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Couper Moorhead

1. West Coast trips are always an opportunity no matter when they show up on the schedule. Tonight’s open to that trip, as it happens, was a missed one.

Usual starters, as usual, and the HEAT weren’t wasting any time showing Luka Doncic different looks from the jump, sending a trap his way in the first minute of the game.

But Doncic has seen every coverage under the sun and as the Lakers – playing on a back-to-back – earned an open three out of the 4-on-3 which resulted from the trap, the pace was set, Doncic with the defense on its heels and the Lakers playing with a lead oscillating between one and three possessions.

The good news is that Miami had everything they needed, flow state activated, to answer. More often than not, that answer was coming from the outside, Giannis Antetokounmpo drawing the three-man wall – with a ton of fronting when the Lakers didn’t like the matchup – and patiently waiting for the open man to spring free. There was Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson – mixing in some tough, contested mid-rangers – and Davion Mitchell (4-of-4 from three in the first half) all hitting multiple times as Antetokounmpo did his usual work in the middle of the floor, with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first two periods and plenty of and-ones.

The most two-way traction Miami found was in the first shift of the second period, with Doncic on the bench and Ryan Conwell getting some minutes, a transition look from Thompson tying things up at 46.

Then Doncic returned, and the defense was back on its heels. Miami was still game to match threes, but a 10-0 run from the Lakers took back control and eventually a 79-72 lead at the break, Doncic with 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting, with eight assists on top. With Doncic on the floor in the first half, the Lakers had an Offensive Rating of 153.8. With him off, that number sunk to 118.2, the difference in the game a handful of paint points.

Doncic led off the third with an and-one jumper at the foul line, the lead back to double digits, with Austin Reaves following up with an and-one at nearly the same spot on the floor. Doncic then threw in his most contested shot of the night, a left wing three that left him with no airspace, and the lead was very suddenly 16 after a 7-0 run, HEAT timeout.

Some messy minutes, both teams committing offensive fouls, but Doncic found his footing first, another three pushing the lead to 19.

Shot for shot from there, Antetokounmpo trying to will it for Miami, the game a little too casual for a few minutes, with Thompson at least forcing a Lakers timeout with an open triple on the left wing.

Erik Spoelstra went to the press-zone against the Lakers bench unit, Doncic still in, but it did not have an immediate effect. Threes still kept Miami hanging around, Bam Adebayo getting things closer than they had been since the first minutes of the half with a coast-to-coast take. Lakers coach JJ Redick made an interesting move to put Doncic in the middle of the zone, indirectly leading to an open corner three, and it was 111-93 Lakers headed into the fourth.

No Doncic to open the fourth, Miami still in zone, but the score was crawling in the wrong direction even with the Lakers role players missing a series of wide-open looks. Antetokounmpo got himself to the line to try and keep the window open, only to be answered by a Reaves three.

HEAT got themselves into an early-enough bonus, typically a harbinger of a comeback opportunity, and the back-to-back threes from Tim Hardaway Jr. made it 15, again answered by an open Lakers three.

No traction, no answers tonight, both sides taking out their starters with a little over a minute to play as the Lakers take it, 138-117, with the Clippers on deck.

2. You can’t start anywhere else but the defense.

We’ve made this point regularly over the years, but there are only a small group of players who bypass Spoelstra’s schemes and Adebayo’s prowess no matter what is thrown at them. One of them plays in Denver. The other one is Doncic.

The only brief moments when it felt like Miami had a handle on Doncic tonight were when Adebayo was involved – with a trap, a blitz, a switch that induced a well-covered isolation. Otherwise, Doncic was in full control, his early passing nullifying most defensive pairs put in front of him, his change of pace keeping defenders off balance and his shotmaking bringing the entire package together. His final line of 42 points on 24 shots, with 13 assists and plenty more of the hockey variety, doesn’t even fully account for his casual approach to the fourth quarter as his team was mostly up 20.

With the sample size so small, many will compare the defense in this one to how Miami struggled against Minnesota and Detroit, two teams also led by high-level offensive players that draw a crowd out to the arc. But the shots made in those two games obfuscated what was a pretty solid overall Shot Quality allowed, most of the mistakes the sort that can get cleaned up with a little communication and film work.

The difference tonight was that the defense was less about Miami’s own breakdowns – though their turnovers (19) didn’t help, the Lakers only had six fast-break points – and more about getting beat, both in what they allowed on the perimeter and in the middle of the floor off Los Angeles’ ball movement.

Not every team has a Doncic, and Miami won’t be the only team beaten while searching for answers to stop him. That much is true, but so is the fact that Miami has had better showings against Doncic, too, in the past doing better to at least limit one aspect of his game.

Spoelstra teams tend to learn from games like this, when the film cannot tell a lie, and all that matters now is how the team responds.

3. Offensively, this one wasn’t too far off from those Minnesota and Detroit games, either, Antetokounmpo having little trouble dominating in the middle of the floor – even against a typically smart Lakers scheme and the rim protection of Walker Kessler – on his way to 30 points on 17 shots, with 12 rebounds and seven assists, albeit accompanied by seven turnovers.

The difference was that Miami made many more of the shots that they missed in those first-week games, Thompson and Mitchell each hitting four threes, Hardaway Jr. adding three off the bench and the team finishing 16-of-41 for 39 percent overall. Miami’s turnovers brought their overall Offensive Rating down to 115.8, and without those the scoring would have been more than enough with a better defensive game.

Still, the Lakers clearly prioritized the paint, allowing just 38 inside even with Miami scoring 20 in transition.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was all good enough. This team is built for the defense to give them a chance to win on any given night, even those with overall average offensive showings. That hasn’t been a foundational tenet of this group yet – and yes, teams will start missing threes more often, though that regression will be helped by forcing tougher, more sped-up looks – but a handful of tough early-season nights against the league’s best with the ball in their hands also isn’t a roadblock for getting to where they want to be.

