Dion Waiters, Miami Heat Finding Their Zone

MIAMI — As Dion Waiters crossed half court, with a raucous crowd behind him and the NBA's resident juggernaut at his mercy, he flashed back to his childhood.

Never mind the Miami Heat faithful tying its hopes to his, desperate for some relief amid a grueling year of rebuilding. Or those dominant-as-ever Golden State Warriors, who had erased a 10-point deficit over the final four minutes.

Tie game, 10 seconds left on the clock—this was somehow Waiters' comfort zone.

"These are the moments I practiced as a kid," Waiters said. "You know how you'd be out there by yourself and just counting down, 'three, two, one.' That was the opportunity for me to seize the moment."

Seizing the moment meant calmly walking into a pull-up three-pointer that gave Miami an unexpected 105-102 win over the league-leading Dubs.

The shot halted Golden State's seven-game winning streak, during which it had drubbed opponents by an average of 19.4 points. It pushed Miami's own surge to a season-high four games, including a 109-103 win over the third-seeded Houston Rockets on Jan. 17.

And it officially placed an ugly stretch between Dec. 16 and Jan. 13 in the rearview mirror—a span that saw the Heat go just 2-13 before the victory over Houston.

"We're just in a zone," Waiters said, after matching his career-high with 33 points for the second straight game. "We're playing Heat basketball."

The definition of Heat basketball has changed amid a flurry of roster moves. No longer star-studded annual contenders, Miami now finds itself building around solid veterans, reclamation projects and prospects. Most nights, Heat fans endure exhausting losses while letting their draft lottery hopes run wild.

But the backbone of this organization, formed by franchise pillars like head coach Erik Spoelstra and team president Pat Riley, remains much the same as those championship banner-raising outfits. Even while toiling in the doldrums of the Eastern Conference standings—their .333 winning percentage betters only the Brooklyn Nets'—the Heat won't be outworked.

"Those guys are physical and they get after it," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "They make everything difficult and they're smart. I know their record isn't great, they've got a lot of injuries, but they compete every night and that's what it's about."

The Heat are missing key youngsters Justise Winslow (out for season, shoulder), Josh Richardson (week-to-week, foot) and Tyler Johnson (day-to-day, shoulder), but their veteran contingency is as healthy as it's been all season. That means having two attacking guards in Waiters and Goran Dragic who can pressure a defense, snipers like Wayne Ellington and Luke Babbitt spreading the floor and an interior anchor in Hassan Whiteside.

Their offense is forming an identity, and their crunch-time play is turning the corner after multiple early-season stumbles.

Issac Baldizon/Getty Images

"We talk about it all the time, that you keep on putting in deposits to the team, to the work, continue to work to get better, but that doesn't guarantee a result," Spoelstra said. "You just have to trust the process that you'll continue to get the breakthrough you need."

Some might question the legitimacy and sustainability of this surge.

The Warriors were playing on the second night of a road back-to-back. The Rockets went uncharacteristically frigid from three. The other two victims—the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks—aren't part of the current playoff picture. And Waiters, now on his third team in three seasons, isn't going to put up career highs every night.

There's also the fact that Miami's biggest prize of this season will come in the form of a draft pick.

Still, the Heat needed this.

"I think, in a small way, it validates some of the things we are doing in practice with the coaching staff and the things they are teaching us," Babbitt said.

Miami's locker room has remained upbeat—at least in front of the media—despite multiple threats of potential fracturing. The mounting losses and stream of injuries were bad enough. That it happened to a roster with unsettled leadership, unproven prospects and a slew of journeymen on short-term deals, this could have ripped apart at any moment.

Four straight victories, each defined by energy and execution, function as glue for the group moving forward.

"It feels good that we have started to win," Dragic said. "When you aren't winning, everything is tough. You don't sleep well, the food doesn't taste right and you just try to figure out things."

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

The Heat are learning about themselves, and not in the distressed soul-searching way they were before the streak started.

It's tough to call these building blocks when so much of Miami's future is shrouded in mystery. But these are, as Spoelstra said, deposits that will prove valuable down the line.

If the Heat take the tear-down route, maybe these games will help boost the value of their movable assets leading up to the Feb. 23 trade deadline. If they opt to stay the course, this could be confidence in what they have and their ability to construct something significant around them.

No one represents that change better than Waiters. He's looked, at times, to be a barrier in front of more important pieces of the Heat's future. But after consecutive eye-opening performances (not to mention five straight in double figures and better than 50 percent shooting), maybe the 25-year-old can simultaneously find a home and become a part of whatever lies ahead.

"He looks more comfortable," former teammate and Warriors All-Star Kevin Durant said of Waiters. "He has the ball in his hands a lot, something that he always wanted. You can tell he's comfortable and they're trusting him a little bit more. I'm happy for him."

All quotes obtained firsthand. Unless otherwise indicated, all stats from Basketball-Reference.com or NBA.com and accurate through Jan. 23.

Zach Buckley covers the Miami Heat for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.