Miami Heat: 3 Takeaways From Win Over Cleveland

The trade to acquire Goran Dragic from the Phoenix Suns was somewhat divisive, as a minority of Heat fans feel the sacrifice – two future 1st-round draft picks and a few players that weren’t productive – was too much. But the Heat has never built the team via draft; Dwyane Wade is an aberration and, later, was the key lure to hook a slew of free agents to Miami.

So, acquiring Dragic is perfectly in-line with the established business model in Miami. Pat Riley made the move and shocked the NBA.

And it’s paid off wonderfully.

Miami’s biggest problem on offense is pace, where they ranked at the bottom of the league before acquiring Dragic. Where do they rank now? Still at the bottom, with an average of 76.2 field-goal attempts per game. During the Cavs game, they scored 106 points, attacked the basket all night, and finished with a field-goal rate of 55.3 percent.

And they still only took 76 shots during the game, right around their average.

The Heat are converting shots at a higher rate since adding Dragic and last night was perfectly evidence. Despite what seems like a slow pace, they’re ranked 11th in overall field-goal percentage (45.7 percent) with all 10 teams above them currently slotted to make the postseason.

While taking a lot of shots doesn’t seem to be the modus operandi in Miami, continuing to take quality shots – something that led to much success over the last four years – is still the model and Dragic’ ability to finish at the rim and create quality shots for his teammates is a big reason why.

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