The Culture Report: Cruising Through the Pacers, Unable to Stop the Pacers & Stopping the 76ers
How the Heat had two very different games vs the same Pacers & how they didn't make Embiid's life easy
Welcome to The Culture Report! A weekly report rounding up all of the games, thoughts, discussion, breakdowns, and analysis of the Miami Heat. This is the place for you to get up to speed with everything that’s important, interesting, or simply fun — whether that’s news, games, box-scores, actions, plays, signings, trades, trends, financials, schemes + everything else you can think off — and digging deeper into the how’s and why’s through film breakdowns, stats, and analysis.
What’s Been Heating Up
To bring you up to speed with everything, we’re starting off the report by going through thoughts from the games and a bunch of film and Xs & Os from the week, whether it’s here or some additional pieces at All U Can Heat. This will include going through an individual’s performance, key reasons why they won/lost, and a handful of little takeaways. If you missed a game or if you want to dive into some of the main takeaways, this is for you.
Games of the week
124-111 WIN vs Indiana Pacers, 15/11/24
110-119 LOSS vs Indiana Pacers, 17/11/24
106-89 WIN vs Philadelphia 76ers, 18/11/24
Key stats:
ORTG: 118.9(133.0, 119.6, 106.0)
DRTG: 107.1(107.9, 125.5, 88.9)
eFG%: 55.0% vs 56.0%
TOV%: 11.4% vs 14.9%
ORB%: 24.5% vs 15.9%
FTr: 23.2 vs 14.1
Player stats:
Key performances:
Jimmy Butler vs 76ers: 30pts on 7/11 2pt, 1/1 3pt, 13/13 ft, 10rebs(5 off), 5asts & +29
Bam Adebayo vs Pacers: 30pts on 8/14 2pt, 2/3 3pt, 8/9 ft, 11rebs, 7asts, 5stls & +22
Tyler Herro: 28pts on 1/7 2pt, 7/11 3pt, 5/5 ft, 4rebs, 4asts
124-111 WIN vs Indiana Pacers Thoughts
Starting off the weekend with a big win against a solid team. This was probably their best win of the season considering how convincingly they did it. This wasn’t any game in the mud or needing to crawl out of a massive hole they dug themselves in. This was good basketball through 48 minutes.
Once they gained a lead early in the second, they never looked back. They even had a 20pt lead at different points in time in the third and the fourth. It felt good to not worry about the game slipping away.
And they did this on both ends of the floor. Offensively, it was strength in numbers with everyone contributing one or the other and then Bam Adebayo gave you 30 on 10/17 shooting with 8/9 free throws.
Defensively, it was causing a lot of turnovers and that part saved them. Before the fourth, the Pacers had a 110.4 offensive rating, but they also had a 60.0% eFG and 61.6% TS, but they had 19.5 TOV%. They could get looks, but they couldn’t get more shots up through taking care of the ball, forcing TOVs, or grabbing second-chance points(only 17.9% ORB). They even had an efficient scoring everywhere 15/23 at the rim, 9/18 in the paint, 6/10 in the mid-range, and 14/35 3pt.
110-119 LOSS vs Indiana Pacers Thoughts:
It’s interesting how different both teams can look after playing one another just two days later, especially when it’s that drastic. In the last game, the Heat cruised through and had multiple double-digit leads. They never led in this game and only tied the game once.
In that last paragraph talking about the previous game, I mentioned how their defense relied heavily on turnovers and limiting second-chance points. That didn’t happen in this game.
Without those two things expanding the margin of error, the Heat couldn’t make up for the fact they still couldn’t stop them from scoring. They had basically the same eFG% as the last game.
That’s what cost them this game. The offense came and go and they made a run because of some hot shooting in the fourth, but it all came down to couldn’t get stops when they needed to. And in a clutch game, being able to get a stop is crucial.
But even offensively, they were struggling before the outburst of 3s in the 4th, mainly from Herro. Before the 4th, they scored 75 points whilst shooting 28/73 from the field. That’s how rough it was. They shot 44% from 3pt where 48% of their shots came but they still ended up with 50% eFG because they went 17/47 inside the arc.
106-89 WIN vs Philadelphia 76ers Thoughts
Another game in the mud. We love games in the mud. We did see Jimmy Butler for the first time in a while and it was a good one. We also saw Terry Rozier having to miss the game and because of that, we got to see a brand new lineup that should be the starters — Herro, Duncan, Butler, Haywood, and Bam.
