Have you ever missed a game or two during the week? Want to go through some Xs and Os? Or catch up on some news? Well, welcome to the Miami Heat Weekly Round-Up!

Each week, I’ll dive into some key points from this week, any trends, go through film breakdowns, provide fun stats, and other interesting tidbits that have caught my eye.

Weekly Summary & Stats

The Heat finished with a 3-0 record.

• 127-109 win vs the Chicago Bulls
• 114-109 win vs the Toronto Raptors
• 144-115 win vs the Charlotte Hornets

The Heat are rolling! They are on a five-game winning streak and in that span have the league-best 16.9 net rating, per Cleaning the Glass (CTG). This week was no different — three great wins against playoff teams.

It was no trouble beating the Bulls and finishing the series sweep. The team was on fire from deep, shooting 17/34. There were plenty of positives to get from the game — Kyle Lowry’s early aggression, increase in pick-and-rolls, and Jimmy Butler mismatch hunting leading to open shots.

The Raptors game was exciting, as it always is. The Heat were without Butler, but it didn’t matter because you had two people combining for 13 triples, but I’m sure you didn’t think Victor Oladipo would have been one of those players. This was also a poor scoring night from Tyler Herro, but his playmaking was impressive.

Big blowout win against the Hornets, but it was much closer than you may think. The Hornets lead for the entire first quarter and were only down five heading into the fourth. And do you know it turned into a 29-point blowout? Because we got shooters! Four players with 20-points or more, Herro scoring 35, and Duncan Robinson going off.

Some key, fun stats from the week:

• 58/114 (50.9%) from deep
• 133.7 offensive rating per CTG
• Lowry averaged 17.5 points and 10.0 assists
• 23 3pt made against the Hornets
• 143.5 offensive rating against the Hornets — best this season

Herro’s Playmaking

He had a poor scoring game against the Raptors — finished with 18 points, 1/5 from deep, and only two free-throw attempts — but that didn’t stop him from impacting the game late down the stretch.

This game showed the kind of leap he has made as a playmaker throughout the season, especially against these types of defenders. The Raptors still went at him — sending extra help, having lengthy defenders on him, drawing a stunt.

If a player is struggling to score for himself, he must do something to make an impact, and well, he set up others.

We also got to see some double screens for Herro and he executed that to perfection:

Three straight possessions and three great reads.

You can see the constant improvements he’s making from the kinds of passes he’s been able to make — this is one hell of a read off a live dribble:

More Bam PnRs

I love that Adebayo is getting more involved. He either gets a quality look — he’s shooting 61.5% post-all-star and 64.3% in the last 10 games — or he forces the defense to react and makes a decision on a short-roll.

Although I don’t have the exact numbers, it does feel like the team is going more to a Lowry-Adebayo PnR or Herro-Adebayo PnR.

We know how important Adebayo is to the offense, especially when we know he can be aggressive. And having him be involved in these actions means more quality shots, which the defense must respect.

However, it’s also more than just getting the points from him; it’s also what this makes the defense do. These actions make the defense do something. Whether that is focusing on the ball-handler, collapsing the defense, or kicking out to shooters on a short roll.

This is great news for the offense, especially if you have shooters all over the court. Adebayo will find the open man, then it’s a kick-out and if the shot is not there it keeps moving around.

Tidbits & Other News

Butler is... making threes lately. In his last eight games, he’s 10/25 from deep. That’s still a low sample size, only three attempts per game, but it’s an encouraging sign. He doesn’t have to shoot the way he did in previous years, all he has to do is make the defense somewhat respect his jumper. That can make all the difference in the world.

So, Oladipo went from hitting six triples to not playing a single minute the next game even though it ended up being a blowout. I don’t know what his chances of being in the playoff rotation look like, but he’s still a luxury to the team. Any foul trouble, or — knock on wood — injury problems, then you have an experienced veteran coming into the game.

The Heat switched a lot against the Raptors and I didn’t like that a lot. Many times, that either resulted in a mismatch plus easy bucket or a mismatch and needing to overhelp leading to an open shot.

And lastly, the MIAMI HEAT HAVE CLINCHED THE #1 SEED!!!

After a long season, many injuries, and a tough losing streak, they’ve finally done it. Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, this season has been a success.