The Culture Report: 2 4th quarter collapses, Bam's stretch & expectations of the team
Welcome to The Culture Report! A Weekly report rounding up everything that you need to know about the Miami Heat to get up to speed on what’s been going on. This will be through “What’s Been Heating Up” where we go through all of the games and main takeaways. Following that is a Heat Check to share any unscripted, unplanned thoughts, where I discuss the current state of the team and any trends & worthy topics to briefly go through. Before going into The Heatle Things where it’s everything in between + compiling any other best Heat work from other creators.
We are finally at the All-Star break. This couldn’t have come sooner or at a better time. Players struggling. Players missing time due to some weird stomach bug. The team blowing leads. The team going on a losing streak. They need a break(and so do the fans from watching).
But before we go on the break, here’s a big Culture Report on everything that has happened this week — you can skip to whatever you need the most. Starting with all of the games, before a Heat Check on what should be the expectations of the team, prioritizing youth(even if it leads to mistakes), and thoughts on the debut of all the players. And finally, going through the stats of Adebayo’s recent stretch, particularly his offense with Ware.
86-102 LOSS vs Brooklyn Nets — 4th quarter collapse on both ends of the floor
85-103 LOSS vs Boston Celtics — players debut & unable to score
101-115 LOSS vs Oklahoma City Thunder — feasting in the paint & another 4th quarter collapse
113-118 LOSS vs Dallas Mavericks — Herro’s 40pt game
Heat Check — prioritising youth, different expectations & thoughts on each player’s debut
What’s Been Heating Up
We’re starting off the report by going through thoughts from the game. This will include going through an individual’s performance, key reasons why they won/lost, and a handful of little takeaways. If you missed a game or if you want to dive into some of the main takeaways, this is for you.
Stats for the week:
Offensive Rating: 101.6(89.2, 93.4, 106.3, 116.7)
Defensive Rating: 116.5(108.6, 114.4, 119.8, 122.9)
eFG%: 46.7% vs 55.1%
TOV%: 12.5% vs 13.1%
ORB%: 26.3% vs 29.3%
Free throw rate: 16.2% vs 13.9
Players stats:
86-102 LOSS vs Brooklyn Nets
I’m glad that is over. Finishing a game with 86 points scored in 2025 is something — for comparison, that has happened 43 times this year. This was a rough offensive game by everyone. Only Bam Adebayo has shot better than 40%.
They were still within control for most of the game leading by at least five through three quarters. The game started well for the Heat, too, getting some very easy looks at the rim off of lobs.
A lot of that also came down to the Nets unable to put up points. Before the fourth, the Nets only ended up putting up 71 points on 67 shots. They shot 18/39 from 2pt, 7/28 from 3pt, and 14/18 from ft. They were saved throughout the game with their rebounding, though, by having a 42.9% ORB. Looking at it this way, makes you wonder how they lost this in the first place.
This probably was shaping out to be a usual win that’s won in the mud. Neither team can score, but one was a bit better. That was until the fourth quarter when the Heat only managed to score nine points on 2/21 shooting. That’s impressively bad and that was the reason they lost.
Tyler Herro went 0/5. Adebayo went 0/3. The only players to score was Jaime Jaquez Jr on the very first possession and Terry Rozier on a fastbreak. That’s also not counting the six turnovers.
It was an utter collapse offensively. Here are some of the looks that they got in the fourth:
It started off well. It’s a usual post-up for Jaquez coming off a cross-screen inside. He wasted no time attacking the baseline and getting a look at the rim. In the next six straight possessions, though, they came up empty with three turnovers and three misses.
A lot of the possessions came later in the shot clock for no reason at all. It was a dribbling show with no purpose in doing anything. It was going up for shots at the rim against multiple defenders. It was some poor shot selection that included two Rozier’s stepbacks for no reason at all.
On the other end, it was just as bad, where they gave up 31 points on 11/17 from 2pt and 3/9 from 3pt. The defensive intensity was nonexistent. That’s why the Nets went 10/14 in the paint. Giving up 20 points in the paint in 12 minutes. Yikes. But somehow that still wasn’t worse than the process and the result on offense.
