Coup’s Takeaways: Miami Rides One Of Franchise’s Best Quarters To Dominant Victory in Charlotte
1. The headline tonight is that in a 104-86 victory Miami outscored the Hornets 35-8 in the third quarter, which is tied for the third-best scoring differential quarter in franchise history. That’s impressive enough on its own, but consider for a moment what is says about the team. The halfcourt offense was a struggle for long stretches of the first-half (89 points-per-halfcourt-play overall) once Charlotte sturdied their switching, and the HEAT were 2-of-16 from three. In some other seasons, that might have meant they would be down 15-plus at the break. Instead, they were down five. Even when they aren’t shooting well, this team has plenty of ways to hang around. Jimmy Butler (27 points on 13 shots) gets to the free-throw line, Bam Adebayo (20 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals, two blocks) catches the defense off-guard going coast-to-coast, they get their hands in passing lanes to create run-out opportunities or they create extra shots with offensive boards. That’s a sign of greatness, to not need to be playing your best to win.
On the other side, the Hornets were over 40 percent from three in the first half and it looked like they were figuring out ways to score after being stumped by the HEAT’s unorthodox rotations early on. But when they shot 0-of-10 from three in the third, everything unraveled, and it unraveled in a way (with a bunch of live-ball turnovers) that only made Miami’s scoring life easier. The HEAT can win pretty. They can win ugly. And sometimes they can mix in a little bit of both to dominate. That’s not something to take for granted.
2. Miami and Charlotte are two different sorts of transition teams. Charlotte is go-go-go, one of the fastest paced teams in the league as they’re always looking for that turbo button. Miami is opportunistic, low-volume speed, running when they can create steals, off long rebounds or when Kyle Lowry is running quarterback. Put together, they might be the most efficient fast-break teams in the league.
Tonight, we saw the difference. The HEAT kept bodies back, picked up the ball and made sure it was a game at their pace. Charlotte scored just seven points in transition until the final two minutes of the blowout. And that thing about Miami’s style is that the opportunities they need to run arise no matter what speed they’re playing at. They scored 22 points in transition. You can call it beating the Hornets at their own game, but that’s only because Miami was playing their own game the entire time.
3. Charlotte opened up with an interesting defensive strategy. On about three early possessions, they had Mason Plumlee step up and blitz Kyle Lowry well behind the three-point line. That allowed Adebayo to slip downhill in the middle of the floor where Lowry hit him with an easy pass and Miami was off to the 4-on-3 races. The Hornets quickly got out of that coverage so maybe it was only intended as a token look to make Miami think, but even though it didn’t amount to much it’s always a breath of fresh air when Adebayo gets to playmake like that and unlock his inner Draymond Green. Miami typically manufactures those 4-on-3 situations when a shooter like Duncan Robinson draws two coming around a handoff at full speed – which also happened plenty tonight, and those shooters made the necessary passes themselves – and it’s often their best offense. When they can get to it with a simple high pick-and-roll, the wheels are officially greased.
-Next Up For Miami: Monday, 7pm at Washington. Watch It Live Live On League Pass.