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Miami Heat at Los Angeles Lakers

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Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Drop Start Of West Coast Trip As Doncic Takes Control

1. It’s the beginning of NBA Cup season, and that means it’s time to bring point differential into the equation – and it was most definitely part of the equation tonight – as a tiebreaker that always seems to come into play once the group rounds are done with.

Miami is in a tough group, though they weren’t exactly facing the full-strength Indiana Pacers tonight – a team otherwise expected to return to contention but missing all of Tyrese Haliburton, Ivica Zubac, T.J. McConnel, Obi Toppin and Ben Sheppard from their rotation.

Didn’t matter to the remaining Pacers early on, particularly Andrew Nembhard who looked like he couldn’t miss a three if he tried.

The HEAT came out running some pick-and-rolls, just as they did Wedneday in Atlanta when they dramatically raised their rate of on-ball screens, but the offense didn’t have much of a rhythm to it, live-ball turnovers proving costly, as they always are, with Indiana hitting all their open looks.

Little bit of a rotation change from Erik Spoelstra, still staggering Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo but this time Adebayo was the one to come out with six minutes left in the first, giving Antetokounmpo the longer initial run. An early lead for Miami went sideways as Indiana dropped in one triple after another, the Pacers scoring 42 in the first quarter for a six-point lead, shooting 6-of-12 from the arc.

The good news was that Miami quickly cleaned up their turnovers from there, and the remnants of Indiana’s rotation may as well not have been there whenever Antetokounmpo set his sights on the rim. The bench units ran off a 16-0 run, eventually pushing Miami to a 68-61 lead, 36 points in the paint – Antetokounmpo with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and Adebayo with 15 on 6-of-8 – and a cool 130.8 Offensive Rating.

Adebayo opened the third with a jab-step that left Jay Huff frozen before driving in for a simple dunk, and Miami’s paint dominance continued from there. Quick timeout for Indiana less than two minutes in, the HEAT already up 14.

Miami’s offense may have been rolling at this point – Thompson having his best game of the first weeks with three more threes in the third to put him at 5-of-9 – but their defense was alive and well, working Indiana deep into their own shot clock as the shot quality got worse and worse since that early barrage of threes.

Lead up to 21 on Thompson’s back-to-back threes, and Ryan Conwell got some minutes soon after that, not much movement from there until Thompson hit his sixth and seventh threes to cause another Indiana timeout.

Little bit of a run from the Pacers after that, Jarace Walker hitting a couple from deep – the Pacers back up to 48 percent from three – and forcing a turnover to bring the gap back to 15 by the end of the period. Still time for Indiana, despite how little offensive momentum they had, and the point differential a worthy consideration down the stretch.

A triple teamed Antetokounmpo found Bobby Portis for a wide open three to open the final stretch, and with Portis hitting another soon after that all the ground Indiana had made up to end the third was gone.

Back to a 25-point lead, back to thinking about margin of victory with Larsson (18 points on 5-of-5 shooting) capping off the competitive portion of the evening with a driving two-handed dunk over Pascal Siakam. The starters kept going for a bit to secure a sizable margin, and Miami takes it, 145-125, for their first home victory.

2. If you watched this game live, your main takeaway was probably that Indiana had absolutely no answer for Antetokounmpo. (31 points in 31 minutes for a +31, 13-of-18 from the field, with 18 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple double). We of course give the Pacers the grace of noting what they were missing, particularly the size of Zubac in the middle of the floor, but anytime Miami needed a score or a paint touch for a kickout, Antetokounmpo was all too willing and able to oblige.

But we’re going to be able to say that plenty this season, such is Antetokounmpo’s talent and consistency. The callout, then, goes to Thompson, putting in by far his best game of the season with 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 7-of-12 from three, with three assists on top.

Our general rule around these parts is, unless an injury is involved, never doubt a proven high-level shooter. Whether it’s Ray Allen, Duncan Robinson or Thompson – who could barely even be classified as being in a slump after just a handful of games – shooting typically doesn’t just vanish without reason, and it certainly wasn’t going anywhere for one of the best shooters in the history of the league.

Thompson historically has had some slower starts to seasons, anyway, and Spoelstra clearly wasn’t concerned given how much early offense – off-ball screens into quick-hitter pick-and-rolls which leverage Thompson’s on-the-move gravity whether he get a shot off or not – and after Thompson hit both his bigs for early scores it was time to show off the jumper in front of the home court, threes all over and a couple of mid-range hits for good measure.

3. This was not a night to learn much about this matchup, which could be a postseason matchup if you fast forward half a year, but any game with a team as fresh as this Miami roster is an opportunity to learn more about their process.

The question after Wednesday was how much of a shift there really would be toward a more pick-and-roll focused offense after the success in Atlanta, in which they used 10 more pick-and-rolls than in any game all of last season. And early on there were plenty of pick-and-rolls, though as it turns out those may have just been part of the Thompson package mentioned above, Thompson hitting both Antetokounmpo and Adebayo (27 points on 11-of-14 shooting) on the roll after they slipped a screen.

Spoelstra noted after the Hawks game that the HEAT need something to get to when they aren’t in their flow, so maybe that’s all tonight was – a game where they were in their flow and at little risk of Indiana taking them out of it after those early turnovers. There were certainly fewer pick-and-rolls (down to 36 from 57 against Atlanta), however, which is mostly worth noting for the sake of posterity as we monitor the team’s usage over the next few weeks.

For tonight, against an under-equipped group, the up-tempo flow system was more than enough and Miami ran off an Offensive Rating of 139.4, which would be the most efficient game of the season for some teams – exactly the sort of night you want to see this group have, regardless of opponent, if for nothing else as one of those proof of concept evenings, when Antetokounmpo was unstoppable and everything around him was working with nary a squeaky wheel or rusty gear.

It won’t always look like this, but it’s nevertheless encouraging to see it work like this in the first place.

