Overachiever: Miami Heat
One team that’s surging right now in the NBA is the Miami Heat. The Heat are 26-18 so far, fourth in the Eastern Conference behind the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers, respectively. The Heat have won eight of their last nine games. They got a monster performance from big man Hassan Whiteside in their most recent win on Wednesday night.
Whiteside put up 27 points, 13 rebound and six blocks en route to a106-101 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Predicting the Heat as the fourth-best team in the East halfway through the season could have been farfetched but once again, it’s hard to count out head coach Erik Spoelstra.
The Miami Heat have an interesting stretch of road games coming up in the next four days against the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets and Houston Rockets. If they can win those games, they could find themselves in talks as a darkhorse contender for the Eastern Conference belt very soon.
As a team, the Heat rank fifth in the NBA in opponents points per game (101.8) and 10th in defensive rating (106.8). It helps to have a guy like Hassan Whiteside on the defensive end. His presence could end up taking them places if they can figure things out against the top teams.