You can see some of the shots they were getting in the paint weren’t even contested. There were dumb errors, such as going under a screen against D’Angelo Russell or not getting fully back on defense and allowing second-chance points.
The games against the Nets have always been stuck in the mud. The Nets do a great job defending everything the Heat throws at them. They can switch without giving anything up. They neutralize the pick and rolls well with their scheme at times preventing the screen from being used. They have the length and size to protect the paint, which was a big reason why the Heat struggled.
The Heat shot 4/9 at the rim. The accuracy and the volume stand out. They also only went 13/32 in the paint. They got forced to make tougher shots and it was congested and contested. The guards and wings combined for 9/23 in the paint.
The Nets were making good adjustments that took away some of the lobs the Heat got earlier, by having Claxton defend the lob first, then contest the drive. Some poor spacing with guys getting helped off of. Highsmith and Ware were frequently having their defenders in the paint.
It was also another rough night for Herro, only finishing 15 points on 4/11 2pt, 2/11 3pt, and 1/1 ft with 4 turnovers. Rozier had a solid start in the first half but in the end, still finished with 6/15 shooting. A lot of it was also just awful shot selection.
This was all still very winnable, but that collapse in the fourth sealed it quickly and there was no crawling back out of it.
85-103 LOSS vs Boston Celtics
For the second game in a row, the Heat couldn’t crack 90. Granted, though, they were without Herro for this game, so that was always very likely to happen. And this was also the Celtics, which always know how to defend the Heat well.
Offensively, there was literally nothing that the Heat could’ve done. Five players took at least double-digit shots and all five of them shot below 37%. Similar to the Nets game, that is impressively bad. There wasn’t anything different to expect.
No one had a good game offensively. Adebayo ended with 22 points on 5/12 2pt, 1/5 3pt, and 9/10 ft. He went 2/4 at the rim, 1/4 in the paint, and 2/4 in the mid-range. Not great distribution either. He also had nine of those shots in the first quarter alone. Andrew Wiggins in his debut had 11 points on 1/4 2pt, 2/8 3pt, and 3/3 ft.
They did shoot poorly from 3pt, only going 11/45, and even if some of the looks were good, open looks, that still doesn’t mean everything was good. The defense has to give up something and the Heat’s offense for 90% of the time felt like the shots they were taking were simply the shots that the Celtics could live with.
The Heat had 34 points in the paint on 40 shots. They shot 48% at the rim and 27% outside of the restricted area.
Outside of just the Heat’s offensive talent unable to create good looks, it was also the Celtics’ defense that prevented them from doing so. As it happened against the Nets, the switching defense and helping off in the paint ruined everything. The spacing issues kill the entire offense because that’s when you’re taking what the defense wants you to take.
On the other end, the start of the game was solid enough, but only because the Celtics were shooting themselves in the foot with some of the shot selection. They went 2/18 3pt in the first quarter, which was 72% of their total shots. Some of those 3s were jacked up early, too. But in the next two quarters, it was over.
The Celtics had a 75.0 offensive rating in the first and fourth quarters. In the second and third, it was 130.8 and 163.6. Damn.
You can thank Sam Hauser for the second-quarter eruption with his four 3s. He had 12 of his 15 points in that quarter. Both Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis had timely buckets too.
Towards the end of the second, Tatum started to get himself going and that was the story leading to the third. He started to hit shots and in the third, he realized he was 6’9 — I hate when opponents realize that they are big and athletic and that there’s no one that can stop them because that’s happened. Tatum had 20 points(Heat had 22) on 5/6 2pt, 3/5 3pt, and 1/1 ft.
Tatum was going hunting — Burks, Robinson, Rozier, and Larsson, all getting their turns at getting scored on.
This was also the debut of Davion Mitchell, Wiggins, and Kyle Anderson. Not the best start for any of them, though they all flashed or showcased some stuff on either end showing what they could bring to the team. Wiggins had a few good defensive plays, as well as a couple of good dishes. Mitchell immediately showed defensive pressure against ball handlers and going over screens. He also had solid drives that opened up windows for good looks — that was the most impressive part of his game. But his offensive concerns were also on a big display with the reluctance to take open 3s, missing the ones he took badly or having Kornet guard him. Anderson… that was even worse and he played the fewest minutes, not even cracking 10.
