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The Miami Heat are an interesting team to dissect. They walk the line between a title contender and just a pretender. The Westgate Superbook has the team at +3000 odds to win the NBA title. With a record of 41-24, the Miami Heat march into the NBA bubble with the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference. The Heat find themselves dead center in a logjam with the 3-6 seeded teams in the East. What makes this bubble experiment so interesting, is that no team will have a true home-court advantage. Miami has a lot of things going for them. They have a closer in Jimmy Butler who can create his own shot when the play breaks down. Bam Adebayo provides them a defensive anchor capable of covering 1-5. Plus, they received the good fortune of being injected with youthful talent in rookies like Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn. Despite this impressive resume, the Miami Heat will need these eight games in the bubble to prove if they are contenders or pretenders.
The Roster
Nobody expected the Miami Heat to be this good. Going into the 2019 season the Heat looked like a team devoid of any young talent. Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra deserve a lot of credit for how quickly they were able to transform this roster into a winning team. The Miami Heat were able to send both Jimmy Bulter and Bam Adebayo into the All-Star game. They enjoy having a dark horse ROY candidate in 15.6 ppg scorer Kendrick Nunn. A pair of dynamic shooters in 39.1 percent and 44.8 percent three-point shooters, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson. Ohh and I didn’t even mention the high flying act and the 2020 Slam Dunk Champion Derrick Jones Jr. They even bolstered the wing deep with the addition of finals MVP Andre Iguodala.
This team is extremely fun to watch and has the foundation to be a real contender in the future. The issue with this Heat team is that the initial core is too young and inexperienced to challenge the more seasoned teams. Players like Jimmy Bulter, Goran Dragic, and new addition Andre Iguodala have the necessary playoff experience to survive the bubble, but for everyone else, it’ll be a trial by fire.
The Schedule
Adam Silver wasn’t doing the Heat any favors when he made their bubble schedule. Miami gets the onslaught of playing seven different playoff teams, one of them being the league leader in wins with Milwaukee. Miami doesn’t even enjoy the luxury of beating up on any lower-seeded playoff teams like the Nets or the Magic. They do have a very important matchup with Boston that can help them leapfrog up the standings. The only issue is crawling up the Eastern Conference doesn’t provide you the reward of homecourt advantage. Miami owns the third-best home record in the NBA at 27-5. Some landmark wins at home include a stunning 105-89 win against the Bucks, 137-106 win against the 76ers, and a dogfight 84-76 win over the second-seeded Raptors.
Some argue that opposing teams just party a little too hard on the beaches of Miami the night before games. But the Heat are just a drastically better team at home compared to on the road. Miami suffers from the same sickness that the 76ers have, just with milder symptoms. They hold a losing record of 14-19 away from American Airlines Arena. They go from scoring 116 at home to only 108 on the road. Only time will tell what type of Heat team we will see in the bubble.
Final Thoughts
This team has the ceiling to push around teams like Boston and Philly. But they stop just short of having the experience and firepower to matchup against the Bucks, Lakers, or Clippers. The great equalizer for the Heat was going to be their play at home but the bubble has taken that away. Miami is a team to keep your eye on for the future.
