Miami Heat: Why Their Offense Is The Biggest Playoff Story

The Miami Heat’s offense has erupted in their playoff series against the Charlotte Hornets and the remaining playoff teams in the Eastern Conference might have to take notice.

What everyone was expecting to be a hard-fought, grind-it out series has been nothing of the sort.

After the drubbing the Miami Heat laid on the Charlotte Hornets in Game 1, the Heat were back at it again Wednesday night as they comfortably won 115-103 over the Hornets to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

As much as the series has been about what’s gone wrong for the Hornets (and that list is quickly piling up, by the way), the big story of the series has been what’s gone right for the Heat and it comes from an unexpected source.

That source? The Heat’s offense.

The Heat’s offense from the All-Star break on has been well written about over the last few weeks and it’s been for good reason.

The injuries to Chris Bosh and Beno Udrih (who the Heat subsequently waived) as well as the addition of Joe Johnson forced Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra to take a step back and adjust.

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Those on the fly changes turned what was once a methodical, plodding system into an energetic and dynamic force, which turned the Heat’s fortunes around over the second half of the year.

Now, the Heat’s rejuvenated offense has soared to new heights and has overwhelmed the Hornets throughout the first two games of the series.

For proof, the Heat are averaging 119 points per game, shooting 58 percent from the field and are 18-of-34(!) when shooting from three-point range in the first two games of the series.

Furthermore, the Heat’s offensive rating in those two games is a staggering 132.3 points per 100 possessions and their effective field goal percentage is 63 percent, both the highest of all the playoff teams this postseason (per NBA.com/stats).

While some, if not all of those numbers are certainly unsustainable and it’s only just a two game sample size, how the Heat’s offense is scoring at an incredibly high rate is nothing new from what they’ve been doing since mid-February.

Players like Luol Deng and Goran Dragic, who were both struggling to find their footing in the first half of the season, have suddenly been thrust into the spotlight because of their play in the first two games in the series.