Experience the energy, pace and passion of HEAT Basketball live as Miami hosts the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center for NBA Cup action.

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Indiana Pacers at Miami Heat

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Coup’s Takeaways: Klay Thompson Scorches Pacers For NBA Cup Victory

1. That’s a bit more like what we all thought this would look like, and a little unlike what we expected, too.

You can’t dig yourself out of a 0-4 start to the season in one night, but it can feel like more than just one game when you look like this.

Usual starters, both sides with most of their guys available, and the first score of the game went to Bam Adebayo on a quick post-up. That wasn’t a one-off, either, as after Giannis Antetokounmpo picked up a couple early fouls Adebayo continued to go at longtime division foe Onyeka Okongwu, hitting a few faders in his upper paint comfort zone and drawing a foul on another.

Atlanta stayed attached with some shotmaking, but this was Miami’s game from the jump, albeit with a few different offensive wrinkles, as the Hawks found themselves perpetually in catchup mode.

Miami was the bigger team, and it showed. It started outside-in, Miami’s halfcourt pace – with a few more screens and handoffs being used – creating long closeouts and bang-bang decisions in the middle of the floor as the HEAT enjoyed one blowby drive after another. But it appeared as though as the game wore on Miami began to sense opportunity in the paint, especially against Atlanta’s generally smaller lineups, and crashed the glass.

HEAT up, 69-56, at the break, with 40 points in the paint to their name – just a bit below their season average through four games – and 25 rim attempts, which would have been the third most for any team in the league last season in a first half. Toss in some runouts off steals, Atlanta forcing some passes into the middle, solid shooting and a 44 percent offensive rebound rate and they were firmly in control.

More of the same early in the third, Adebayo pulling in his own miss with four Hawks around him for a putback. Not a high-volume night for Miami at the arc, but Andrew Wiggins balanced things out, 4-of-5 from three to keep the advantage in double digits, with an and-one fading jumper just before a shot clock buzzer just for good measure.

Atlanta had little interest in letting go of this one, their interior defense noticeably tighter after getting crushed in the paint in the first half, Miami’s shot profile inching more toward the perimeter – with Adebayo and Antetokounmpo still crashing the offensive glass.

Miami had another quick run in them, the combination of Adebayo, Pelle Larsson and Dru Smith stifling on defense while the Atlanta bench units struggled to avoid bouts of discombobulation. HEAT up 18 before it shrunk back to 12 at the end of the period.

Another Hawks run held off by threes from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Larsson. Still just a 10 point game, Hawks rookie Kingston Flemmings giving Atlanta a boost with pace and shotmaking. Then it was seven, Lu Dort hitting consecutive threes, but Antetokounmpo answered with an and-one off the rolling feed from Davion Mitchell, Miami continued to use far more pick-and-roll than they had in the first week.

Down to four, the injection of energy from Flemmings spread throughout his lineup, and this time Mitchell had the answer, two quick-hitter layups – one of them a tough, contested lefty finish – and a steal on Jalen Johnson that went the other way for a Larsson layup that forced a timeout from Hawks coach Quin Snyder.

Atlanta kept pushing, Miami kept pushing back, the Hawks missing an opportunity to get it back under five as Antetokounmpo took a miss the other way, on a feed from Mitchell, for a 1-on-3 dunk.

Another Antetokounmpo make in a crowd, this one a post feed, and that looked like it extinguished Atlanta’s persistent momentum for good, a double digit game with two minutes left.

As Adebayo grabbed the rebound that made him Miami’s All-Time leading board man, passing Udonis Haslem for a record a long time coming, Miami wrapped things for their first win of the season, 129-117.

2. There are two stories here. The story of the game, and the more macro perspective on the evolution of this HEAT roster.

This game was won largely because Atlanta had zero answer for Miami in the middle of the floor, which is a trend that continues from last season when the HEAT averaged 71 points in the paint against the Hawks and added another 70 tonight. The HEAT’s 43 rim attempts surpassed last season’s season high and they took care of business on the glass, rebounding 35 percent of their misses and nearly hitting an 80 percent defensive rebounding rate. All you can ask for in those categories, with some plus shooting – Wiggins leading the way at 4-of-7 from three – and a number of steals going the other way.

It started with Adebayo (24 points on 16 shots) getting to his spot in the upper paint, Okongwu struggling to bump Adebayo off his moves, kept going with all those blowby drives – which dried up a bit in the second half – and once Antetokounmpo (24 points on 18 shots) had his foul trouble behind him the Hawks could hardly stop him even with three defenders.

Mitchell (10 points, 10 assists) and Larsson (17 points on 12 shots) added 13 combined rim attempts between them, not leaving the interior work just to Miami’s bigs, and it all added up to Miami’s best offensive game of the season (120.6 Offensive Rating). To their credit, Atlanta did get 35 rim attempts of their own, a very high number for any Miami defense including this one with how they limited the paint in earlier games, but a 111.4 Defensive Rating is plenty workable when you’re winning the paint and possession games.

3. What was different tonight was that this wasn’t quite the same offensive system as we’ve seen for the last season-plus. Yes, Miami had those early straight line drives but we also saw more post touches for Adebayo, more off-ball screens for shooters – that part consistent with recent outings – and much, much more pick-and-roll.

As you’re likely familiar, the pick-and-roll has not been a major part of Miami’s approach since the beginning of last season. Tonight, they found something, Antetokounmpo and Adebayo screening regularly for Larsson and Mitchell down the stretch for the bulk of the HEAT’s late-game offense. Erik Spoelstra wouldn’t have kept with the same actions if they weren’t producing.

We do have to remind here that Atlanta is a smaller, finesse group, and their coverages may have influenced the shift in offensive process. With Okongwu showing out on the ballhandler, or outright blitzing, when Mitchell and Larsson weren’t able to quickly turn the corner they had the pocket pass to Antetokounmpo and Adebayo in the middle of the floor just about whenever they wanted.

