3 observations on Miami Heat from the early part of the season

3. The importance of the 3-ball

Last season, the Miami Heat struggled considerably with the 3-point shot. Despite having a number of players capable of shooting from long range, the Heat converted at a 34.9 percent clip, which ranked 21st overall. While there were a number of factors that contributed to their poor showing, an ability to hit from the perimeter was certainly one of them.

Fast forward to this season and the Heat’s outside shooting has already been a feature in many of their early wins. In a nutshell, the Heat are shooting at a an excellent 41.7 percent clip from 3-point range during their six wins and a 30.0 percent clip during their losses.

This came home to roost most significantly during their just completed three-game West Ciast road trip. In the opening game against the Denver Nuggets, the Heat shot 9-of-29 from deep on their way to a 20-point defeat.

Then in the closing game, the Los Angeles Lakers restricted them to just 6-of-35 from beyond the arc as the Heat crawled to a season-low 80 points for their third loss of the session.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsFL/status/1192652291884470277?s=20

Contrast this with the other game of the trip, where the Heat drilled 15 of their 28 attempts on their way to a convincing 124-108 win over the Phoenix Suns. In terms of the importance of nailing the long ball, both last season and this season have demonstrated one simple fact.

Last season, the Heat posted a 9-4 record when they converted at least 15 triples and thus far they are 3-1 already this season when achieving this mark, thus indicating the significance of converting from downtown.