Miami Heat: Breaking down the numbers of 3-game skid

Following their third loss in a row, here’s a breakdown of the some of the main areas that are negatively impacting the Miami Heat.

In simple terms, the Miami Heat have been ran off the court during their current three-game losing streak. Following their most recent defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, the Heat suddenly find themselves with a 3-5 record and with a number of questions to answer.

After their loss to the Hawks, head coach Erik Spoelstra more or less lamented the Heat’s performance through the first three quarters:

"“The fourth quarter, the defense and the effort from the guys is what’s going to be required for 48 minutes. Now we were able to hold them to 21 points and you could feel the intensity of the guys of the on the court laying it all out there.”"

Furthermore, Spoelstra made a very accurate overall summation of the past three games:

"“We can score, look, in any one of these games we’ve had over 110 points, we’ve put enough points on the board where typically we would think we’d be in the driver’s seat….we haven’t been able to defend consistently enough throughout the course of the game to put ourselves in a position to have some real success….I don’t care what league or what pace, that’s not Miami Heat basketball.”"

For the season, the Heat now rank a lowly 17th in defensive ranking, and are allowing opponents 112.3 points per game, significantly up from last season’s return of 102.9 per game.

However, these numbers over the past three games have escalated even further:

• Defensive rating last three games: 119.3 (29th)
• Opponent scoring last three games: 123.7 points per game (29th)

With these numbers in mind, it comes as little surprise that two of the three teams the Heat have encountered during this three-game skid rank among the leaders in pace. Not only do the Hawks rank first, but the Sacramento Kings, the first of the three losses, rank second in pace. The other team involved during this streak, the Charlotte Hornets, managed to post 125 points on the Heat, well above their season average of 115.7 points per game.

The issue for the Heat is that this noticeably faster pace has affected the contributions of a number of players, particularly some of the big men on the roster.

While he’s had a solid start to the season, the Heat were 7.2 points per `100 possessions better off when Hassan Whiteside was off the floor, with the seven-footer positing an ugly -19.6 net rating during this span. Another big to feel the effects has been Kelly Olynyk, who during the losing streak recorded a -15.1 net rating while averaging just 17 minutes per game despite starting in each contest.

Furthermore, and while his offensive counting stats have been productive, Dwyane Wade‘s contributions from an analytical standpoint have not been great. Averaging 26 minutes per game, the 36-year-old recorded a -14.5 net rating while posting a near team-worst 121.6 defensive rating.

Looking ahead, the Heat complete their three-game road trip by facing the Detroit Pistons, before coming home to host the San Antonio Spurs. While it’s still early, these performances are certainly not indicative of the Heat team everyone has come to know and respect throughout the history of the franchise.

However, the continued trade discussions swirling around Jimmy Butler and his potential arrival in Miami are certain to have had some degree of effect in the early stages of this season.