Over and over Miami’s two bigs caught the ball at the nail and good things continued to happen from there. Miami used 57 pick-and-rolls (1.22 points per) in this one, well above their previous season-high of 35 and, more interestingly, also well above their season high from last season (47).

The question now is, will we start to see more screens moving forward? On one hand, Spoelstra is not one to go away from something that is working while it’s working. On the other hand, different opponents will have different defensive personnel, and they won’t always give the HEAT the same coverage, either.

That’s a question for another day, though. For tonight, a different offensive look helped Miami punch back every time Atlanta hit in the fourth, and that’s what you want to see out of this team as they aimed for their first win of the season. Whatever the system, whatever the approach on either end, you have to execute. There was no doubt about the execution tonight.

Miami Heat at Atlanta Hawks

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Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Dominate Paint, Hold Off Persistent Hawks For First Win Off Season

1. After the first three games of the season, all the Miami HEAT needed out of this one was to get on the board and take a step forward along the way – and create something real to build off of in the process.

They found part of the equation, making real progress on the defensive side of things, but the result was the same – albeit in a nailbiter ending this time.

Usual starters for a healthy Miami side, Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving available for a Dallas group missing a few rotation guys, and the opening minutes looked a little too much like the previous three matchups. Dallas wasn’t quite blazing from three, but they led 17-11 at the first timeout all the same, getting consistent good looks in the process.

But when the bench units began rotating in, the HEAT found momentum. First, Erik Spoelstra made the decision to inject Dru Smith into the game in place of Nikola Jovic, and Smith’s defensive energy added a noticeable boost as Bam Adebayo’s group switched out on Flagg and flattened out Dallas’ offense.

Antetokounmpo returned for the final three of the first, as appears to be the standard sub pattern when no foul trouble is involved, and capped off the period with a three up top and a charge taken on the other end, Miami leading 27-23, with Dallas shooting just 3-of-15 from the arc.

More Smith energy jamming Dallas’ driving lanes up, and Miami followed with perhaps their best offensive burst of the season, three consecutive threes from Bobby Portis and another from Smith, all assisted from Antetokounmpo as he worked the middle of the floor. Dallas went to zone for a stretch to slow things down, and Davion Mitchell responded with a couple strong drives before Portis endeared himself to the crowd getting into a brief brouhaha with Daniel Gafford.

Flagg eventually got Dallas’ offense a little more on track, running plenty of pick-and-roll up top, and recent pickup Walter Clayton Jr. – a recent two-way signing after being waived by Memphis before opening night – offered a boost of shotmaking. Still a defense forward game, each side grinding for the best possible look. Dallas up, 53-52 at the break, both teams struggling with Offensive Ratings below 105.

A pair of threes, from Mitchell and Klay Thompson, got Miami back in front before two minutes had elapsed. And then the highlight of the night before the night was over, Antetokounmpo driving right down main streety for a high-reaching dunk on Gafford – one of the best dunks of the year at the end of the season, no doubt – with the foul for good measure.

Another three from Thompson, another drive-and-kick for Antetokounmpo, who secured a triple double with over eight minutes to play in the third. Takeover mode continued, a top arc three – Miami up to 44 percent from the arc – then a driving and-one down the right slot.

Dallas stayed attached, but they had no answer for what was coming at them in the middle of the floor.

Short rest for Antetokounmpo as Dallas made up a little ground in his absence, and Dallas went back to their zone for a different look. That look bought Dallas enough stops to keep it tight, a few fouls in the bonus the difference for Miami to close the quarter as they took a slight edge, 84-83, into the fourth after Irving dropped in a double-contested jumper in the final seconds.

Some sloppy play all around to open the fourth, the margin remaining flat until Zaccharie Risacher hit his first three of the night and took a steal the other way for free-throws that knotted things up before Clayton Jr. took the lead outright in transition.

Back-and-forth, Miami missing opportunities at the free-throw line, until Flagg began to take control, an and-one jumper from him putting Dallas up seven just after we officially filed for a clutch game with five to play.

Dallas still sitting in zone, Larsson created some points driving the middle and giving Gafford his sixth foul, taking a charge on Flagg on the other end for good measure. Three straight turnovers for Dallas, one going the other way for an Adebayo dunk, but Flagg had a three up top.

Dallas up four, just over a minute to play, an Adebayo putback bringing it down to two. Wiggins had a chance to take the lead with a corner three, but the shot may have been tipped by Flagg. Dallas ball, 20.4 seconds left, and Flagg (29 points on 23 shots, 11 assists) drove middle for an incredible finish to make it four points with 10 seconds to go.

Bobbled ball for Miami in the paint and Dallas takes it, 113-109, Miami still in search of their first win.

2. It won’t feel like it because of the way the game ended, but this was by far the most complete defensive effort the team has put together this season, building off their all-pressure all-the-time fourth quarter Saturday night in Charlotte.

It wasn’t perfect, especially with the plays Flagg was making down the stretch as he drove the ball – not to mention the huge three off the bounce when the defense played the attack – but this was a more coherent group dynamic, fewer defensive breakdowns along the way, more consistent rebounding, better fight through screens and well communicated switches when necessary. And they continued to pressure the ball and force turnovers as they did against Charlotte.

Yes, they lost, but they lost with a Defensive Rating of 109.7 and the best player on the other team had to make All-Star plays to put his team over the top.

If there was a hidden story in the disappointment of the first three games, it was that Miami was allowing the lowest Shot Quality in the league, at least from a statistical standpoint. Teams were just hitting shots, both the open ones and the tough ones. This game is what it looks like when you continue to control the middle of the floor – allowing a few more rim attempts, but still allowing just 44 in the paint – and the other team’s variance goes the other way a bit, Dallas shooting 14-of-45 from three.