Overall, what can you do without any kind of offense? That is enough if you’re playing against the Nets, but against better competitions, there’s no margin of error on the other end. Any good quarter from the Celtics offensively and you’re in a blowout.
101-115 LOSS vs Oklahoma City Thunder
This was almost a great game. This was almost the Heat convincingly beating the Thunder. This was almost the Heat playing well on both ends of the floor. That was all, once again, until the fourth quarter. The Heat had their third collapse in the fourth, and it all happened on the offensive end.
They allowed the Thunder to go on a 24-0 run. They went scoreless until 6:13 left in the fourth. They ended up scoring only eight points in the fourth. In the fourth, the Heat went 1/8 2pt, 2/10 3pt, and had six turnovers. They had double the turnovers than field goals made. Adebayo and Wiggins combined for the whole eight points on 3/10 shooting. Herro had three turnovers and went 0/2.
It starts with a play for Jovic to get into the post vs Kenrich Williams. He looks to back him down and forces a tough shot — kind of had an open kick to Herro after Highsmith cut and drew in Dort. It’s followed by back-to-back turnovers from Herro on the drive that drew traffic and a lost ball on a Jovic drive. Another turnover came and a Burks missed layup before the starters checked in.
That wasn’t any better once they checked in. The first with the starters comes off a Wiggings-Adebayo handoff where he challenges Jaylin Williams at the rim and comes up short. That was followed by another Herro turnover.
Even with the starters, they couldn’t get anything else going.
On the other end, it was an awful effort, lazy defense, and a bunch of scores in transition. By the time the Thunder were up 104-93, they had made five 3s, two easy shots at the rim, and Shai being Shai. But a lot of it did come down to simply poor effort and miscommunications on defense.
Some of that involved Shai hunting Herro, which drew the defense enough that got them an open 3pt after ball movement. Shai got to his spots in isolation and off handoffs that attacked both Herro and Mitchell. Kenrich had a wide-open transition 3pt.
It really is unfortunate because they still played the Thunder extremely well through 36 minutes. They led for the entire game up until the fourth. They had at least a 10-point lead for the entire second half, which reached a 21-point lead. It was an even battle in the third, both teams responding to one another, but it was still the Heat in charge with a 10-point lead heading into the fourth.
In the first half, the Heat absolutely cooked the Thunder in the paint:
They only went 3/12 from 3pt, but they made up for it by going 19/29 from 2pt with 12/17 ft. They had 38 points in the paint, including 13/15 at the rim — they had some really good looks there, especially coming off lobs.
Adebayo did his thing too in that half scoring 17 points on 6/9 2pt, 1/1 3pt, and 2/2 ft. But it was a quiet and well-rounded effort from everyone else. No one else cracked double-digit points, but three had nine.
It was surprising to see that it all flipped in the second half, where the Heat only had eight points in the paint. In the first half, they had 23 attempts in the paint, but that dropped to only 13 in the second. The Thunder did a great job at taking away those drives.
A big factor was also a very quiet night from Herro who finished with only 14 points on 4/6 2pt, 1/6 3pt, 3/4 ft with six assists. But only five came in the second half.
Overall, The Heat had some great, positive moments from the whole bunch and competed with the best team pretty well on both ends of the floor. The defense throughout that gave them a 112.2 defensive rating through three quarters is impressive.
But they need to be better in the fourth. The players need to be better(as we’ll have a discussion later about the coaching) at executing and not making so many mistakes. The defensive intensity also needs to be there for the full 48 minutes.
113-118 LOSS vs Dallas Mavericks
If you didn’t look to watch this game, I wouldn’t have blamed you. Seeing the injury report for both teams just felt like, “let’s just get to the all-star break and be done with this”.
It was a good-ish game, though. It was definitely close and neither team had anything to separate themselves. There were, “checks notes” 32 lead changes and 15 times the game was tied. That is as close as you could get.