As usual, the Heat did end up getting behind by 19 points contributed by sloppy basketball where they had 10 of the 13 turnovers in the first half, including seven in the first quarter alone. Going 1/11 from 3pt also didn’t help.
But once they took care of the ball and found some 3-point shooting, things turned the other way. On the other hand, the 76ers were hit with the same spell. They ended up scoring 16 points on 17 shots with four turnovers in the third quarter where suddenly they lost that quarter by 19.
Although, I wouldn’t say the defense was perfect. The 3s that they were taking were good, high-quality shots that the defense wouldn’t want to give up.
Offensively, it wasn’t the best kind of process where it was again lifted by better 3-point shooting because they still couldn’t finish anything inside. They went 23/43 inside the arc, including 22/39 in the paint.
But a win is a win.
How the Heat Cruised Through vs Pacers Offensively
The Heat had a 133.0 offensive rating with a 66.0% eFG that was helped by the collective effort of Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, Kevin Love, and Bam Adebayo all at different points in time. It also helped that they were great at protecting the ball with only 9.1 TOV%.
It started off with Highsmith doing all of the little things. He led the team in the first quarter with 8 points, going perfect 4/4:
The first possession is looking like it’s going nowhere. Everyone spaced around the arc all watching the action. That’s where Highsmith makes the perfect decision to cut behind the defense for the layup. He had two leaks in transition, all just capitalizing on very easy looks at the rim. In the last clip, it’s a Rozier-Ware PNR, with him driving and kicking and Highsmith beating the closeout to the rim.
In the second quarter, they came out firing, scoring 16 points on 9 possessions in just under five minutes. It involves a bunch of actions with Duncan-Adebayo, Jaquez, and Jovic.
It all starts off the same actions. It’s Duncan setting a screen to set up Jaquez as the hub, followed by setting another screen for Adebayo to get him set up to be the elbow hub. Once they’re in that position, it’s making a read on what to do next.
The first read was setting a backscreen for Jaquez and flowing into a handoff to get a 3pt. The next read was setting up Adebayo for the elbow jumper. The third time is back to the initial read but Duncan gets run off the line and instead attacks the rim for free throws.
You also had a couple of shots from Jovic getting out in transition and running a double PNR to get into the paint for a quick shot.
At the end, it’s back to the same setup but with a wrinkle. It’s now a Jaquez-Adebayo-Duncan Spain PNR. Adebayo is drawing a tag and Jaquez is able to make the skip to Jovic for 3pt.
This was a great four-minute stretch to get a quality look after a quality look.
The Heat came into the second half with 61 points. Fast forward five minutes and it’s 20 points later. Which player is most responsible for that? Kevin freaking Love!
Who would’ve thought that Love would be scoring 15 points in around six minutes? They start off the quarter running a play for him with a cross-screen from Highsmith to exploit that potential switch from Haliburton that got him a wide-open layup.
As simple as it is, he also made shots. It was spacing 1 pass away to get a 3pt off a Herro-Adebayo PNR. It was also basically being a Duncan with him setting screens for Herro and popping out for 3pt off a handoff from Adebayo on the elbow.
Or it’s him hustling on the defensive end to get the steal and get out on the break! Yes. That’s Love playing the passing lane and getting a drive-in transition at this age — looking like LeBron out there.
And the game-leading scorer, Adebayo ended up with 30 points, including 11 in the third and 16 in the fourth. This was certainly a second half for him:
He looked aggressive in the second half whenever he had the ball. On his first score in the third, he clearly has a mismatch and wastes no time beating his man off the dribble to get to the rim. It’s going back again in the post, backing his guy down to get into the paint for a hook shot. Or it’s flushing it down with authority after sealing and slipping to perfectly exploit the switch.
Finally, in the end, he gave us a treat with two 3s with confidence. One after the defense goes under the screen and the second with him pulling up in early offense.
The Pacers Dominated the Paint(& behind the arc)
The Pacers had an answer to a lot of things offensively. They were able to cook wherever they wanted. It also didn’t matter who it was. Pascal Siakam had 23 points and he missed only two shots. Myles Turner had himself a game with 34 point on 9/15 2pt, 5/8 3pt, and 1/1 ft. Even Bennedict Mathurin had 21 points on 5/8 2pt, 1/2 3pt, and 8/8 ft. It was these three that ended up doing the biggest damage.