Does that count for anything in the standings? Nope. But there’s clearly something positive happening on the defensive side, which is where most expected this team would butter its bread. If they keep defending like this, with fine tuning along the way, the wins will come and the defensive ranking will do nothing but rise.

3. The issue, of course, is that the offense is putting so much weight on the defense to give them a chance.  Even with a dominant showing from Antetokounmpo – 29 points on 23 shots, 15 rebounds, 11 assists – Miami wound up with an Offensive Rating of just 105.8.

Part of the issue was free-throws, simple as it gets, as the team shot 14-of-25 against Dallas’ 13-of-14. Can’t do much about that, especially when just about everyone on the roster appeared to split a trip or two.

But Miami was also held to just seven fast-break points despite the pace being relatively close – 103 possessions – to what they’ll usually get to, and after opening the second half on fire from three, they sunk to 31 percent from deep in the end, multiple looks missed down the stretch as Dallas packed the paint against Giannis.

That may be the story of the game, even as Miami’s record overshadows analysis of this team, which is that with Antetokounmpo dominating Dallas coach Dusty May opted to go to a heavy dosage of zone to clog up the middle of the floor, and while it created some kickout passing lanes it created far more traffic in the lane.

Considering that’s a change of coverage Spoelstra has used in the past against Antetokounmpo, this is a note to file away for the rest of the season. Even as the team make some progress against man-to-man coverage, there’s still a completely different look the team is going to need reps against as every team in the league will be in search of ways to throw as much of a crowd at Antetokounmpo as possible.

Join HEAT Nation at Kaseya Center as Miami takes on Dallas Mavericks. From the first possession to the final horn, there’s nothing like experiencing HEAT Basketball live at home.

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Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat

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Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Drop Clutch Game As Flagg Closes Out For Dallas

1. This is not the start to the season anyone wanted, but at least this time we saw an extended glimpse of what this HEAT group could be.

Usual starters, and another odd opening stretch with Miami on a tough back-to-back, playing on the road at 6 pm the night after an 8 pm home game. Again, before you could blink Miami was in a hole, Bam Adebayo scoring on the first touch of the game but the Hornets immediately went on a 9-0 run in response.

This time, Miami had a rapid response, Klay Thompson getting going – a contested look and a clean one off an Adebayo triple – with a 10-0 run of their own, Davion Mitchell pressuring rookie Christian Anderson in the backcourt to help generate some defense-to-offense.

When turnovers weren’t getting them out into the open floor, however, it was a bit of a grind, Miami marching to the free-throw line while the Hornets hung around with threes and offensive boards.

All tied up at 31 through one, with Giannis Antetokounmpo picking up his third foul early in the second on an overturned call. Charlotte was without starting point guard Coby White and Kon Knueppel, but Miami was put at a disadvantage all the same and the offense struggled to find firm footing from there, threes from Adebayo and Thompson helping to hold off a Charlotte barrage, Dennis Schroder pushing his side up double digits for a moment or two.

Hornets up, 66-58, at the break, Miami again on the wrong side of the arc percentages, 5-of-15 while Charlotte hit 10-of-22, including 6-of-7 from Schroder and Naz Reid. The make-or-miss was one thing, but Charlotte also had nine offensive boards and 16 second-chance points, to that point another off night for the defensive rebounding – widely, and still, expected to be a strength for this group.

Into double digits for Charlotte early in the third, the threes still flying and even an otherwise great defensive possession ending with a hyper contested Brandon Miller fadeaway. A tipped entry going to Antetokounmpo went the other way for a deep Grayson Allen three in transition, and suddenly the deficit was 20, the Hornets up to 13-of-26 from deep.

To make matters worse, Antetokounmpo picked up his fourth foul midway through the period, though Erik Spoelstra left him in the game. Miami was able to string some stops together from there, a creeping comeback initiated as an Adebayo wing three brought it back to 15. Rookie Ryan Conwell received his first rotation minutes after that timeout, only for Reid to drop in another deep three moments later.

Conwell’s first points came on a left corner three after an Antetokounmpo steal, the requisite fight there on defense as Miami went to a full-court press. But even with another series of energetic stops, the shots wouldn’t fall.

Adebayo (20 points on 17 shots) hit a heavily contested fadeaway jumper at the buzzer to end the third, but the gap was still 21.

Again the defense was doing its job, Charlotte struggling for decent looks with plenty of pressure applied, and a three-point play from Tim Hardaway Jr., bumped as he dropped in a floater, got it back down to 16. This time, Miami found some makes, Bobby Portis Jr. in the left corner and Pelle Larsson on the left wing off an open-court steal, the lead down to nine in a hurry.

Then it was seven on a Larsson runner, a 20-4 run to that point, and soon after down to five on a Portis floater. Another stop, another score, Mitchell in the lane for an and-one. Down to two.

And tied, another Mitchell layup as Charlotte could do nothing but find contested threes.

Miller fought back to take the lead a couple times for the Hornets, but Miami answered each bucket, Antetokounmpo (14 points on 11 shots) finding Adebayo on the drive. Clutch game. Then, a wild shot, Allen hitting a tough three with a foul, hornets back up four with just over three to play.

Antetokounmpo fouls out on a Schroder drive with two minutes left, Hornets up six, with Thompson hitting a three a minute later to keep Miami alive. But Thompson fouls Miller to put Miller on the line, back to a five-point game with 50.7 remaining.

Spoelstra drew up a great play to free Thompson for a corner three, but Adebayo was whistled for an illegal screen. Thompson missed a much more heavily contested look the next time down, and then it was a free-throw game, with Allen missing one to keep it a two-possession game.

Mitchell kept the game alive with a three, seven seconds left, Hornets timeout. Allen to the line again, one free-throw would just about do it, and that was it, Charlotte takes it, 115-110, Miami with no reward for their spirited comeback as they open the season 0-3.

2. There are two sides to this story. There’s why Miami almost won the game, and why Miami ultimately lost the game. Given the result, we’ll begin with the latter.

