Miami Heat vs Dallas Mavericks Game Breakdown #7

Welcome to Simply Ballin’s game breakdown of the Miami Heat. After each game, you will see my thoughts on the game, film breakdown, and other interesting bits that stood out to me.

Cocky Heat fan is back!

Throughout the first quarter, I thought, oh this game might be a challenge. Halfway through the quarter, the Heat had found themselves down by 11, as the Dallas Mavericks started to get hot from deep.

Then, poof! The lead just disappeared.

Surprisingly, this game was not won by the defense. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Heat had a 115.7 defensive rating, which is in the 26th percentile. Their offense, however, 135.2 offensive rating, which is good for the 99th percentile.

Two games in a row where their offense simply takes over.

It was certainly a team effort — four players have scored 20 or more points, but the real story is their two guards.

Lowry’s Best Game

After struggling in the first couple of games, Lowry had his best offensive game against the Memphis Grizzlies. And he followed that performance with his best offensive game of the season.

He finished the game with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists on 7–10 shooting and 6–9 from deep — the man couldn’t miss.

What impressed me is how he got these shots in a variety of ways — it didn’t matter whether it was a catch-and-shoot from a drive-and-kick, a contested jumper, a pull-up in transition, or step-backs.

Speaking of pull-up jumpers, per BBall-Index, Lowry has ranked in the 94th percentile or higher in 3pt pull-up talent seven of the last eight seasons. This is the first time the Heat have a legitimate threat as a pull-up jumper and one that creates his own shot.

The last two clips show what the Heat lacked the last couple of seasons. The game is not over yet and the other team can still make a run, so what do you need? Someone who can get the ball and score. And here Lowry iced the game with his two step-back 3s.

Luckily for the Heat, he also isn’t just a scorer — as mentioned numerous times throughout the game, he is a pass-first guy. He is fourth in passes made per game with 65, behind Malcolm Brogdon, Nikola Jokic, and Draymond Green.

And the way he gets others such easy looks is one of the reasons why the offense flows so well with him on the court.

He will make that pocket pass to a big man.

He will make push the pace by pitching ahead immediately after a miss or a make — without fact-checking this, I’m pretty sure he must lead the league in pitch ahead passes per game.

And just like that, Lowry’s averages aren’t looking so tragic — 10.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 7.5 assists on 55.1% true shooting. Although those numbers may not scream amazing, it does look like he’s getting out of that slump.

Maybee Herro Does Belong in the Conversation

Everyone laughed at that and even though I don’t agree that he belongs in the Trae Young and Luka Doncic conversation, he may be in the tier just below.

After his sophomore slump, people switched up on Herro just because he didn’t meet unrealistic expectations. Though, looking at his stats from his rookie year to his second year, he did improve.

Nevertheless, he had some haters, especially in the off-season, as some people on Twitter believed he couldn’t have a life outside of basketball.

And although it’s only been seven games, he shut every hater up — well, not every hater cough Chuck cough.

He finished the game with a team-high 25 points on 11–20 shooting. And this scoring burst has been common so far this season. He already has five games with 20 or more points — in comparison, he had 13 last year. And for the first time in his career, he has scored 20 or more points in three straight games.

The Heat have certainly trusted Herro with this much scoring responsibility off the bench — he is first in attempts and for good reasons.

He’s more confident in attacking the rim and the confidence when it comes to his shot is through the roof.

Just watch that second clip — off a Doncic miss, he drills one right in his face.

He finished the game going 6 for 9 in that mid-range area. This season he is shooting 61.3% on 4.4 attempts from the mid-range — of all the players that attempt four or more attempts, he is second, behind Kevin Durant in efficiency.

The fact that he’s doing this while only being assisted 36.7% of his field goals — in comparison to last year, 55.4% of his field goals were assisted — is more impressive.

Finally, a quick note on his pull-up shooting. He is shooting 35.5% on 4.4 3pt pull-ups. And out of all the players that attempt four or more pull-up 3s, he ranks ninth — ahead of Paul George, Buddy Hield, Bradley Beal, Trae Young, and Jayson Tatum.

Impressive Defense on Doncic

If you look at the box score and see Doncic with 33 points, you might think the defense was horrendous.

But the thing about offensive superstars is they will get their points. As PJ Tucker recently has said on the JJ Redick Podcast, Durant will score 50, but it’s about making it as tough as possible.

That’s what the Heat did. They made life difficult for Doncic and done a great job at getting the ball out of his hands — I don’t care if Jalen Brunson goes off, if you get beat by Brunson, you simply tip your hat.

From the start, the Heat switched everything. The commentators even talked about how almost everyone has guarded Doncic already.

One of the reasons they were able to switch is because Doncic got switched onto Bam Adebayo.

Each game is Adebayo’s proof of why he is the best defender in the league. There is nothing this man can’t do.

He neutralizes any advantage the Mavericks were looking for on those switches. He is able to move his feet as Doncic drives and gets the block. He is able to stand his ground and defend Doncic in isolation.

And even when they do get the switch, look at the second clip — notice how he realizes Robinson is on Doncic and times his double perfectly to get the ball out of Doncic’s hands.

But yesterday, it was more than just Adebayo playing like a DPOY — it was the entire team.

The defensive objective was simple. Get the ball out of Doncic’s hands and freaking recover fast.

You can see in the first two clips how they just send the double straight away. But notice how in those clips the defensive activity is there and how everyone moves fast to recover to an open man — all resulted in a worse, tougher shot.‍

Originally published at https://www.simplyballin.com.