They're going to keep playing, man. Even if they don't knock down shots they're going to get 2nd chances, crash the boards, rebounds, find the open man, get to the FT line, move the ball, get the ball to Bam. Try to execute from there. They're going to play hard, they have guards who can penetrate/drive and kick/that's what they do. It has to be constant pressure.
According to NBA analyst Couper Moorhead, the Heat played "zone" 37 percent of the time against the Houston Rockets, Charlotte Hornets, and Detroit Pistons. In those sets, the Heat allowed just 0.82 points per possession. To put that number in perspective, the NBA's best defense, the Oklahoma City Thunder, allows 1.05 points per possession this season.
Miami entered the break just two games above .500 at 29-27, including just a 4-5 record over its previous nine games. Hoping to avoid its fourth-straight play-in appearance, the Heat are 1.5 games behind the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 6 seed in the East. Though they're also one game back of Orlando, who owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, having beaten the Heat in all of their meetings this season.
There has now been nearly two weeks passed since a 2026 NBA trade deadline that left the Miami Heat completely empty handed. With rumors that linked Miami to both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ja Morant, they ended up with neither. Instead, a Heat team hovering just over the .500 mark and back in their fate of play-in territory for the fourth straight season was the only team in the Eastern Conference to not make a single deadline move.