For the most part, the offense Charlotte put together to close out the game is not deserving of too much analysis. Miller (34 points on 29 shots) is a very good player, a potential All-Star, and he made some tough plays against pressure. The shot of the game was Allen (20 points on 12 shots) hitting that deep three with the foul. For the most part, what the Hornets got in that stretch wasn’t any different than what they were getting when Miami made their run earlier in the period.

It wasn’t the finish that cost the HEAT so much as the first three quarters that had them in position to need such a wild run. Some of the story is another night of tough shot variance, at least to that point, Charlotte compensating for their missing shot creators with plenty of threes and, frankly, some very tough shots. Yes, there were a couple layups that they’ll ultimately want back, Charlotte earning 26 rim attempts on the night, but allowing 36 points in the paint is a perfectly workable number in just about any event.

The main thing that was hurting Miami apart from the threes – which cooled down in a hurry in the fourth before Allen find that big shot – was their work on the defensive glass. The good news there is that specific issue got cleaned up almost entirely in the second half, Charlotte mustering just five second-chance points the rest of the way, and with the Hornets not getting much in the margins, there wasn’t much else.

Credit Charlotte for making the shots they did, with who they had playing, for absorbing the run at the end and finding a way to hold on, but the defensive issues tonight were not the same as we saw against Minnesota and Detroit. This was more Charlotte finding just enough shotmaking, while Miami’s primary issue was their own lack of offense, making threes in bunches but again lacking a real flow from possession-to-possession – something that wasn’t helped by Antetokounmpo’s foul trouble any more than the Detroit game was by Adebayo having to sit with his fouls.

The one thing worth going back and looking at is how well Charlotte defended Miami in the halfcourt, when the HEAT weren’t running off steals and misses, and where the HEAT can find gains when the paint gets and clogged up with help defenders in front of Antetokounmpo is it did tonight.

For those who have been watching this team for some time, you’ll likely remember games Miami won where they were trailing or otherwise having a tough time finding offensive traction – sometimes on a back-to-back like tonight was for both teams – and then suddenly Erik Spoelstra would go to the press-zone against either a young team that couldn’t handle a pressure, or a team that couldn’t shoot that would fall into an immediate rut against the zone.

This felt a bit like that, only it wasn’t with zone as much as it was pressure. Tons and tons of pressure. At the beginning of the fourth, down 20, the HEAT engaged in the longest sustained stretch of pressure defense we’ve seen of them so far, Mitchell and Larsson and Hardaway Jr. pushing up on the ball well out past the arc and sometimes even as far as the mid-court line, Portis and Adebayo blitzing pick-and-rolls and everyone sprinting around in rotation any time the Hornets broke the initial line of defense.

Yes, that pressure allowed a couple drives, two to be exact which accounted for the four points in the 25-4 run, but Charlotte was otherwise on their heels for all of that stretch, working deep into the shot clock with the ball barely getting inside the arc before the desperation seconds.

That’s what unlocked their defense, and Mitchell (22 points on 13 shots, 15 in the fourth, 10 assists) took the reins from there, pushing into any small window of daylight he could find. It helped that the threes flipped, Charlotte missing even tougher looks than they had before, Miami getting some open ones to go, but it was Mitchell operating at warp speed, beating the entire Hornets defense down the floor at times, that keyed this stretch – a stretch that included nearly-perfect defensive rebounding.

Can Miami play defense like that all the time? Probably not. They operated at an extreme level of effort, and no team can sustain extreme indefinitely. But they can do it for bursts and they’ll need to do it for bursts, both for the stops and for how that energy feeds their offense.

The defense hasn’t been perfect, but this still should be a great defensive team when all is said and done. That’s where wins are going to come from, and even if the win wasn’t there tonight, at least everyone now has proof of concept for what greatness looks on that end from this group.

Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets

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Coup’s Takeaways: Spirited Comeback Falls Short As HEAT Drop Clutch Game In Charlotte

1. Two games are only two games, but this is not the way the HEAT, or any team, would have wanted to open the season.

Usual starters for Miami, but a weird start, Miami missing their threes and Detroit making everything, John Collins and Duncan Robinson helping to push the Pistons out an 11-0 advantage. Giannis Antetokounmpo eventually stopped the bleeding with a drive into the chest of Jalen Duren, but Detroit was in their flow, the lead pushed all the way out to 17-2.

Davion Mitchell started the process of getting back in the game with a pair of corner threes, but as Bam Adebayo picked up his second foul, Miami’s substitution pattern was flipped around. Instead of Antetokounmpo coming out at the six-minute mark as we saw against Minnesota, it was Adebayo coming out and Antetokounmpo getting the longer run. Then, with Adebayo picking up his third foul later in the period, that meant a long stretch looming with neither Adebayo nor Antetokounmpo on the floor.

It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t all at once or even in waves. But the bench group, with Mitchell, Pelle Larsson, Bobby Portis Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr. and Nikola Jovic, found some footing and pushed life into the team on both ends of the floor, marching to the free-throw line and finally getting a few threes to fall after an ice-cold start.

That group didn’t mount a comeback, but they leveled the game out, prevented further damage, and made up a little ground in the process. Only a super tough, nearly double-clutch Robinson three kept Detroit ahead by double digits going into the break, the arc differential another lopsided affair, with Detroit making half their threes, Miami under 30 percent with Antetokounmpo and Mitchell – after a pair of quick rim attacks late in the half – in double digits.

No Duren for Detroit to start the second half, questionable to return with a leg injury, but while Antetokounmpo moved smaller defenders out of his way for a couple of rim conversions, Detroit kept hitting threes, another from Collins and even backup center Paul Reed getting in on it, the Pistons still over 50 percent from deep.

By the time Robinson hit an open triple in transition – a push off another missed three for the HEAT – the deficit was all the way out to 21, Detroit’s largest lead of the night.

