After the Miami Heat’s offense sputtered in recent years leading up to the 2025-26 campaign, head coach Erik Spoelstra massively altered the team’s modus operandi on that end.
This season, the Heat have operated under a free-flowing offense where they run little actual plays and play with speed to score their points.
This offensive philosophy has majorly paid off for the Heat, who have exceeded expectations and own the third-best record in the Eastern Conference at 12-6. Amid Miami’s surprisingly successful start, Rachel Nichols gave the team’s longtime head coach his flowers.
She called Spoelstra the “best coach” and gave him credit for altering the Heat’s play style on offense.
Rachel Nichols has Erik Spoelstra on her Coach of Year list
“He’s the best coach. He was willing to rip up their play style. He’s the 1st person when Bron was there to bring in position-less basketball… now he’s doing the no P&Rs sorta free form offense, it’s amazing”
(Via… pic.twitter.com/8gsMsx4D86
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) November 25, 2025
The Heat’s offensive success this season becomes particularly impressive when factoring in that arguably their best offensive player has suited up in just one game this season. Guard Tyler Herro led the team in both points and assists last season and was also named an All-Star for the first time, but he just recently made his season debut after getting ankle surgery before the start of the season.
Miami is riding a five-game winning streak and has scored the ball at a very high level during that span. In three of those five victories, the Heat scored 115-plus points, and they’re not far removed from going off for 143 points in an NBA Cup victory over the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 21. A whopping eight players for the Heat achieved double digits in points in that contest.
With how well the Heat have fared to begin the season despite being short-handed for much of it, Spoelstra certainly deserves to be an early candidate to capture the Coach of the Year award, an honor he’s come close to winning multiple times over the course of his lengthy coaching career. Maybe he’ll finally capture the hardware this season.
Spoelstra’s Heat can win their sixth game in a row by taking care of business against a reeling Milwaukee Bucks squad. Miami’s next game is on Wednesday, and Milwaukee has plummeted down the Eastern Conference standings over the past week-plus. The team has lost every one of its last five games.