Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) reacts during the second half of a game against the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 15, 2025, at Kaseya Center in Miami. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
The Miami Heat’s revamped offense was already trending in the wrong direction before this recent five-day break. The hope was the time off and a few practice days would help get things back on track.
“I think it was good for us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said during his pregame media session on Monday. “We took advantage of it. By this point, we’re ready to play a game.”
What followed was the Heat’s worst offensive performance of the season in Monday night’s 106-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center. As a result, the Heat has now lost five games in a row after a strong 14-7 start to the season.
Not only did Monday mark the first game that the Heat has been held to less than 100 points this season, but it also represents Miami’s lowest single-game offensive rating of the season (scoring 96 points per 100 possessions). Three of the Heat’s six worst single-game offensive ratings of the season have come during this current five-game skid.
“Hey, seasons get like this, and you just have to stay together and get back to work,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat’s last win coming Dec. 1.
But what happened to the Heat’s high-scoring and fast-paced offense?
After finishing as the 24th-ranked scoring team (110.6 points per game) and 27th-ranked pace team (97.1 possessions per 48 minutes) in the NBA last season, the Heat entered December as the league’s second-highest scoring team (123.6 points per game) and fastest team (106.1 possessions per 48 minutes) while recording the 13th-ranked offensive rating (scoring 115.7 points per 100 possessions) through the first 20 games this season.
During this five-game skid, the Heat’s offensive numbers are down across the board to rank 28th in the NBA points per game (105.6 points per game) and 10th in the league in pace (100.8 possessions per 48 minutes) since Dec. 2. The Heat also has posted the NBA’s 29th-ranked offensive rating in the NBA during this stretch (scoring 104.3 points per 100 possessions).
In addition, the Heat entered December averaging the second-most transition points in the league this season at 19.2 per game. But during this five-game losing streak, the Heat has averaged only 14.2 transition points per contest.
The Heat’s three-point shooting has also regressed, as it has made just 29.1% of its threes during this five-game losing skid after shooting 38.2% from three-point range through the first 21 games of the season.
“Earlier in the season, we were able to get whatever we wanted because they didn’t know our offense, our system,” Heat guard Norman Powell said. “We were doing a good job moving the ball, trusting one another, finding open good looks. Right now, I think this offense is slow because they’re, one, denying us and we don’t have as much ball movement and body movement that we need to have.”
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) gathers his teammates for a huddle during the second half of a game against the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 15, 2025, at Kaseya Center in Miami. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
What Powell is referring to is the adjustments opponents have made to slow the Heat’s unique offense that has used the fewest screens and handoffs in the NBA this season.
So, how much confidence does Powell have that the Heat will be able to find effective counters to the adjustments that opposing defenses have made?
“I’m really confident,” Powell said, with the Heat now in the middle of a two-day break before beginning a three-game trip on Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. “Coach won’t rest, the coaching staff won’t rest until we get this right. We’re not going to quit. We go through tough times. We’re built on it, they’re built on it. But it’s going to be on us, it’s going to be on the guys stepping on the floor and having that identity of who we’re going to be every single night. And it’s going to have to start on the defensive end.
“Scoring 140 is great. I told the guys after the game, scoring 140 and everybody being proud of what our offense is and what it looks like and how different it is from previous years and things like that is great at the beginning of the season. But who are we going to be when we have nights like this, consecutive nights like this? And it’s going to be a team that has to hold their hats on the defensive end, whether shots are going in, whether you’re getting your looks, whether you’re getting your average. Whatever it is, we have to have an identity defensively, collectively.”
The issue is there has been slippage on defense for the Heat, too.
After entering December with the NBA’s third-ranked defensive rating (allowing 110.9 points per 100 possessions) through the first 20 games this season, the Heat has the league’s 14th-ranked defensive rating (allowing 114.3 points per 100 possessions) since Dec. 2 during its five-game losing streak.
“It’s the defensive end I’m really worried about,” Heat center and captain Bam Adebayo said following Monday’s loss. “Even if we don’t score 140 and we score 96, we can still win. That’s obviously got to be a collective thing and understanding that everybody has to be on the same page.”
Powell added: “I think it really starts off with us getting stops, with us having to take the ball out the basket. We’re allowing defenses to get set up and that physicality to take us out of what we want to do. So if we’re able to get stops, rebound the ball and get out in transition, I think our shooting percentage and the shots we’re able to get will start to click the way it was at the beginning of the season.”
It doesn’t help that starting guard Tyler Herro continues to miss games. Herro was a late scratch on Monday because of a lingering toe contusion, as he has now missed 20 of the team’s first 26 games after offseason ankle surgery led to him missing the first 17 games of the season.
Whatever is behind the Heat’s recent regression, coaches and players need to find answers fast to avoid falling too far down the Eastern Conference standings. Miami enters Tuesday in ninth place in the East with a 14-12 record.
“We’ve got to be a defensive-first team,” Powell said. “I think we shifted a little bit because our offense was so great. We thought, well, we can just come in and score and everybody’s going to get their shots, and it’s going to be great. But teams are adjusting, so now we have to really adjust. It’s still early. We’ve still got time, but the identity of who we have to be is going to be a defensive Miami Heat team.”