A nice moment of interplay between Adebayo and Antetokounmpo, Adebayo getting a catch on the move and quickly finding a cutting Antetokounmpo for a dunk, offered a glimpse of how the pair could work together, and an Andrew Wiggins and-one on the break again offering some life, with an Adebayo jumper forcing a Pistons timeout, the lead down to 13 with the defense feeding the other side.

With Duren still out and Cade Cunningham in foul trouble, Ausar Thompson took a hard fall and had to go back to the locker room, opportunity right there for Miami. Then Klay Thompson began to find his range, a couple of threes in the period, Miami now matching Detroit shot-for-shot, or shot-for-dunk in the case of Antetokounmpo.

Problem is, you need stops for a comeback, and soon enough a few Miami misses meant Detroit was back up by 20, an opportunity missed against Detroit’s all-bench group.

Pistons up, 103-80, going into the fourth, little going consistently right for the HEAT even before considering the massive shooting disparity from outside.

Hardaway Jr. got the final period going with a three off the bounce, Adebayo following up with a floater on an otherwise low-volume night from the field. Then, finally, more threes. First Dru Smith, a late addition to the game, then Antetokounmpo off a long offensive rebound saved by Hardaway Jr., and then Portis Jr. in the corner as the defense shrunk in on Antetokounmpo, that burst enough to bring it back to 14 and keep Miami in striking distance.

Miami just couldn’t string enough stops together, Detroit hitting a handful of tough looks mixed in with the good they were generating.

A couple more Antetokounmpo got it down to 14 with just under four minutes to go, still a chance even with how disjointed the flow of the game was, but there was never any real, sustained threat. Detroit takes it, 128-111, with Miami headed to Charlotte for a back-to-back.

2. While the end result looks and feels similar, the HEAT didn’t lose this game in the same manner as Wednesday’s opener against Minnesota, when Anthony Edwards was a fireball hurtling through space on his way to 45 points, every coverage thrown his way busted.

Cade Cunningham didn’t have that sort of night, Detroit relying on a balanced offensive effort that Cunningham orchestrated, open shooters making open shooters, bodies moving off the ball, six players in double figures while Robinson and Collins combined for 10-of-16 shooting from three as the Pistons never strayed too far from that 50 percent mark from the arc.

Miami wasn’t beaten in the margins in the same way, either. They had more offensive rebounds, fewer turnovers, took more free-throws and took more than 10 more shots than Detroit. Those categories weren’t in their favor against Minnesota, but were plenty healthy tonight. The threes are where it hurts the most, though, and a 15-of-51 night (29.4 percent) against 18-of-38 on the other side, with paint points mostly even, is always going to be an uphill battle. It’s too early to collect shot quality data, but the prediction would be a mixed bag with those.

In the end, shooting variance or not, the defense hasn’t been good enough to this point – allowing a Defensive Rating over 120 in both losses – not when Detroit was getting the looks they were getting. And there’s no one thing, no single coverage they’re not executing, to explain it all away. This is a team with good, and great, defenders on it, but right now they look like a group learning to play with one another on that end.

Every team has to deal with a stretch like this in a season. Every team, especially those with freshly assembled lineups, has to figure out how to emerge on the other end. It’s all just happening a little earlier than anyone would have suspected.

3. Tough to look all that hard at the offense (106.7 Offensive Rating) when the defense has been what it has been, and when the shooting has been what it has been, but just as against Minnesota, Antetokounmpo was everything you expect him to be (36 points on 15-of-26 shooting, 12 rebounds, five assists) while the rest of the effort on that end looked stagnant, any sense of flow rendered temporary, all the best stretches of sustained scoring coming off Detroit turnovers.

The shooting is going to come around. That much we can say. There will be nights, perhaps as soon as Saturday night, when all the good looks fall. But beyond the make or miss, this is clearly still a group figuring out the right balance, where the ball should go and when it should go there, when to cut and when to relocate on the perimeter, how to keep possessions moving and find great looks once things slow down.

Sometimes, we’ve seen that process, sometimes we haven’t. It is tougher to gauge tonight with Adebayo’s foul trouble flipping the sub pattern backwards, leading to some lineups that didn’t share the floor on Wednesday, but clearly it’s still a work in progress.

Many will point to Adebayo’s four points on 2-of-6 shooting (in 23 minutes, due to that foul trouble), and Adebayo himself surely wouldn’t say he had a good, or aggressive game on that end. All we’ll say is that we’ve seen a pattern with Adebayo in recent years, nearly every iteration of this team asking something different of him, a different balance between playmaking and shot creation, a different speed, a different high-usage player to play off. And each time he’s had a stretch like this, as he did last season with the new offense, he comes out the other end better for it. It just takes time, and it’s tough to expect him to work out those kinks and find his rhythm when he, and the team, had anything but a normal night.

Nobody likes to hear that it takes time, but there’s nothing else to say. And the one good thing about getting punched with adversity early, is there’s plenty of time available.

Make it a night at Kaseya Center as the HEAT take on the Detroit Pistons. Grab your seats, bring your crew and experience HEAT Basketball live.

Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat

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Coup’s Takeaways: Pistons Shooting Sets Early Pace As HEAT Fall To 0-2

1. Opening night is always one of the best of the year, positivity all around and nothing but hope on the horizon. This one, though, felt different. Full building, great energy from the crowd, the true beginning of a new era for the HEAT.

It was all a great start, vibes as high as can be, right until it wasn’t.

Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t waste any time in formally introducing himself to those in attendance, either. As Erik Spoelstra went with his customary – at least, as they were in preseason – starters, Antetokounmpo dropped in his first official points with the franchise on a foul-line jumper. After that, it was all drives, often on switches as Bam Adebayo screened high on the floor to get Antetokounmpo going downhill against Rudy Gobert.

Miami’s first eight points came from their new star, then their other new Hall of Famer, Klay Thompson, hit his first two threes of the regular season, the HEAT playing at warp speed behind the pace set by Davion Mitchell’s early and often pushes.

