The Heat’s monotonous march to a potential fourth consecutive play-in tournament has felt like drudgery at times. But suddenly, this season -- for a second time -- has been injected with a refreshing mix of optimism and intrigue.
That positivity permeated early in the season, when the Heat steamrolled to a 14-7 start, buoyed by the NBA’s most explosive offense.
A 15-20 malaise followed.
But the Heat (35-29) seemingly has righted itself since, winning seven of its past nine and four in a row, highlighted by a win against Houston a week ago and a 128-120 road victory on Friday in Charlotte, which entered the game having won 16 of its previous 19.
Miami ended the Hornets’ six-game winning streak –- and pushed its own winning streak to four -- while playing without Andrew Wiggins (who is day-to-day with knee tendinitis) and Norman Powell, who is week-to-week with a groin injury.
Over the past month, Miami has had only one bad loss (to a tanking Utah team).
In its past nine games, Miami has lost twice (when the Bucks and 76ers took command of close games down the stretch) while winning seven other games by margins of 12, 31, 16, 10, 26, 16 and 8.
Only one of those wins has come against a top eight seed (Houston). So while wins against the tanking Nets and Grizzlies are helpful, a better gauge of where Miami stands will come Sunday when the Detroit Pistons, the East’s No. 1 seed, visits Kaseya Center for a 6 p.m. tip (FanDuel Sports Sun).
“This is the best time of year,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We feel like our game has been trending in such a great way, both ends of the court. Our defense is becoming more consistent.”
While Miami entered Saturday still in play-in position (seventh overall), the Heat stands just one game behind No. 5 Toronto, which has lost seven of its past 10 home games.
Miami also stood one half game ahead of No. 8 Orlando entering the Magic’s Saturday afternoon game at Minnesota. And Miami was just percentage points behind No. 6 Philadelphia - which remains without All Star center Joel Embiid for at least another week - entering the 76ers’ early evening game at Atlanta on Saturday.
Miami also has moved 2.5 games ahead of No. 9 Atlanta and three games ahead of No. 10 Charlotte.
The sudden jolt of Heat intrigue isn’t limited to the standings. Several Heat players have been achieving neat feats:
▪ Tyler Herro, who hit 8 of 10 threes in a 33-point, 9-rebound, 9-assist masterpiece at Charlotte, now stands at 50 percent from the field, 39.5 percent on threes and 92.4 percent on free throws, albeit in just 19 games.
Only nine players in NBA history have shot 50 percent from the field, 40 percent on threes and 90 percent on free throws in a season: Larry Bird, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Malcolm Brogdon, José Calderón, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller and Mark Price. Herro has said that’s a goal of his.
▪ Bam Adebayo, who scored 12 of his 24 points during Friday’s decisive fourth quarter, is the only NBA center who’s averaging at least 18 points and 9 rebounds while holding the player he’s guarding to under 44 percent shooting.
Adebayo’s 43.8 field goal shooting against trails only Chet Holmgren and Evan Mobley among NBA centers. Players shoot more than four percentage points worse against Adebayo than when they’re defended by anyone else, per NBA.com.
What’s more, Adebayo (18.8 points, 9.8 rebounds) and Nikola Jokic, Karl Anthony-Towns and Jalen Duren are the NBA’s only centers in the top six at their position in both points and rebounds.
▪ Kel’el Ware has 11 blocks in Miami’s past two games and received the ultimate show of trust from Spoelstra on Friday when he was on the court for the entire fourth quarter.
It’s clear that five factors heavily factor into how much Ware plays: rim deterrence, defensive alertness on switches and pick-and-rolls, motor/activity level, rebounding and whether the team is winning the minutes that he’s on the court.
There has been significant growth in all of those areas.
Spoelstra called his play on Friday -- which included four blocks in the fourth quarter -- “probably his best response in an important game all year. [Early in the game], his pick and roll coverages weren’t great….Last eight minutes of the fourth quarter, he came to life, closed out in our zone. I was really pleased to see him respond and have that mental oughness. That’s growth.”
Ware was worst on the Heat in plus/minus for much of the season. But in his eight games since Feb. 8, Miami has outscored teams by 73 points when he has been on the court - 24th best in the league and third on the Heat behind Adebayo and Fontecchio.
▪ Jaime Jaquez Jr., who was brilliant early in the season, has been very good recently, chipping in 21 points on Friday while equaling a personal record with four threes.
He’s averaging 10.1 points per game in the paint, which is exactly the same as Victor Wembanyama and Luka Doncic, narrowly ahead of Embiid and best among NBA reserves.
“Jaime is going to put his fingerprints on the game one way or another,” Spoelstra said.
▪ Others: Dru Smith had four key steals on Friday, and his 3.1 steals per 36 minutes lead the league… Davion Mitchell remains among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio and is 11th in three-point shooting (42.3)...
Andrew Wiggins leads the NBA in three-point accuracy in the fourth quarter (29 for 55, 52.7 percent)... Rookie Kasparas Jakucionis’ 43.3 percent three-point shooting would rank 10th in the league if he had enough attempts to qualify.
The Heat has four remaining games against egregious tankers – three against Washington and one at Indiana. But the schedule also has difficult road games (at Houston, again at Charlotte, two at Cleveland, two at Toronto) plus home games against San Antonio, the Lakers, Philadelphia and Boston.
“We’re trying to get out of this play-in tournament,” Jaquez said. “All these games matter.”