SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #8 Miami Heat

The Miami Heat have been a topic of conversation for a while heading into this NBA restart. While many fans are tiring to predict who the dark horse from the east could be, you cant look past the Miami heat. A team that sits at 41-24 and sits at the fourth seed in the west certainly has all of the pieces to make a run to the eastern conference finals. This team is stacked with capable defenders and has the ability to guard some of the best players in the east with versatile guys deep in their roster.

The most recent acquisitions for this year’s Miami heat squad consisted of getting rid of the rarely used Dion Waiters, Justice Winslow, and James Johson and picking up the veterans Andre Iguodala, Jae Crowder, and Solomon Hill. A move that seemed it would work seamlessly on paper actually resulted in pretty average results where the team went 7-7 in the 14 games since the additions. Jimmy Butler missed a few games during this stretch and it was also evident that Iguodala was getting used to playing again after being out for the first four months of the season. The trade wasn’t made for its immediate implications. This was a very forward-thinking move on behalf of the Maimi Heat and we are going to see exactly why in Orlando.

Miami’s Season in Review (41-24, 4th in the East)

Adding two veterans in what now become right before the playoffs will pay dividends for this team and adding defenders as they did only boost their roster’s defensive capability. This Miami Heat team is dangerous in a lot of ways Last year’s Toronto Raptors team was. They have a group of young talented guys that play really hard. But this year for the Heat, like Toronto last season with Kahwi Leonard, have a go-to guy in Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler gives this team what heat fans hope will get this team back to the eastern conference finals. He fits perfectly with this team and has shown so this year most importantly on the defensive end. He has played with passion on the defensive end all year and leads the team in steal at about 2 per game. Butlers defensive savyniess has paired well with the emergence of all-star teammate Bam Adebayo. Adebayo is averaging 17 points, 5 assists, and 11 rebounds this year and has shown he is capable of during some of the best players in the east like Giannis Antetokounmpo. Adebayo leads the team in blocks with 1.4 per game and has shown he can protect the rim as well as guard on the perimeter.

The Miami Heat have a championship-level defense and two all-stars capable of winning them a playoff series but what really gives them a chance at the Eastern Conference finals in their shooting. For the first time in a while, the Miami Heat has a lot of shooters. The Heat have 9 players on the roster who are shooting above 30% from 3 point range this season. Guard Goran Dragic is shooting 37 % and Rookie Tyler Hero is shooting an impressive 39%. Gaurd Kendrick Nun also doesn’t fall much behind at 36% from 3.

Heat forward Duncan Robinson, has the most impressive of all the 3 point percentages for this team. His personal average of 44.8% comes on an average of 9 three’s per game. He is capable of getting hot, really hot. Robinson had a game-high 10 threes against the Hawks in December… finishing with 34 points.

Looking Into the Bubble:

The heat has all the pieces to be the Darkhorse of the Eastern conference now all that is left to do is execute. It’s obvious that this team needs to get the most out of their defense and all-stars of Butler and Adebayo night in and night out but they also need to be able to count on key role players. The Heat will need to be able to count on production from players like Goran Dragic, Tyler Hero, Derick Jones Jr, Myers Leonard, and Kelly Olynk to name a few. These are the guys that in the playoffs are going to have to make an impact for this team to win. Whether they help out over the course of one game or the whole series depends on the circumstance but, they will be called upon.

Head coach Eric Spoelstra and Heat trail the third-place Boston Celtics by 2 1/2 games and lead both the fifth-place Indiana Pacers and sixth-place Philadelphia 76ers by two games in the standings. If the season were to end as the standings as they are now the heat would match up with the pacers in the first round. Without Oladipo, the Pacers present a favorable matchup for the Heat and if they win that series they will most likely end up against the Milwaukee Bucks in the next round. It will be interesting to see how things shakeup in the east but this scenario is very likely. Not to look completely past the Indiana Pacers but the Heat have beaten the top-seeded Buck’s twice this season and seem to give them matchup problems so this route to the eastern conference finals could actually end up working out best for the Miami Heat.