After finishing with a losing record last season for the first time since the 2018-19 season and just the sixth time in Pat Riley’s 30 seasons with the organization, the Miami Heat is in a good spot after the first 20 games this season.
Even after Saturday night’s 138-135 loss to the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center, the Heat enters Sunday in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a 13-7 record.
The Heat continues its schedule when it closes its four-game homestand on Monday with a matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun).
Here are 10 observations from the Heat’s first 20 games of the season:
▪ The Heat is playing faster than ever since Erik Spoelstra became the head coach.
Through the first 20 games, Heat is playing at the fastest pace in the NBA at 106.1 possessions per 48 minutes this season.
This has been a shocking development, considering that the Heat has been one of the slowest teams in the NBA under Spoelstra.
Not only has the Heat been one of the five slowest-pace teams in the NBA in each of the past six regular seasons, but Miami has also never finished the regular season as a top-15 team in pace through Spoelstra’s first 17 seasons as the Heat’s head coach.
Along with this new relentless fast pace, the Heat tweaked its offense to use fewer pick-and-rolls, fewer handoffs and fewer play calls while generating more paint attacks this season.
As a result, the Heat enters Sunday with the NBA’s 13th-ranked offensive rating after finishing with one of the NBA’s 10 worst offensive ratings in each of the last three seasons.
▪ While the revamped offense has received most of the attention, the Heat’s defense has been even better statistically to begin this season.
Even after allowing the Pistons to score a season-high 138 points on Saturday, the Heat still entered Sunday with the NBA’s second-ranked defensive rating this season.
While the offense looks different this year, the Heat’s defense is again among the league’s best. Miami has finished with a top-10 defensive rating in nine of the last 10 regular seasons.
A big part of that success comes down to the fact that the Heat is holding opponents to 32 percent shooting from three-point range, which is the second-lowest mark in the league. Is that sustainable or will opponents start hitting more threes as the season goes on? The coming weeks and months will provide the answer to that question.
▪ Heat second-year center Kel’el Ware has been among the NBA’s top rebounders this season.
Among the 348 players who have played in at least 10 games, Ware entered Sunday averaging the fourth-most rebounds per 36 minutes in the league this season at 15.5 behind only New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (16.3 rebounds per 36 minutes), Houston Rockets center Clint Capela (16.2) and 76ers center Andre Drummond (15.9).
Ware is also averaging the second-most defensive rebounds per 36 minutes in the NBA (10.7) this season among those who have played in at least 10 games. Only San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama is averaging more defensive rebounds per 36 minutes than Ware this season at 11.3.
This is an improvement from last season, when Ware averaged 12 total rebounds and nine defensive rebounds per 36 minutes as a rookie.
▪ Heat guard Norman Powell has proven to be a fantastic summer addition so far this season.
Powell enters Sunday as one of just three players in the NBA who have played in more than 10 games and are averaging at least 24 points per game while shooting better than 45 percent from the field and better than 44 percent from three-point range this season. The other two on that list are Milwaukee Bucks two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Denver Nuggets three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
▪ Not only has forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. been one of the NBA’s best reserves, but he’s also been one of the league’s top paint scorers this season.
Among the 180 players around the NBA who have played in at least 10 games off the bench this season, Jaquez ranks third in scoring with 16.2 points per game behind only Portland’s Jerami Grant and Philadelphia’s Quentin Grimes. Jaquez also ranks third in total plus/minus among those bench players, as the Heat has outscored opponents by 132 points with Jaquez on the court this season.
But maybe the most impressive class Jaquez is in is this one: He ranks eighth in total paint points scored this season with 224 behind only Antetokounmpo (322 paint points), Los Angeles’ Ivica Zubac (286), Jokic (278), Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (248), Orlando’s Franz Wagner (230) and Detroit’s Jalen Duren (230) and Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson (226).
Jaquez and Gilgeous-Alexander are the shortest players on that list at 6-foot-6.
After missing his first game of the season because of a strained groin in Saturday’s loss to the Pistons, Jaquez is “very hopeful” he’ll be able to return to play on Monday against the Clippers. Jaquez was a full participant in Sunday’s practice at Kaseya Center and is listed as questionable Monday’s game.
The only Heat player definitively ruled out for Monday’s contest is Terry Rozier (not with team).
▪ The Heat’s double-big lineups featuring Bam Adebayo and Ware have not produced positive results so far this season.
The Heat has been outscored by 4.2 points per 100 possessions in the 98 minutes that Adebayo and Ware have played together this season.
The Heat’s defense has been adequate with Adebayo and Ware on the court, allowing 113.2 points per 100 possessions for a defensive rating that would rank 12th among teams in the NBA this season. But the Heat’s offense has been bad when using this double-big frontcourt, scoring just 109 points per 100 possessions for an offensive rating that would rank 27th among teams this season.
▪ Adebayo is taking more threes than most centers this season.
Through the first 20 games this season, Adebayo is shooting 24 of 70 (34.3 percent) from behind the arc.
At this pace, Adebayo would shatter his current career-high marks for three-point makes and attempts in a season that he set last season of 79 three-point makes and 221 three-point attempts.
Adebayo is currently operating at a pace that would have him finish this regular season with a career-high 130 three-point makes and a career-high 380 three-point attempts.
Only eight centers in the league are taking more three-pointers per game than Adebayo’s average of five three-point attempts this season.
▪ It has been a struggle for forward Nikola Jovic to begin this season.
After signing a four-year, $62.4 million extension with the Heat in October, Jovic’s fourth NBA season is off to a rough start.
Jovic, who played as a starter in the season opener and has since seen his role shrink, received his first healthy scratch of the season in Wednesday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He has scored single-digit points in 11 of his 15 appearances, and is averaging a team-high 4.3 turnovers per 100 possessions so far this season.
▪ Even while Ware has impressed as a rebounder, rebounding has been a bit of an issue for the Heat early this season.
The Heat has finished each of the last three seasons with a top-five defensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available defensive rebounds a team grabs_.
But what was a strength has been a problem for the Heat through the first 20 games this season. Miami entered Sunday with the 27th-ranked defensive rebounding percentage this season.
▪ Guard Pelle Larsson has turned into the Heat’s take-charge man.
After taking just two charges as a rookie last season, Larsson entered Sunday ranked second in the NBA with six drawn charges this season. The only player in the league with more drawn charges than Larsson this season is Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski, who has taken seven charges.