This probably went as you’d think these kind of games would, especially without Adebayo. There wasn’t a whole bunch of defense. That’s why the Mavericks scored 62 points in the paint. But this was also a Mavericks team without Lively, Gafford, and Davis, which is why the Heat also went ahead and matched those 62 points with their own.
Neither team wanted to get rebounds. The Heat had a 35.3% ORB to the Mavericks’ 34.9%. Neither team also turned the ball over.
Fortunately for the Mavericks, the Heat didn’t have any 3-point shooting. They shot 10/36(23.7%). This was all scoring inside at volume and efficiently. They shot 21/35 at the rim and 10/15 in the paint outside the restricted area.
Offensively, there were a few things going on. Starting with Herro, who had his third 40-point game of his career. He was part of the shooting problem. He shot 3/14 and he missed three straight 3s to start the game. Then something clicked. He ended up having 17 points in the second quarter alone, doing it all on 2s:
That was the most impressive part. He took some questionable, early 3s to start the game, but then made a deliberate effort to be more aggressive and hunt shots in the paint. One of the things that stood out was him having PNRs set inside the arc, where the pull-up 3pt wasn’t even in the equation. That was the story going forward. He was aggressive and looked to attack. And time and time again, he got to his spot for that floater — he shoots 64% on floaters.
If you want the entire breakdown of each possession, I made a thread going through that.
The rest of the offense came from everywhere here and there. It was 25 second chance points. Surprisingly, it was running an offense through Anderson in the post. Ware had himself a night early and finished with 16 points on 8/11 2pt, 0/3 3pt, 1/2 ft. That was pretty much it. Everyone else wasn’t there.
That was enough to keep this game. That was enough to put points on the table, especially against this level of competition. Not everything was pretty, but it was enough.
The issues and the fact that they lost came on the defensive end. The Mavericks also shot 21/29 at the rim and 10/20 in the paint. They even had better 3-point shooting. The Heat led Dante Exum to score 27 points on 11/13 shooting — he had almost a perfect game with just two misses and one turnover.
There were so many defensive lapses that shouldn’t have happened period. It’s not talent or being outmatched. It was simple things such as don’t lose your man on the back cut. Keep a body on someone, so they don’t get rebounds. Even with their 1v1 defense, there was no physicality or intensity. Mavericks were walking into good looks.
Overall, this was the last game before the break that was shorthanded. It’s tough seeing those kinds of games get away(even in the grand scheme of things).
Things that caught my eye
Additional thoughts, stats & takeaways from these games only. All links are clips on Twitter
The Heat struggled on the glass tremendously against the Nets. They allowed the Nets to rebound on 42.6% of their misses — that would be the second-highest allowed for them. Inexcusable effort on the glass. Six Nets players had at least two offensive rebounds, including two with four
Here were some of the shots at the rim and in the paint. You can see how it was all so congested and many times, it was the Nets helping off either Ware or Bam. That early help also meant the only good shot available as a 40-50% shot around the paint
That was also made worse by some of the shot selection. That was a straight-up awful decision-making period. Why even go for an under hand scoop when there are multiple defenders around you? Or why go for the tough floater over the defender?
The Nets also did a good job defending after doubling. That has caused a few issues
Another game where Pelle Larsson was tasked to defend the opponent’s best player. In the previous game, it was Tyrese Maxey and here, it was Cam Johnson.
