With their new offense, the Heat are rubbing shoulders with zone defenses
We talked a lot a new attack of Miamibased on an extremely fast pace and reduced screen usage, to encourage one-on-one play and limit assists.
We quickly saw teams defend in the zone against the Heat, especially the Nuggets, and that obviously gave ideas to others. In the NBA where everyone is constantly watching and copying each other, it is therefore logical that players fromErik Spoelstra are facing an ever-increasing area. Like against the Knicks.
“I still think we will find our rhythm, no matter what (the opposition is against us)” assures Erik Spoelstra. “We’re going to get a lot of experience. I’m sure teams are going to give us a zone, and that’s a good thing. The more we see, the more we can work on it and develop a plan of attack. We’ll see what the numbers were, but those against New York were really good. . . . It’s going to be a good thing.”
“Move the ball, believe in yourself and don’t try to be a hero”
For three quarters the Knicks managed to keep Florida players off the racket, limiting them to 34 points (17/37 shooting) in the paint. But the Heat found openings at the end.
“I think we did the right thing”so it was concluded Davion Mitchell when asked for his thoughts on the Heat’s zone strategy against the Knicks. “Obviously it slows us down a little bit. This is the goal of zone defense. We tried to shoot well and we did that tonight.”
An attitude that we will undoubtedly have to maintain against the next opponents.
“Just move the ball, trust yourself and don’t try to be the hero. We trust each other, move the ball and make good shots.” concludes the playmaker.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | That | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Ft | Pts |
| Norman Powell | 11 | 31:22 | 47.8 | 46.1 | 93.2 | 0.3 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 25.5 |
| Bam Adebayo | 8 | 30:23 | 45.2 | 34.0 | 86.1 | 1.0 | 7.1 | 8.1 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 19.9 |
| Jaime Jaquez Jr. | 14 | 30:17 | 52.8 | 22.2 | 78.6 | 1.2 | 5.6 | 6.9 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 17.1 |
| Andrew Wiggins | 14 | 32:56 | 48.4 | 35.7 | 65.7 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 4.9 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 16.7 |
| Simone Fontecchio | 14 | 19:00 | 49.5 | 50.0 | 85.7 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 11.5 |
| Kel’el Ware | 14 | 24:26 | 54.4 | 38.9 | 76.0 | 2.9 | 6.7 | 9.6 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 11.2 |
| Davion Mitchell | 14 | 30:47 | 50.4 | 38.6 | 59.1 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 7.4 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 3.0 | 10.6 |
| Pelle Larsson | 14 | 21:47 | 53.8 | 38.6 | 80.6 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 10.1 |
| Nikola Jovic | 14 | 21:21 | 40.2 | 29.4 | 74.3 | 0.7 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 3.1 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 8.8 |
| Drew Smith | 14 | 16:34 | 47.8 | 38.7 | 85.7 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 6.3 |
| Myron Gardner | 1 | 3:00 am | 100.0 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| Keshad Johnson | 5 | 4:48 | 21.4 | 14.3 | 0 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| Jahmir Young | 2 | 5:00 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
2025-11-18 14:52:00
