The Miami Heat are currently one of the hottest teams in the association. Winners of five straight, the Heat have put themselves in a good position to be in play for the fifth seed and finally escape the play-in tournament. Most recently, Miami went on the road and defeated the Charlotte Hornets 128-120 on the road who were on a six-game winning streak at the time. They then followed that up by destroying the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons 121-110 in which the largest lead was 29 points.
What makes this win streak impressive is that there are currently two starters out in Andrew Wiggins and All-Star Norman Powell. Those two remain out for their next contest against the Washington Wizards and have no concrete date set for a return.
When it comes to that time where both players return, head coach Erik Spoelstra will need to figure out who starts, and most importantly who ends up closing games.
Tyler Herro has stepped up for the team the moment Powell went down. His play left an impact that the league took notice of and earned him player of the week honors.
Herro has been the engine of the Heat’s offense since returning to the starting lineup. The scoring speaks for itself, and everyone knows how prolific a scorer he can be when locked in. When it comes to him and Powell, both can get hot and be a driving force to high outscoring games. With that being said, the main separator is the playmaking and setting up other teammates.
This is not to say that Herro is amongst the elites when it comes to passing, but there is a clear gap between him and Powell in that area. Nevertheless, the main area that needs to be focused on between the two is on the defensive end. That will be the deciding factor on who Spoelstra trusts more when the playoffs roll around.
The defensive end is where both players have their flaws. There have been instances where Herro looks like a liability when teams decide to actively put him in screen actions to get a switch. Spoelstra deserves a ton of credit for going to zone and hiding Herro from being picked on. Even with Herro closing, the defense has found ways to cause havoc and get stops multiple possessions in a row.
At the same time, Herro has been surrounded with size and defenders such as Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware to protect the rim, and players such as Davion Mitchell and Dru Smith to pressure the ball handlers.
In a scenario where the Heat throw Powell and Herro on the court, opposing teams have more than one player they can choose to exploit on defense. No matter the type of scheme that is being thrown out there, teams will find ways to hunt bad defenders and constantly make them work on the other end.
Unless it’s a barnburner where both teams can’t miss regardless of what defense is being played, a tough call will have to be made on who closes out games.
There will be a scenario where one is having a bad game, and it will be easy to choose one over the other. The possibility of both rolling can also happen, and that’s when a not-so-easy decision will have to be made.
If there’s anyone to trust to make the right call in tough moments, it’s Spoelstra. With how long he’s coached, the different rosters he’s had, and the playoff pedigree he’s built over the years, fans should have faith in Spo.
With the Heat currently on fire, it’s going to be interesting to close out the year and if they can be considered a team that can make a deep run.
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