The consensus coming into the season was that the Cavaliers would have an easy path to the NBA Finals. That could still be the case in the end, but LeBron James' former team is emerging as their biggest threat.
The Heat are building a ferocious defense that can take down the Cavaliers
Led by Justise Winslow and Hassan Whiteside, the retooled Heat have the kind of defense that could pose a major challenge for LeBron James and the Cavaliers down the road.
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The Heat have built a contender by following a blueprint that goes against all the principles that led them to two championships when LeBron was in town. Miami is playing slow, barely hoisting any three-pointers and not forcing many turnovers.
Yet the strategy has worked. Not only have the 9-4 Heat won three in a row and eight of their last 10 games, but they’ve done so by riding a defense that’s become one of the best in the league. The Heat are No. 1 in points allowed per 100 possessions (94) and opponent field goal percentage (40.4). They’re holding opponents to 30 percent shooting on three-pointers and rank in the top-10 in rebound percentage.
Some red flags do pop up. Teams are only hitting 37 percent of their corner three-pointers against the Heat (via NBA.com), a number that should rise as the season goes on. Part of that could be due to head coach Erik Spoelstra electing to rein in his team's defensive aggressiveness from the LeBron era. Heat big men are now dropping back on pick and rolls instead of blitzing like they did with James on the team.
In theory, that limits the need to make many defensive rotations and prevents clean looks from those beloved corners. But it’s still hard to imagine Miami going through the season holding opponents to under 40 percent on one of the most efficient shots in the game.
Then again, maybe the Heat have discovered something. Chris Bosh has been one of the league's better defenders for a few years now. Luol Deng is aging, but he still has the ability to bother wings. Dwyane Wade can be effective on that end when he wants to be. Josh McRoberts is a very solid defensive player off the bench.
Then, there's Hassan Whiteside and Justise Winslow, the keys to it all.
The Man in the Middle
Whiteside is far from a perfect defender. He takes plenty of plays off and still struggles with avoiding fouls. Surprisingly, the Heat actually have a better defensive rating with him off the floor (89.3) than on it (97).
What Whiteside does, though, is alter easy looks. Not only is he swatting a whopping five shots per game (nearly two nearly two more than DeAndre Jordan, No. 2 on the list) but he's also holding opponents that dare venture his way to 42 percent shooting at the rim, per NBA.com. That number is right in line with the game's top defensive centers. It's no coincidence that Miami is in the top 10 in the league in defending shots in the paint.
Having him man the back line allows the Heat defenders to play more aggressively along the perimeter.
Whiteside also ranks in the top 10 in all the advanced rebounding categories and is at the heart of the Heat's top lineup: the five-man group of Goran Dragic, Wade, Winslow, Deng and Whiteside.
Spoelstra typically goes to this unit early on in the first and third quarter. It's played a total of 64 minutes together thus far and is outscoring opponents by an outrageous 35.3 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. The only lineup posting a higher number is the Warriors' small-ball cheat code unit.
The Heat’s offensive rating leaps from 102 to 114.4 when these five share the court, per NBA.com, but it’s on defense (rating of 79.1) where this group is truly dominant. That starts with Whiteside, the lone big man in the group. Specifically, his ability to do the execute the most basic but essential defensive skill: prevent easy shots.
Andre Iguodala 2.0?
When Justise Winslow landed in the Heat’s lap during this summer’s draft, they knew they got a player that could one day become one of the very best perimeter defenders in the league. What they didn’t know was that it would take Winslow just a few weeks to become that player.
"He's confusing me," Bosh said earlier in the season. "You always want to be easy on the rooks and everything, but he's raising the bar. With his maturity, ability and his knack to play defense, I've never seen anything like it as long as I've been in this league from a rookie."
It starts with Winslow’s feet. He’s quick and concise with his movements, and at 6’7 with a 6’10 wingspan, he’s able to contest most shots.
His individual defensive rating of 88.5 is tops in the NBA among players seeing more than 20 minutes per game, according to NBA.com. Miami's defense is nearly 14 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor, so he's affecting the team, too.
What separates him from other physically gifted rookies is how quickly he’s grasped the nuances of playing defense in the NBA. He knows when to gamble and how to recover.
The Warriors have shown the value of versatile shutdown wing defenders in recent years. Winslow might not be at Iguodala’s level yet, but he’s certainly getting close.
Combinations galore
But what makes the Heat most dangerous is their depth and flexibility. They start with a big lineup featuring Bosh and Whiteside, then quickly sub Bosh out and play Deng as the nominal power forward. The strength of that lineup is mentioned above.
Bosh then usually returns to the floor to play with McRoberts, who replaces Whiteside. That duo provides less shot blocking than the lineups with Whiteside, but both players are long, quick and athletic, and they play beautifully off each other. Opponents have scored just 87.8 points per 100 possessions against the Heat this season in the 151 minutes those two have shared the court, per NBA.com.
Spoelstra has also gone out of his way to almost always play Winslow alongside Bosh and McRoberts. The head coach’s management of Miami’s rotation has been brilliant. He’s figured out ways to keep the defense humming while simultaneously creating more spacing to help the offense.
The only time Spoelstra puts two traditional big men on the floor is with his starting lineup of Whiteside, Bosh, Deng, Wade and Dragic plays. That unit has actually struggled thus far this year, getting outscored by 2.5 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. But Spoelstra minimizes the damage by using it less often than most starting lineups and going to many other combinations. Every other lineup Spoelstra deploys features at least four players that could play along the perimeter.
The only reason he’s able to do that is because of the unique skill sets of Winslow and Whiteside.
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No team in the East is going to outscore the Cavaliers, but one that can slow the game down, score in half-court situations and contest every shot might have a chance. The Heat look like a team that can do all that. They also have pieces that could match up with Cleveland’s best players.
That’s not to say they should be the new favorites in the conference, but if they reach their ceiling, they might be good enough to knock off the Cavaliers in a playoff series. It doesn’t look like you could say that about any other team in the East.
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