The way Duncan still puts such fear in defenders when he comes off screens is fun to watch and it’s effective! Any time he’s on the go and the play looks like it’s for him, he’s drawing those 2 defenders and that opens up either Haywood or Ware on the roll
Rozier’s shot selection makes me rather want Butler on the team even if it’s suspended
We saw two post ups for Ware! One against Porzingis and one against White. There hasn’t been many games where he even saw one post up
I’m just hoping for one game where we don’t get to see some poor shot selection from Rozier. There were three separate times when he went for that early stepback for no reason
Porzingis is still a cheat code against a team that switches because he will punish almost anyone with his size to get a shot off
Wiggins didn’t have a great game offensively scoring the ball but these three possessions of his passes stood out. There was a lob to Ware and two skips in a PNR once the tag came in
It’s always funny seeing Duncan checking in a game and immediately getting Adebayo a shot at the rim. Every time, they run a handoff with Duncan and it puts defenses in such a panic, that Adebayo gets a clean roll
The Anderson stuff on offense will definitely be a work in progress, especially if he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. When he was off-ball, the Celtics didn’t care one bit where he was
The Heat had a 24-13 lead with 3:14 left in the first and it was 24-31 at 8:48 in the second against the Celtics
Burks, as always, being a professional, stepped up immediately as a starter in place of Herro and did his thing making 3s
One of the main reasons why the Heat had such a good offense in the first half against the Thunder was they only had a 12.2% TOV but that jumped to 21.3% in the second
The Heat had shot 17/21 at the rim and there were a lot of really good actions and plays that got them such easy looks. That stood out a lot considering the Thunder’s defense. They had five lobs and two cuts that got wide-open shots at the rim
I love this action with Herro-Adebayo-Ware. It has worked beautifully. It’s always that Herro PNR that puts two on the ball, either Adebayo or Ware on the short roll finding the lob.
The defense against Herro was tough. He was getting pressed and it was so aggressive against him
I liked what Mitchell gave in bursts, particularly his few drives in transition
Heat Check
Here is where I give a “heat” check on the team through a weekly ramble that’s me simply ranting about the Heat and a handful of other newsworthy topics that occurred throughout the week or trends to talk about. This can be a quick, brief discussion on multiple smaller topics that should be noted for a deeper look at in the future.
So, we are heading into the All-Star break. That was certainly needed. This team is in a very different spot than they were in the first handful of the games. Compare the rotations in October versus February by minutes per game:
1st: Butler(33.5) vs Herro(36.1)
2nd: Rozier(32.9) vs Adebayo(35.5)
3rd: Herro(32.5) vs Wiggins(32.3)
4th: Adebayo(31.4) vs Mitchell(31.8)
5th: Highsmith(25.6) vs Jovic(29.9)
6th: Jaquez(25.2) vs Rozier(29.2)
7th: Jovic(23.6) vs Ware(27.6)
8th: Burks(16.8) vs Burks(25.2)
9th: Robinson(16.3) vs Robinson(21.8)
With that has also come different levels of expectations, different goals, and different aspects that should matter more. And after the rough stretch going into the break, it feels like it has to be said.
This team isn’t good. This isn’t a team that is above any play-in caliber teams. This isn’t a team that is underperforming due to coaching(which is a discussion in itself). This also isn’t a team that should be beating bad teams with ease. This isn’t a team that needs to be making decisions to prioritize wins.
This is a team that has been 9-14 since the start of January, with a 24th-ranked net rating of -5.4. This is a team that has looked to prioritize more young players getting more minutes.
But that is also okay and what was needed. That is what happens when you transition from a build that looks to contend and emphasize youth. That’s where you will get these very rough stretches because they’re underperforming. Most of the nights, these players will be playing outside of their comfort zone and outside of the roles that they’d most effective in. But that’s, once again, the point. That is needed to see what you have.
I’ve been seeing takes that in certain stretches of games Jovic, Ware, Jaquez, and Larsson should be taken out, benched, or have a shorter leash in favor of Robinson, Highsmith, or Burks. But what good does that do?
Sure, you want to look to be competitive with your young players, but that shouldn’t be getting in the way of development. Those players getting most of the minutes over the proven, “better”, more impactful veterans is the point. Let them figure it out.
You also don’t want to put them in bad spots either or completely throw them out in the deep water with no accountability or help. But the goal is to prioritize their growth.
Take the Thunder game where Jovic started the fourth and made two bad mistakes — forcing a shot and a turnover. It didn’t work out, but you need to let them be even in that situation in the first place without feeling like they needto be saved immediately by having the best players on at all times. Taking away those reps without seeing it does what?
I also see a fair point that you don’t want to ruin the confidence and the morale of a team losing games that you have a very good chance of winning. I’m also not a fan of losing on purpose like that because of that reason. But I could see that in some egregious situations where it’s really throwing your young players in the worst possible situation. If it’s not, that’s the growing pains of having a young and inexperienced team.
