Through two games in the Miami Heat’s first round series with the Charlotte Hornets they are averaging 119 points per game, shooting 57.8 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from the three point range. Although those numbers are a bit of an aberration and can’t be maintained over a larger sample size, it should come as no surprise that the Miami Heat have been so great offensively in the postseason.
They went 18-10 without Chris Bosh after the all-star break and have been one of the better and more efficient offensive teams in the league despite their slower pace during much of the season.
The Heat were 1st in the NBA in field goal percentages, 2nd in rebounding percentages, 4th in offensive ratings, 6th in effective field goal percentages and 8th in true shooting percentages since the all-star break.
They also increased their pace from just over 94 possessions per game before the break to 98 possessions per game after the break.
There is no denying that Chris Bosh is still one of the better big men in the league. Having his ability to stretch the floor as a seven-footer in today’s NBA is great, but having no Bosh and only playing one traditional big man at a time has sped up the Miami Heat and made them much more difficult to guard defensively.
Not having two big men on the floor to slow their pace down, including a player like Bosh who hangs out at the elbow and slows down possessions with his face-ups, has allowed for fast break maven Goran Dragic to be unleashed and Wade and Dragic to start the break with shooters like Josh Richardson, Joe Johnson, Luol Deng and Gerald Green spreading the floor and Hassan Whiteside diving straight to the rim.
The line-up combo of Dragic-Richardson-Green-Winslow-Whiteside has played at a breakneck pace and averaged almost 1.3 points per possession which is very high.
Playing Winslow and Deng at the four make the Heat much more athletic and quick and create mismatches for any team that attempts to play two traditional big men.
It will be interesting to see how far the re-invented iteration of the Heat can go with this faster paced style of basketball. We can only hope for a Heat vs Cavaliers showdown in the NBA Finals.
