Miami Heat: Keys for the Heatles to Maintain Their Winning Ways Against Portland

On Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Miami Heat will be looking to continue their winnings ways that they found in the first half of the 2011-12 NBA season.

The Heat surged into the 2012 NBA All-Star break on an impressive eight-game winning streak, with all eight wins coming by double digits.

In addition to that more recent dominance, the Miami Heat managed to win 16 out of their past 18 games, including impressive wins against the Pacers, Knicks, Magic, 76ers and Bulls. There's no way around the fact that the Heat are one of the hottest teams in the NBA.

So the question at hand is, how can the Miami Heat maintain their winning ways when they take the court for the first time in the second half of the 2011-12 NBA season, on Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers?

The answer to that question starts with keeping Blazers' all-star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge out of the paint.

Keep LaMarcus Aldridge out of the paint

The foundation of the Trail Blazers offense so far this season has been the production they've been getting out of LaMarcus Aldridge, who made his first all-star appearance of his career this past weekend.  

Aldridge is averaging 22.3 points per game on 50.6 percent shooting from the field so far this season, and the reason why his production is so high is because of his ability to find his way into the paint.

If the Heat want to beat the Trail Blazers, who are coming off an impressive 40-point win against the Spurs two nights ago, their first priority has to be to keep Aldridge out of the paint. While Aldridge has the ability to step out of the paint and hit mid-range jumpers, he's undoubtedly more dangerous inside the paint, and if the Heat let him set up shop there, it's going to be a long night.

The way that the Heat can keep Aldridge out of the paint is by doubling down on him when he receives the entry pass outside of the paint. The Trail Blazers half-court offense often results in Aldridge getting the ball about 15 feet away from the basket, and if the Heat can't deny that entry pass, they absolutely must double team Aldridge the moment he touches the ball.

By doubling down on Aldridge, it will force the ball out of his hands, which brings us to our next key for a Heat victory on Thursday night.

Force players not named LaMarcus Aldridge to beat you

If you look at the Trail Blazers' offensive production, it's clear that Aldridge is the foundation, as he averages nearly 8.1 points per game more than any other player on the Trail Blazers' roster. While there are undoubtedly guys like Jamal Crawford, Nicolas Batum and Gerald Wallace who can carry the load offensively, the Heat stand a better chance of beating the Blazers with the ball in their hands instead of Aldridge's.

One of the Heat's biggest weaknesses this season has been their inability to defend the perimeter, but luckily for them, the Trail Blazers aren't too dangerous from beyond-the-arc, shooting only 33.5 percent from long range on the season, which ranks 16th in the NBA.

Statistically speaking, the Heat stand a better chance of winning by letting the Blazers put up perimeter shot after perimeter shot, than letting LaMarcus Aldridge get his normal amount of touches in the paint.  

If Miami forces Portland to rely on their perimeter offense to win the game, the result will be a number of missed long-range shots, that result in rebounding opportunities for the Heat that lead to the final key for a Heat victory against the Trailblazers.

Get out into the transition early and often

The Portland Trailblazers rank 25th in the NBA in opponents' fast-break points per game, with an average of 14.6 points per game. The reason why they give up so many fast-break points is because they have an oversized frontcourt and a somewhat undersized backcourt that has issues running with teams in the transition offense.

The problem for the Trail Blazers is that they've yet to see a team that runs the fast break like the Miami Heat, with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade leading the way. Not only do the Trail Blazers not matchup well in the half-court offense against the Heat's starting rotation, they also matchup horrendously when it comes to the transition offense.

If Miami can get out into the break early and often, they will be able to create mismatches with LeBron and Wade that the Blazers simply won't be able to deal with. If the Heat run the transition offense and get into the paint like they did in the first half of the 2011-12 NBA season, Thursday night's matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers could turn into the Heat's ninth-straight double-digit win quite quickly.

With the Trailblazers playing their third game in as many days, the Heat will have the clear advantage on Thursday night, but the Heat need to make sure that they start their three-game road trip off right with a dominant win against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Miami Heat will be looking to extend their eight-game winning streak to nine games with a win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.

Will the Heat extend their winning streak to nine games?

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