That’s why every decision about rotations, playing time, touches, usage or what things to run needs to consider if it helps any of the young players develop, refine their game, experiment with their game, or make their game come easier. If the answer is no to any of the points, try again with something else — nothing should be set in stone with their approach.
And that’s where the team is. It’s young and mostly inexperienced, with almost every player not having a lot of experience period in such roles.
Even the top players in Herro and Adebayo, haven’t had to deal with these circumstances. This is also a new environment for them. Herro, for the first time, is having this high volume as a ball handler and seeing the defensive attention that he’s seeing. Adebayo is still looking to navigate what his game should be like. There’s still a lot for those two to figure out, too.
Now, there’s 29 games left of the season. They are currently ninth in the East and are three games under .500. That will likely be around where they’re going to end up. They won’t be a good enough to team to rise higher but also won’t be bad enough to fall down either.
The question towards the end of the season will come down to will they make the push for a potential playoff appearance or will they look to have another potential lottery pick added to this group. They could come out with two lottery picks in this year’s draft. That is tempting to have.
But as far as basketball, be ready for a lot of the games similar to what we just had.
In other news, we also had the debut of Wiggins, Mitchell, and Anderson. That has gone probably as you’d expect for all players. Right now, it has still only been two or three games seeing them play, so there’s nothing major to take away from, but there are a handful of flashes here and there of what we could see post the break.
We’re already seeing Mitchell's effect. The Heat have not had such an athlete at the guard spot since… Wade? He’s already providing the needed defensive pressure. He’s been the ball handler, which gives someone like Herro a release from that responsibility. He hasn’t been making mistakes either.
With Wiggins, we’ve seen him take on a huge amount of on-ball reps already. The results haven’t been great. He hasn’t been efficient whether on or off the ball. But there have been plenty of actions that showed the potential of fun things that can work. There were already a lot of post-ups for him, that had him draw defenses for kicks. They had him come off handoffs that got him driving to the rim for paint touches or throwing lobs at Adebayo. There’s still a lot of untapped areas to fully maximize Wiggins
Anderson had one short stint, didn’t play at all, then was probably the second-best player on the court. What a stretch. With Anderson, he brings a lot of stability when he has the ball with his IQ, which was shown with his post touches vs the Mavericks. He’s just a smart player who should help a lot more after more practice figuring out how and when to use him.
Basketball-wise, all of the three should have a more positive impact on the court. But at the same time, considering their age and the needed development for others, I don’t know how that fit may work to get everyone the touches that they need in ways that still prioritize development.
Bam’s stretch as the “4”
So, Adebayo has played a lot better and it kind of has coincided with the stretch once Ware started next to him.
Since the Bucks game on 23rd January (I’m not counting the Blazers game with Butler anymore), he has averaged 21.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists shooting 52.9% from the floor, 38.7% from 3pt, and has a 56.7% eFG and 60.2% TS with 25.4% usage.
Here are his games:
11 points on 5/10 2pt, 0/2 3pt, 1/2 ft with 14 rebounds & 3 assists on 42.7% TS vs Bucks
17 points on 5/12 2pt, 1/1 3pt, 4/4 ft with 16 rebounds & 4 assists on 57.6% vs Nets
26 points on 10/15 2pt, 6/8 ft with 10 rebounds & 9 assists on 70.2% vs Magic
21 points on 5/9 2pt, 2/4 3pt, 5/6 ft with 9 rebounds & 3 assists on 67.1% vs Cavaliers
30 points on 11/16 2pt, 2/5 2pt, 2/2 ft with 12 rebounds & 9 assists on 68.6% vs Spurs
23 points on 9/13 2pt, 1/4 3pt, 2/5 ft with 8 rebounds & 4 assists on 59.9% vs Bulls
18 points on 7/13 2pt, 1/3 3pt, 1/2 ft with 13 rebounds & 4 assists on 53.3% vs 76ers
18 points on 6/11 2pt, 1/3 3pt, 3/4 ft with 8 rebounds & 1 assist on vs 57.1% Nets
22 points on 5/12 2pt, 1/5 3pt, 3/4 ft with 12 rebounds & 4 assists on 51.4% vs Celtics
27 points on 8/15 2pt, 3/4 3pt, 2/2 ft with 15 rebounds & 4 assists on 67.9% vs Thunder
In total, in 361 minutes, he has scored 213 points on 71/126(56.3%) 2pt, 12/31(38.7%) 3pt, and 35/45 ft.