That’s why the Pacers went 20/27 at the rim and 11/22 in the paint. 54 points in the paint. That’s inexcusable.
Here’s a video breakdown going through a few ways the Pacers ended up going to that the Heat couldn’t stop.
Starting with Mathurin. He attacked anyone that was in front of him. It didn’t matter if it was in transition, isolation, or in the PNR. There was no one that could either stay in front or keep up with him to recover on the PNR. Too many times, he went through the defender with ease and got to the rim or drew a foul.
That was similar to Siakam. On the first few attempts, it was bringing Duncan into action and going at him before the defense can react to do something. There were a handful of plays that also got him easy looks at the rim by again exploiting the mismatches the Heat had.
Surprisingly, Turner was the leading scorer and he had a great game and there wasn’t much the Heat could’ve done. He attacked well off the ball finding ways to get open for 3pt. He knocked down shots on spot-ups and had a couple of solid drives.
Good Defense or Missed Open Looks
So, the 76ers didn’t crack even 90 points. The Heat had an 88.9 DRTG with a 49.4% opponent eFG%. The 76ers having only 4.3% ORB and 11.1 free throw rate also showed the defense — that will matter more when we get to their struggles.
Their stars also couldn’t get anything going, which was key in defending them too. George had 18 points on 4/6 2pt, 1/7 3pt, and 7/9 ft with 5 assists. Embiid struggled to get involved with 11 points on 3/8 2pt, 1/3 3pt, 0/0 ft and 5 assists. That’s right, he had 0 shooting fouls drawn.
But it wasn’t all bad for the 76ers. They did, after all, have a 19-point lead early in the second quarter. Up until 9:22 left in the second, the 76ers scored 46 points and had a 131.4 ORTG with 73.4% TS. They also shot 13/15 in the paint and added 5/12 from 3pt. That’s a great offense. They had stretches where they were getting good look after good look and to end the first, they scored 15 straight points.
Starting with the simple stuff that can and has been taken care of by the Heat are the transition points. The Heat had nine turnovers in that ~14-minute stretch. That resulted in 15 points and nine fastbreak points:
Off of turnovers, the 76ers managed to get very easy looks whether it was at the rim, from 3pt, or drawing a foul. That was around 30% of the offense just off easy looks!
Moving onto their 3s where they went 5/12. It was also a handful of solid looks created by good process on offense that exploited the defense. They weren’t looks that defense forced or pushed/rushed them into taking:
It starts off with an Embiid isolation in the post. He draws the defense and it’s George one pass away for a kick. Very simple. Or it’s in early offense, where there’s miscommunication and McCain is left wide open. The Heat also rolled out with a zone to end the first, and with more miscommunication, McCain gets another 3pt. The 3s that they got in the first quarter were simply bad defense.
And finally, there are the drives that hurt. They did end up going 13/15 in the paint. A few of them were in transition, but even in their half-court, they weren’t able to hold their own on drives or in isolation:
How much of that is even good defense? Too many straight-line drives right to the rim with no help inside. It’s turning the corner in the PNR or making the point-of-attack defender trail from behind, which opens up shots.
This was the end of the offense for the 76ers because, after 9:22 in the second, they ended up scoring 43 points in ~32 minutes. They had a 63.2 ORTG with 37.1% TS. They shot 11/24 inside the paint but they also had no shooting luck at all, only making 5/29 from 3pt. That’s where the lack of rebounding, forcing turnovers, and inability to get to the free-throw line hurt. They weren’t able to generate points in any other way. They also only had two points off turnovers. They couldn’t force the Heat into turning the ball over and couldn’t get those easy shots.
What changed? Was the Heat’s defense that suffocating? Or was it also open looks not being hit?
It was a mix of both. The effectiveness of certain strategies also depended on who was on the court. There were plenty of minutes where the 76ers were relying on a rookie guard to do something without either Embiid or George on the court. There is also a difference in how you should approach if there’s Drummond on the court instead of Embiid.
They experimented with a bunch of zone defense, showing a lot of help on Embiid and George, doubling them on catches, showing hard on PNRs, and packing the paint whenever Embiid had the ball in his hands. The zone and the full-court press were a big change. That is what stopped all of those open, easy drives.
What that also did is open a lot more kicks for 3s. That’s where the defense could’ve easily backfired. That’s where on some of the looks, I didn’t feel as if it was the defense forcing and living with that shot, but rather the offense getting a good look.
