The Miami Heat have rolled out various different starting and closing lineups this season in the hopes of finally figuring out the formula for a consistent streak. With the starting lineup all but finalized with Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin, and Bam Adebayo, there might be a constant need to find a definitive change to close out games.
It all varies from different late-game situations to the next, but in the close-call action, Miami’s defense either seems tired or honestly nonexistent. Injuries have also been a driving force in the inconsistency of their closeouts.
Jimmy Butler’s availability for some games, due to his continued knee management, will hold him back for more nights to come, but that isn’t the complete picture of what the Heat could do to find an answer to minimize those deficiencies on the defensive end. We all know there is a slight hole in the power forward position that, for the time being, Caleb Martin will have to hold down, but what other moves can they maneuver to edge out those stops?
The Miami Heat will need to continue to experiment with lineups in order to find that sweet spot to close out games.
A crucial one that has shown some sort of aggressive tone is pairing up Victor Oladipo and Tyler Herro down the stretch. Herro has been effective lately with this sprint offense, finding the gaps between the defensive rotations. When the opportunity presents itself, he has mastered the pick-and-roll with Bam. His only slight downfall has been his transition defense. Pairing him up with Victor Oladipo would make sense in the short term to help facilitate some of that defensive pressure.
While the lack of defensive rebounds has been a major issue for this team this season, this change in the backcourt could also help alleviate other defensive issues that have been a cloud over this team. Especially in transition defense.
Tyler Herro-Victor Oladipo-Jimmy Butler-Bam Adebayo lineup this season in a small sample size:
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) January 4, 2023
120 offensive rating/88 defensive rating
5-1 in the 6 games we’ve seen this combo
The Heat rank 27th overall in the league with approx. 40 rebounds per contest, with 31 on the defensive side. That might seem like an advantage over the rest, but not when the average is close to 50 or more and the defensive effort trumps the offensive one statistically.
Having both Strus and Lowry out there finishing games also isn’t the idealistic setup defensively. Their latest loss to the Los Angeles Lakers had both Strus and Lowry in the final seconds of the game.
Granted, that was in the hopes of freeing up an open three-pointer with Strus’s name on it, but the major lack of effort didn’t need it to play out like that. The Heat relied on a Hail Mary three because their defense was fatigued with 3–4 minutes left to play. They need to roll out, with confidence, an Oladipo defensive threat paired with a quick Herro in transition to regain the pace and hopefully maintain some of that defensive prowess.
They finally managed to overcome the bottom column of the East, but they still have a lot of work to do to squeeze into that top 5. With this minor change, it could benefit from what continues to be dreadful endings to a lackluster contender in the conference.