That, of course, led to the takeaway that finally Adebayo playing with someone bigger allowed him to play the way he has wanted to over the last few years.
But has his game been anything different? Has it been as a result of Ware, both directly or indirectly(i.e. either capitalizing because of Ware’s presence or what his presence changed, such as a different matchup), or would it not matter if it was Highsmith playing? What even is the reason for such a big jump? Can it be as simple as shots finally going in?
To see, I want to compare the shot diet with and without Ware in this stretch, and before they played together:
The first number to note is the 3pt shooting. It’s a small sample size amongst another small sample size, where this “hot” streak from 3pt has helped a lot.
Similarly, his long 2s have also been falling, but it’s the frequency that stands out more. Over a quarter of his shots come beyond 14ft-3pt with Ware on. That’s not really encouraging, though. It doesn’t matter when it’s falling, but that kind of volume is only matched by four other players — Paolo Banchero, Brandon Ingram, Joel Embiid, and DeMar DeRozan. When it comes to the frequency, only DeRozan has higher than 24%.
That’s where these kind of shots have come from:
It’s not only the same kind of shots he has always taken in bursts, but he upped the volume. A lot of them have nothing to do with Ware being on the court.
That also explains a big part of his bounce-back week. It’s making those long middys at a really good rate. Combine that with rim finishing coming back to earth(and being better in a small sample where he’s 13/13), the sudden efficiency increase can easily be seen where it comes from.
Nothing about it is any different, than what we’ve seen in the past. Nothing about this game has been unlocked. Even when looking at some of the matchup data on who guarded him the most in each game
Hartenstein: 34 partial possessions
Horford: 24.5
Claxton: 38.9
Vucevic: 51.4
Mobley: 32.8
Carter Jr: 39.8
He’s still getting treated as if he was the 5 on defense(though note that this also obviously includes possessions where he is the sole five).
Now, I also want to note that although this Adebayo that is making shots period is better than anything from before. This aggressive Adebayo who is comfortably going for those shots is better than not. It’s still a huge concern going forward that he’s really emphasizing the mid-range game the way he has. Taking fewer rim attempts than Herro, CJ McCollum, Darius Garland, Tre Jones, and Terry Rozier is a concern.
This is going back to last year’s version of Adebayo and even more extreme. That also wasn’t good. It is not surprising that all of his impact metrics have been dropping as the season goes on, even with the bounce back:
The Heatle Things
To end the report, here are some random tidbits that could be stats, lineups, plays, actions, or anything that I found fun, as well as compiling some other content that I found interesting.
The Heat struggled to score against the Nets, but that’s not something out of the ordinary. Here are their ORTG against the Nets in the last two years: 89.2, 106.0, 121.1, 101.1, 131.9, and 102.0. It was either two really good games or #mudszn
Their paint defense hasn’t been looking great. They have now allowed at least 60 points in the paint eight times in the season, four of them came in 2025. They had eight for the entire season in the last two years. One more game and they’d have the most games in likely franchise history(stats only go back to 1997)
On that point, with Ware-Adebayo lineups, they have allowed only 45.9 points in the paint per 100, which would rank fourth
On the other hand, with those two, the Heat also only scored 40.7 points, which would be 1.5 points lower than 30th
Here’s a great article from Couper Moorhead that goes through some lob stuff, defensive slippage, and offense against the Celtics
They rank 29th in post-up efficiency at 0.84 but are 12th in volume at 4.4 possessions per game
Outside of the last game, Herro had a rough six-game stretch, where he averaged 19.2 points on 38.5% shooting and 26.8% from 3pt. But in each of the last three seasons, he has gotten more efficient post-ASB. Here’s his 3pt% in the last three seasons pre and post-ASB: 39.6% → 40.0%; 36.9% → 39.8%; 37.4% → 45.7%. And here’s his TS%: 54.9% → 61.3%; 56.0% → 58.0%; 53.6% → 62.0%