have also hurt Miami.
Even after some recent low-turnover performances, the Heat is still averaging the most turnovers in the NBA at 16.8 per game and also owns the league’s highest turnover rate (percentage of plays that end with a team turnover) at 16.7 percent. Miami finished last regular season with a turnover rate of 14.9 percent.
And after finishing last regular season with the NBA’s second-best three-point percentage at 37.9, the Heat’s three-point percentage of 35.7 ranks 20th this season. Considering the Heat is averaging the ninth-most shot attempts from deep in the league, simply getting its three-point percentage up by a few points would help it become a more efficient offensive unit.
Miami is 4-13 this season when making fewer than 15 threes in a game. Spoelstra said there have been times the Heat has passed up on open shots and “that can tend to lead to a turnover or a shot that’s not in our wheelhouse toward the end of the clock.”
It also doesn’t help that Butler missed 12 of the first 26 games — 10 because of health and safety protocols and two because of a sprained right ankle. Key rotation players like Avery Bradley, Goran Dragic and Tyler Herro have also missed extended stretches because of injury, and COVID-19 in Bradley’s case.
As a result, Adebayo, Butler and Dragic have played just 66 minutes together this season.
But while the Heat’s offense has taken a step back, its defense has taken a step forward. After finishing as a statistically mediocre unit last season, Miami entered Sunday with the NBA’s seventh-best defensive rating this season and the second-best defensive rating in the past 10 games.
That’s a symbol of just how different this season has been for the Heat despite bringing back the core of its roster. Miami’s efficient offense was its biggest strength last season, but its defense has been the more reliable unit to begin this season.
“I think there are times where our guys feel really comfortable and confident and helping the offense function at a high level and there are times where it’s not that,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s offense. “So the level of consistency needs to improve. That much is clear. It starts with our spacing and being able to take care of the basketball. Then it’s the details of our execution from there. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re getting there.”
▪ The Heat will be without Bradley (right calf strain), Dragic (left ankle sprain), Meyers Leonard (left shoulder surgery) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain) on Monday against the Clippers. Gabe Vincent is listed as probable with right knee soreness.