It depends on what you think the goal of the defense was meant to be. Was it a success because neither Embiid nor George went going and you forced role players to beat you? Or did the defense give up plenty of quality looks and were lucky because of 3-point variance?
Here are some of the 3pt looks that they gave up:
Notice how many 3s they’ve given up after either showing on a PNR or doubling George/Embiid. The game plan was simple. Stay in that zone to prevent drives. But if Embiid catches the ball, it’s shrinking the floor, showing help everywhere possible, and coming to double. But take the 0:33 mark where Lowry gets a wide-open 3pt that exploits Butler showing help.
Look at this defense:
All that happened next was a kick, and swing, and Martin got an open 3pt.
Finally, there was also the defense in the non-Embiid minutes. The strategy and the scheme were pretty much the same here, except it’s against lesser talent.
This is where this kind of defense can pay off a lot. This aggressive, disruptive, all-over-you, full-court press, up-in-your-face, packed paint, and swarming everywhere can lead to late-clock possessions, tough shots, or forced turnovers.
Weekly Ramble
Here is a weekly ramble where it’s me simply ranting about the Heat. No plan. No script. No thoughts in structure. There’s not much analysis or breakdowns here. It’s me giving my thoughts and opinions on the state of the team and where I’m at with them. Plus some additional thoughts I may have that could be interesting or anything newsworthy to add.
So, this has been a better week. It’s always a better week when the team wins instead of having annoying and frustrating losses. Even just thinking about it from a fan's point of view at the moment, it’s a much more enjoyable experience to see games be competitive and you win. It’s even better when the games become less competitive because they’re blowing them out.
But at the same time, when thinking about the long term, I still wonder to what end, though. They have looked better at times. More like a competent team, rather than a team filled with issues. But again, what is the goal?
We are now near the 20-game mark and that usually is when you have a picture of something. I feel like I’m repeating myself in these rambles because it’s just the same thing every time. They may get some of those wins however they do, but their issues remain unaddressed. What’s worse, you may not entirely know or can address whatever the issues are.
We did get Butler back, but that comes with losing Rozier to an injury, on top of Jaquez Jr being injured too. It’s always something with the Heat. They can never have too many good things happen.
On the bright side, that Rozier injury did mean there was a new starting lineup that most likely should be the one going forward. It won’t fix everything, but it sure will help. There are no major fixes on this team, only bandaids. Changing the lineups that fit better and playing players that can play the right role is as good of a band-aid as you can get.
But there is still so much to figure out and to answer so many questions.
What is Butler going to look like or in what ways is he going to be involved going forward? He did come out in his first game with an efficient 30 points. The thing with Butler, though, is he is a very, very smart player. He knows how to pick his spots. He knows when to go at certain players. He knows how to shift gears at the right time. He also knows how to remain efficient in different roles. This is the part of his game that I think will age well. He can be that mold of an older wing that is a smart passer, capable finisher, excellent cutter/mover, and disciplined.
There’s also a similar topic regarding both Herro and Adebayo. Everything is still up in the air and this level of uncertainty with the possible lineups, hierarchy of players, ability of players, and what roles players play on a given night is never a good thing, especially when it doesn’t become clearer with more games.
The Heatle Things
To end the report, here are some random tidbits that could be stats, lineups, plays, actions, or anything that I found fun, as well as compiling some other content that I found interesting.
Brady Hawk’s thread breakdown of Butler’s and Herro’s play against the 76ers
And another Brady thread breakdown going through Jaquez’s and Jovic’s play against the Pacers
Per Couper Moorhead, the Heat had the highest shot quality of the season against the 76ers at 56.5, but it was also the highest shot quality they have allowed at 55.3
Herro remains HOT from deep at 45.2% but his 2pt% has been dropping slightly. It’s at 53.7% currently. He’s shooting 58.1% at the rim and 47.8% within 4-14ft. The rim finishing has been concerning. That has trended downwards with it being 55.1% in November(9 games) and 50.0% in the last five games
Adebayo has seen a similar trend too. He’s shooting 56.2% at the rim in his last five games, but his short mid-range has bounced back to 46.9%
Duncan needs to bounce back as a shooter off the catch. His splits are hilarious. He’s shooting 32.7% on 4.6 C&S 3pt but, he’s also shooting 44.4% on 2.3 pull ups. Makes sense