MIAMI _ James Johnson saw the value of togetherness last season, when the Miami Heat coalesced to a 30-11 finish. He also can appreciate what can rip a team apart, even at such an early stage of a season.
"We've just got to keep focusing on us and keep trending in the right direction," the veteran forward and Heat tri-captain said before Wednesday night's game against the Boston Celtics at AmericanAirlines Arena, "and never veer off that and trying to go rogue and try to get it done by yourself, because this team needs everybody."
On a roster without an All-Star, that has been the focus.
"This is Code Red right now," Johnson said. "We don't have any time to wait. This is where the playoff games or getting in the playoffs kind of reside right now."
For the Heat, the two days off leading into the Boston game have optimized the togetherness, with intense practices on Monday and Tuesday, the team's Thanksgiving community outreach on Tuesday and then Wednesday's shootaround.
Coach Erik Spoelstra on Wednesday downplayed the impact of evolving lineups.
"I don't think it has anything to do with the rotation," he said. "It simply has to be about creating better habits, better focus, and all the areas of behavior, before you even get to production.
"And that's just the way it's got to be with this group. We have to be very diligent about every single step of the process. And that's all the little things that add up inevitably to the big things, that attention to detail in everything _ film sessions, to shootarounds, to practices, to meetings, to your treatment, to your approach just to get your mind ready for competition. All these things need to get better."
In that respect, the repetitions were extensive in the wake of Sunday's 25-point loss.
"Now it's about repeating it and doing it over and over and over and over," Spoelstra said before facing the Celtics. "That's the challenge for our group."
Spoelstra said there has been enough positives to create hope.
"There's times in games where it's like, 'OK, that's where we're trying to get to. That's the identity we're trying to get to,' " he said, "And then, boom, we have the Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
"So it's about habits and behavior right now. We're firmly rooted in process right now, and then we'll see what kind of result happens from that. But it's all these little steps that we have to correct first, hopefully to find a little bit more consistency and reliability."
Center Kelly Olynyk, though, said working through rotations nonetheless remains a work in progress.
"We have a lot of guys who can play basketball at a high level," he said, "and once we kind of figure out where all the puzzle pieces fit, then we can build the puzzle."
