Miami Heat vs Utah Jazz Game Breakdown #9
Welcome to Simply Ballin's game breakdown of the Miami Heat. After each game, you will see my thoughts on the game, film breakdown, and other interesting bits that stood out to me.
What a game!
Heading into the game, both the Heat and the Utah Jazz were top-2 in net rating and should be considered two of the top teams in the league so far in the season. So, we knew this was going to be a good ass game.
And both teams came out to play.
This game turned out to be a roller-coaster of emotions. I wasn't expecting the Heat to have a comfortable lead throughout the whole game. I wasn't expecting them to have a 19 point lead halfway through the fourth quarter.
I also wasn't expecting almost blowing that lead. I watch the games as soon as I wake up and when I saw the Heat take that commanding lead, it definitely felt good to start the day that way — that didn't last long. It's 9 am-ish and I was already getting anxious watching the team almost blowing it.
All of this means is that there is a lot of things to cover — what did the Heat do to get that lead and what did they do to almost lose that lead?
Herro is Gunning for That 6MOTY
For the fourth time this season, Tyler Herro was the team-leading scorer. I'm genuinely impressed, bias aside, how quickly he has improved on the offensive end — see what can happen once a player gets an actual off-season.
Herro finished with 29 points on 76.8% true shooting and 6-8 from deep.
https://twitter.com/JohnJablonka_/status/1457396235917271043
I keep coming back to this. Herro can score in a variety of ways quite well. In the clips above, you can see him getting shots whether on or off the ball — making cuts to the basket or coming off screens for a 3. And yesterday it was just one of those days from out deep.
https://twitter.com/JohnJablonka_/status/1457406396266422277
Two plays that stood out for me were both involving Herro and Jimmy Butler.
These two plays have been common with Butler and Duncan Robinson early in the season, but now they are becoming more common with Herro.
Both plays involve an empty side pick-and-roll or a dribble hand-off.
This has been highly effective for two reasons: either the ball handler will draw the extra defensive attention — in the first clip, both Royce O'Neale, and Mike Conley stick with Herro and it's just an easy pass to a rolling Butler — or the defense will go with the rolling player — Butler passes back and immediately rolls and two defenders stay with him, leaving Herro wide open.
And did you know Herro is shooting 54.5% on 2.4 catch-and-shoot 3s?
It's only been nine games, but Herro's scoring is legit and right now he has clearly been the sixth man of the year.
The Offense is Back, Again
Before this game, the Heat had one of the worst offensive performances — yesterday, they had one of the best.
Per Cleaning the Glass, they had a 129.7 offensive rating, good for the 96th percentile.
There was a big difference in how they have played on offense against the Jazz and how they did against the Boston Celtics — and it all comes down to where they have got the points.
Against the Celtics, the Heat attempted more 3s than 2s and couldn't get to their spots in the mid-range. That was the complete opposite yesterday.
The Heat had the lowest % of their field goal attempts from 3 with only 26.9%. And over 20% of their points came from the mid-range. That is what the Heat want and that is when their offense is the most effective.
Per PBP, the Heat went 22-38 from the short mid-range and long mid-range combined. They also had 19 shots at the rim and hit 73%. This is unbelievable considering the Jazz did have the "reigning defensive player of the year".
The Heat were able to get to their spot, collapse the defense, and most importantly, the shots from the outside were falling.
https://twitter.com/JohnJablonka_/status/1457408675459575812
There were a number of plays that got players open looks and this time, they capitalized on them. The play above is something the Heat should do more especially if Robinson is still struggling. He may be struggling to hit shots, but I'd still bet my money that the defense still respects him.
https://twitter.com/JohnJablonka_/status/1457412413301694464
Another smart play here. And another play that resulted in a good look from deep.
4th Quarter Collapse
I thought the game was over when the Heat took a 19 point lead with just 5:20 remaining. It felt like the Heat were comfortably in charge of the game.
My main problem was on the defensive side.
And that's strange considering the Heat have been great when it comes to scrambling on defense, helping on rollers, communicating, and making the right rotations — yet, during that run, it felt like a different team on that end.
So, let's break some of it down!
First clip:
Starts with a swing to Bojan Bogdanovic
Seems like a poor close-out by Adebayo
Help from Butler also seems like a poor effort
The first breakdown is what's going on with Marcus Morris and Lowry? It seems like Lowry is on Whiteside and Morris is on Donovan Mitchell
Morris then loses Mitchell as he relocates from under the rim to the corner
Lowry goes to help on the drive, and Morris correctly then has to sink to help on Lowry's man — but because he initially lost Mitchell, I feel like his positioning on the help is out of place because when the ball is kicked out, he was much further away from his man
And this set of a chain of rotations — as Morris was late, Butler had to help
As Butler had to help, Herro had to help, but his help seemed way too strong where he instead could have stunted and would have been closer to contest his man
Second clip:
The first issue was Herro guarding no one and ended up having to guard the trailing Whiteside
As Whiteside fakes to set a screen, I'm not too sure why Herro's help was that aggressive
The next problem was tagging Whiteside
I feel like that should have been Morris being the tag as Bogdanovic was driving to the left and I don't think he would have made that pass to O'Neale
With Morris staying with the man and an aggressive show from Herro, Adebayo correctly rushed to prevent an easy shot at the rim
Why was Butler that high up too? Why was all the attention on Bogdanovic
And because both Butler and Adebayo were too far, they were too late to get a good contest on Mitchell's 3
Third clip:
The first issue I see is the poor closeout by Adebayo — O'Neale is shooting 32% from deep this season and over his career he's a 37% shooter on low volume — I don't see why the closeout was that strong and allow a drive to the rim
Lowry was on Whiteside and he is the first to help on the O'Neale drive and as he helps, it seems like Butler is going to help on Whiteside, so there's no easy lob
This leaves one other option to help on Conley's 3
I feel like Martin's reaction to the kick-out was a second too late and it seems like he also should have positioned himself closer to that corner, as the only viable option was that pass
Things that Caught my Eye
One of Butler's underrated aspects of his game is how effective he is as a scorer off the ball — he finished with 27 points, yet it never feels like he ever dominated the game on the ball.
https://twitter.com/JohnJablonka_/status/1457409919326593028
Caleb Martin surprised me with how well he played tonight
Why do the Heat switch everything all the damn time — I get that they have Bam Adebayo and have that luxury of doing so, but most of the time it can easily be avoided
Rudy Gobert was a non-factor
Dedmon with only one rebound is strange
