5 Ways the Miami Heat Have Been Exposed in Losses

The Miami Heat have dropped back-to-back games in California, first to Golden State and last night to the Los Angeles Clippers. 

There are certain things that both teams did to expose certain weaknesses the Heat have. While not everything is consistent in their three losses this season, some things have been similar. 

It would be easy to just say it's all about zone defense, but only one of the teams really employed it. That doesn't mean they don't have their own similarities, though. 

Here are five ways the Heat have been exposed in the two losses. 

Unbalanced

The first thing that all three teams have done successfully is make the Heat an unbalanced team. The Hawks took away the paint and made the Heat a jump-shooting team. Typically the Heat score 49.2 points per game in the paint. Against the Hawks they scored just 38. 

The Clippers and the Warriors both took away the jump shot. Typically the Heat make 19 jump shots a game. Against the Clippers and Warriors, they averaged just 10.5. 

One key to beating the Heat is taking away their balance. Consider it like a football game where you either take away the run or the pass. 

Bench Can Be Exploited

In one way or another, the Heat have had their bench exploited in their three losses. With Atlanta and the Warriors, they had their bench do the damage. 

Golden State got 39 points form their bench in their win. Atlanta got 31 points from their bench. The Clippers didn't really play their bench, but their starters scored a lot of points against the Heat while their bench was on the court. 

The Heat might have some players who are scoring a little better off the bench this year, but only three teams in the NBA give up more scoring to opposing benches.

The Heat starters average 73.9 points—second-best of any squad in the NBA—but the problem they have is that their bench essentially is spotting the other team 10 per game. 

Inconsistent at the Line

One consistency in all three of their losses is that they shot more free throws than their opponents. In those games, they've shot nearly 25 free throws per game and just made 63.7 percent of them. 

Miami is not a particularly good free-throw shooting team. They are only 18th in the NBA.

You're better off making LeBron James and Dwyane Wade beat you from the charity stripe than you are having them beat you at the rim. 

Vulnerable from Deep

It is an absolute must to utilize the three-point line when you are playing the Miami Heat. In all three games they've lost, the three-point line has been utilized. Teams have attempted on average 6.7 more threes and made 4.0 more threes in the Heat's losses. 

Aside from the obvious fact that three-point shots are actually worth more points, shooting the three expands the range the Heat have to defend. This breaks down their defense and opens up the court for other means of scoring. 

The Heat give up six more points in their losses than their wins, and that has a lot to do not just with making more threes, but also taking them and forcing Miami to defend the perimeter. 

Reliant on Turnovers

The most important thing we learned form the three games is that if you want to beat the Heat, the thing you need to do is take care of the ball. The Heat are only 3-3 in games in which they have turned the ball over more than their opponents. 

Taking care of the ball means two things. First, it means you aren't giving up possessions for free. Second, it means that you aren't giving up as many fast break points to the Heat.

With their lethal, quick-strike offense, the one thing you cannot afford to do is give away free points.