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1. All the talk after the losses to Chicago and Boston that opened the season was about the defense, and because of that the fact that their offense had been strangely uncharacteristic – assists and threes were down, stagnancy was up – flew quietly under the radar.
None of that was a problem tonight. They may have started slow on defense as Toronto went matchup hunting, but they were so good, so great on the other side of the floor that all it took was keeping the pedal on the floor long enough that the Raptors trailed off in the rearview. It was 71-50 at the break, with Miami enjoying an Offensive Rating of 147.9 – a number that has a chance to be the best mark of any single season if sustained for a full game – on 9-of-20 from three, with that attempt total much more in line with the Erik Spoelstra offense we’ve been watching for the past couple of years. They weren’t just getting up threes to get them up, either. The flow was fluid, the ball was moving and the attackers were getting downhill. Eye popping as the numbers were, the process was such that nobody would have blinked were the HEAT playing like this last March. Leading by as much as 24 in the second half, all they had to do was sustain to a reasonable degree, and . . . they sort of did (final Offensive Rating of 120.4).
They did hit a little traffic midway through the third when Caleb Martin and Christian Koloko disagreeably tumbled into the first row. Both players were ejected, and the moment spurred a 17-2 Raptors run that made a game out of what was very much about to not be one. No heroes needed in this one, but credit Jimmy Butler (23 points) for keeping the boat steady, Max Strus’ three-level scoring (really), and Kyle Lowry’s layup through contact (with a look towards the Raptors’ bench) in the final minute as Toronto kept the pressure on before the 112-109 final that looks slightly more tense than the proceedings were. The defense still might not be ready to write home about (117.4 Defensive Rating), but one step at a time this early in the season.
2. Tyler Herro already made his leap when his usage rate exploded on his way to becoming Sixth Man of the Year last year, but what we’re seeing from him feels like a bit more than an incremental step forward if not quite a leap – a skip? It’s not so much that he looks more skilled. He’s always been skilled, adding moves along the way. This is more about his approach to the game and how he’s seeing the floor. When he gets trapped or blitzed, he looks like he’s expecting it and automatically knows where the open man is going to be. When he gets a good screen or a defender is a step slow coming around a handoff, he isn’t immediately taking the open window for a jumper. There’s some real downhill force happening here, all the way downhill to the restricted area not just the mid-range. He’s not going to be Butler or LeBron James or Luka Doncic in the way they use their physicality, but the mere fact that he’s been able to play through contact in the paint is a significant addition to his floor game. More contact means more free throws and more free throws means higher night-to-night efficiency. It’s early in the season, and he only finished with 14 points after getting into foul trouble and Spoelstra closing with Strus, but Herro is playing like more than the bench scorer he was last year.
3. The Martin-Koloko fracas aside, this was a positively normal basketball game by HEAT-Raptors standards. Spoelstra and Nick Nurse are two of the most creative coaches in the league and just about every matchup between these two over the past three or four years has been marked by all sorts of funky defensive coverages and zones. There was a smattering of zone here and there, but for the most part this one was a straight-up affair aside from some big-and-tall Raptors lineups that are part of their core identity. Dramatic, yes, just not the gonzo levels of regular-season flavor we’re used to. Maybe the oddest thing off the night was Duncan Robinson and Max Strus hitting off-the-bounce floaters in the fourth quarter to keep Toronto at bay, and given what those two have shown so far this season even that might be so odd at all.
For more News about the Miami Heat visit: www.miamiheat.com
For more sports coverage from NBA,NFL, to NCAA contact Julian Ojeda: julian@communitynewspapers.com
