How Heat can get back to playing fast after bad loss vs. Kings

MIAMI – As the Miami Heat lost to the struggling Sacramento Kings on Saturday night, 127-111, it marked the team’s third straight loss and fourth of its last five contests. While some within the Heat aren’t concerned about its recent slump, the one aspect of the team that needs to come back is its fast-paced offense that led to successful results to start the season.

Miami made a distinct change to its offensive philosophy this offseason after the embarrassing sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs last season.

Finishing bottom five in the NBA in pace, continuously showing to be a slow team, they changed their identity to being a more free-flowing offense that has led to them being first in the NBA in pace, currently averaging 105.42 possessions per 48 minutes. Along with that, the Heat are one of the league’s highest-scoring teams, currently third in the entire association with 122.3 points per game, though Miami was higher before the recent slump.

There is no denying that other teams in the NBA have taken notice of what the team has been running on offense, which is to be expected, but now it’s Erik Spoelstra, the coaching staff, and the team’s job to work around others’ adjustments.

Heat’s Norman Powell on expecting teams to scout them

The aforementioned dreadful loss to the Kings saw the team slow down, but it isn’t just a one-game sample size, as five of the Heat’s six slowest games in terms of pace have come in the last seven games. Norman Powell would admit that Miami “knew this was going to happen” in teams taking notice and scouting them, as now they have to counter their adjustments.

“I think it’s really what the league is doing, we start playing these teams, you know, I think we’ve played the top five, top six defenses in the last couple games,” Powell said after scoring 18 points against the Kungs. “You know, you got Dallas, Orlando, and I think they’ve did a good job of denying our first actions and things like that, taking away, especially when I’m not playing with Tyler [Herro], they’re really keying on us, so it’s making other guys have to make plays.”

“But I think there’s been keying in on denying our reversals and things like that,” Powell continued. “And now we got to get to making second and third movements, you know, from there to now, back cutting, sacrificing ourselves, to open up driving lanes and things like that for the guys that have the ball. We knew this was going to happen, we kind of surprised everybody with the pace, and now they’re ready for it.”

Norman Powell on the Heat’s pace slowing down and how teams are attacking them:

"I think they’ve done a good job of denying our first action…Especially when im not playing with Tyler. They're really keying on us, so it’s making other guys have to make plays…” #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/Eoo4JEYtbM

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) December 7, 2025

As Powell alluded to, it hasn’t helped that the team continually goes through major changes in terms of its roster, such as Tyler Herro returning from offseason surgery, but now out with a toe injury. Plus, the Heat’s starting point guard, Davion Mitchell, one of the main reasons the offense has been working effectively, is currently injured with groin tightness.

Bam Adebayo on what he wants to see from the Heat

While the Heat’s game plan on offense will continue to evolve when players like Herro and Mitchell get back, the team still has to find a way to get back to their fast-paced style. What that entails is continuing to push the pace by driving downhill on offense and either finding the open man from three-point range or gaining the advantage in the paint.

However, as Powell mentioned, opposing teams have done a good job of cutting off and clogging passing lanes, leading to Miami slowing down. Part of that is teams playing zone defense against the Heat, which was also noticed by team captain Bam Adebayo, later telling ClutchPoints that others have ‘shut their water off’ in playing efficiently in transition.

“This is the most I’ve seen teams go zone against us,” Adebayo said. “And then obviously when they make a shot, they’re trying to press up so we can’t run in transition. So those two things. But we have one of the best coaches [Erik Spoelstra] in the league. We’ll find a counter at some point. We’ll find a counter and get back to having this fast pace and playing with this type of energy.”

“You’ll know people start scouting us and figuring out ways they can shut our water off in transition because we play so fast. But for us, it’s really like I said, moving that ball, limiting our turnovers, and getting shots on goal,” Adebayo added after the loss to the Kings on Saturday night, where he recorded nine points and seven rebounds.

Bam Adebayo would say this has been the most he’s seen teams go zone against them with their fast-paced offense, talks about finding the “counter”:

“We have one of the best coaches in the league. We'll find a counter and get back to having this fast pace…” #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/alAFmPTOja

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) December 7, 2025

Asked Bam Adebayo if there had always been an expectation there would be a stretch like this with the new offense:

“People start scouting us and figuring out ways they can shut our water off in transition…”

Would list the ways to get back to their identity. #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/jDyBnJpGuc

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) December 7, 2025

Even looking at the current three-game losing streak, Miami is running a pace of 100.1 possessions per 48 minutes that would rank 22nd in the league, which has been a far cry from how they started this season thus far.

What Heat needs to do to counter other team’s efforts to slow them down

With these adjustments from enemy teams being challenges to the Heat’s new offense, practice time and game experience are needed to see more of how opponents are playing them and counteracting them. Practice on Monday will be crucial in figuring out potential solutions.

Looking at another facet, Adebayo mentioned their play in transition, as even the fastbreak points are trending negatively as well, down from their season-average of 18.4 points to 11 points per game. While some could say that the loss to the Kings was due to it being the second game of a back-to-back and head coach Erik Spoelstra telling ClutchPoints that the team didn’t have as much “juice,” the pace being slowed down is for a myriad of reasons.

“If you develop an identity after 20 games, the league scouts you. So they’ll put together a game plan,” Spoelstra said. “But if you’re doing something well, then you have to put more effort, more intention, more detail in doing it, and that’s what the really good teams figure out. You don’t let teams take you out of what you need to do. That’s why the practice day [on Monday] will be important.”

Erik Spoelstra would say it’s a mix of opponent’s adjusting to Heat’s offense and them going away from their strengths that has led to the pace slowing down: #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/6XHRBz7Tcb

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) December 7, 2025

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra shares the biggest takeaway from recent slump

With how up-and-down the season has been so far for the Heat, there is a ton of time to get back to what made them dangerous to start, as no doubt it’ll take efforts from Adebayo, Powell, Herro, Mitchell, etc., to perform on the court. Still, even if the team can’t play up-tempo to how they like every game, Spoelstra does want to see more resilience when “it’s not at our identity.”

“Probably my biggest takeaway right now is, can we win some games where it’s not at our identity?” Spoelstra said. “We’ll work on it Monday. We’re going to work on getting more consistent with how we want to play, but this is the NBA. It’s not always going to go exactly how you want it to go, and competition has something to say about it. But the mental toughness that great teams figure out is you just figure out a way to win. You figure out what the feel for a game is. And it might have to be an ugly win, and we’ll get there on that as well.”

At any rate, Miami is currently 14-10, putting them seventh in the Eastern Conference as the team embarks on a four-game road trip starting Tuesday against the Orlando Magic in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup.

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