The Miami Heat began 2020 with a two-and-a-half hour training camp-like practice Wednesday afternoon.
What was the focus? Defense.
"A lot of defense," Heat guard Goran Dragic said after practice, which included court work and a film session. "I think that's the right approach. Our defense has been not so good the last few games and we need to work on it. Today's practice was all about defense, and we knew it. We know that we have to get better as a team."
The Heat (24-9) entered Wednesday with the league's 12th-best defensive rating (allowing 106.8 points per 100 possessions), which is still in the top half of the NBA. But it's the way Miami's defense has been trending recently that has coaches and players analyzing what has gone wrong, with the Heat's defensive rating for December (allowed 111.1 points per 100 possessions) ranked 22nd in the league.
A short-handed Wizards roster missing star guard Bradley Beal scored 123 points on 51.2% shooting from the field and 45.9% shooting on threes in a win over the Heat on Monday.
"Everybody is looking for consistency. We're looking to get to a higher level," coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat hosting the Raptors (23-11) on Thursday. "Our standards of defense are higher. It's not like we're a dog-(expletive) defensive team. We're doing some good things. But we're not doing it at the level we need it to be every single possession and every single night."
A few areas the Heat has struggled with defensively this season include rim protection, keeping teams off the three-point line and allowing turnovers to turn into points.
Opponents are shooting a league-best 66.9% against the Heat from inside the restricted area this season. Miami has been effective limiting opponents' opportunities from that part of the court, though, allowing the third-fewest shots in the league (25.9) from inside the restricted area.
The Heat is also allowing the third-most three-point shot attempts per game (37.2) in the NBA this season. While Miami has held teams to the league's third-worst three-point shooting percentage (33.1 percent) for the season, opponents started to make more outside shots in December with a three-point shooting percentage of 35.1% last month.
And with the Heat averaging the second-most turnovers in the NBA this season at 16.5 per game, Miami has allowed the fourth-most points off turnovers in the league at 19.2 per game.
"I'm tired of talking about it, to tell you the truth," wing Jimmy Butler said when asked about the Heat's recent defensive struggles. "I feel like we talk about it too much and we don't just go out and execute it. I don't know. I could tell you the same thing I've been saying over and over again, but until we actually go out there and do something about it, ain't no sense to keep telling you what we need to focus on and what we need to do."
The absence of forward Justise Winslow, who is considered one of the Heat's top perimeter defenders, certainly doesn't help. Winslow is expected to miss his 13th consecutive game Thursday because of a lower back bone bruise.
But Spoelstra doesn't want to use Winslow's injury as an excuse for the Heat's defensive slippage.
"We've shown we can defend," Spoelstra said. "He certainly helps when we get him available, that will add to what we're doing. It's about consistency. I like the fact that we're all going crazy because we're not a top-five defensive team, but it's not like we're a dog-(expletive) team. We have to do it more committed, more consistently for 48 minutes. That's basically it."
The Heat's offensive surge this season has been encouraging, with the team owning the NBA's eighth-best offensive rating. But coaches and players know defense is the key to sustained success, especially in the playoffs.
"I don't think anybody expected our offense to explode and trend the way it's trending right now," veteran forward Udonis Haslem said. " ... That's something that we're very happy to have. But defense has to be a staple. We have to be able to hang our hats on our defense. In a seven-game series, whether you're home or away, you have to be able to get stops to beat a team and put a team away.
"Offense has trended really well for us and sometimes we score very easily. That enables us to be a little less focused defensively and a little more lackadaisical when things come easy for us offensively. Yes, that is a bad habit that we have and that's something we have to work on."