To their credit, Minnesota absorbed all the early excitement in the building and then some, their newly remade backcourt of Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball hitting jumpers from just about every zone on the floor. Miami’s defense was doing the job in limited anything going towards the rim, but with the Wolves beating them over the top and Jaden McDaniels working his way to the upper paint, the Wolves had loose control at the first timeout.

After their last preseason appearance together the hunch was that Spoelstra would continue to stagger Antetokounmpo and Adebayo, and for the most part that was the case, with Spoelstra even going with a jumbo lineup for one second-quarter minute when Nikola Jovic effectively became a shooting guard.

Antetokounmpo’s bench lineup regained the lead briefly in the second, but as Minnesota got their turnovers under control – Miami was as handsy in passing lanes as we’ve seen them in recent memory – they worked their way back in front with a couple of counter punches, Minnesota’s starters forcing a series of Miami turnovers to close the half to push the lead into double digits, 69-59, with the Wolves well over 40 percent from deep, Miami hitting their shots but taking threes at low volume. Antetokounmpo had 21 on 8-of-10 shooting, but Edwards matched him with 21 on 15 shots.

Before you could blink, that lead was 17, Ball and Edwards trading threes off screens – the Wolves at 15-of-30 from deep overall, Ball and Edwards 10-of-20 – with Gobert getting a stop on Antetokounmpo at the rim for the first time of the night.

Great weakside kick from Adebayo to a cutting Antetokounmpo out of that timeout, Adebayo’s second high value assist to his frontcourt partner of the night, followed up by an Antetokounmpo long-stride continuation of the sort only he can put together. Another Wolves turnover, Adebayo again in the passing lanes, put Adebayo at the line to get it back down to 10, with an Andrew Wiggins jumper over Gobert shrinking it to eight, Minnesota calling time after a 9-0 run.

Minnesota responded, but a three-foul possession got Miami into the bonus and Pelle Larsson to the line. Only so much Miami could have done better with the shots Edwards were hitting, deep threes off the dribble even with Adebayo blanketing him on a switch. Tip your hat on those.

The deficit back to 15, Adebayo responded with a catch-and-rip dunk past Joan Beringer – after getting Gobert with a similar move earlier – followed by a stepback three over the same defender to bring Miami back once again, with another post spin-and-score, this one on Trey Lyles, for an and-one to complete the sequence.

Dueling free-throw trips for a spell, and by the end of the third it was Wolves 99-81, Miami’s threes not doing their part to sustain a comeback.

The lead crossed the 20-point threshold five minutes into the fourth on another Edwards stepback triple, Miami unable to take advantage of his rest minutes. Antetokounmpo attempted to carry the burden with early transition attacks, but as he was whistled for an offensive foul with about seven minutes to go, Miami was on their heels and searching for a spark.

That spark never came. Wolves take the opener, 131-106, with Detroit up next on Friday.

2. There will be much consternation about Miami’s defense in the next day or so, and perhaps rightfully so after a night in which they allowed an Offensive Rating of 126 – for a team with high expectations, and projections on that end built up in recent months.

No, there is no way to say the HEAT played well on defense tonight. But it’s important to look at the context for what happened with the defense – were there breakdowns, the sort that hint at larger issues, or did they just get beat?

The answer probably tilts toward the latter.

What we know about Miami’s defense over the years, backed up by some of Erik Spoelstra’s comments during preseason, is that no matter what coverages they’re running most often, no matter how the league evolves, they will always prioritize protecting the paint first. For the most part, they did that tonight, allowing just 38 points in the paint and only 5-of-8 shooting at the rim. If you ever want to get a read on the health of Miami’s defense, you look at what they’re allowing in the middle of the floor and at the rim. They also forced 16 turnovers – those numbers are always higher in the opening weeks of the season, but Miami was noticeably aggressive in the passing lanes in the first three quarters – and allowed justfive points on the break.

Where they got beat was from the arc, Minnesota shooting well over 40 percent all night as Edwards and Ball combined to shooting 14-of-30 from deep. That’s two players making 14 of the team’s 20 threes. Yes, there were a few catch-and-shoot opportunities from the supporting cast, particularly a couple via offensive rebounds (17 for Minnesota) which is something we aren’t worried about the HEAT cleaning up, but by and large it was two players punishing them the most.

Did Miami execute every pick-and-roll coverage perfectly? No. Both Edwards (45 points on 29 shots) and Ball (21 on 17) got some clean looks, especially early on, that will show up on film. But when Edwards is hitting threes over Adebayo, or in between double coverage, those are the looks nobody in the league can do anything about.

All told, there’s plenty to clean up. That’s undeniable. But they also did much of what they’re intended to do. This was a defense getting beat but some of the best offensive players in the world. One game of that in January and nobody bats an eyelash. It just feels more important, even more predictive, when it’s the first and only game, and batch of evidence, of a season.

3. The larger issue was Miami’s offense outside of Antetokounmpo’s downhill force, the team finishing with an Offensive Rating of 99.1 despite Antetokounmpo putting up 35 points on 19 shots in his debut.

Notably, Antetokounmpo only had one assist, and we know that’s not for lack of trying. Minnesota wasn’t quite building a wall on Antetokounmpo early, sending help but not overcommitting off shooters, and thus the kickout passes we saw for much of preseason simply weren’t there. And when they were there, Miami struggled to convert from outside. After Thompson’s two opening threes, no other HEAT player hit more than one three the rest of the way, the team finishing 8-of-33 from the arc.

That’s a plus-13 advantage on three-pointers, or 39-point difference, for Minnesota put together. On most nights, you’re just not winning that way.

In a way, the offense mirrored the defense. There was success in the paint, 54 points in the middle, and on the break, 18 points in the open floor on a 107-possession night. But where they won the paint thanks to Antetokounmpo, Minnesota’s threes were simply too much.