Before embarking on their 7 game road trip, Miami was 11-14, entering a daunting road trip featuring matchups against the league-best Utah Jazz and defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. This 7 game road trip, lasting almost 2 weeks tied for the longest road trip in Heat franchise history. During this trip, Miami picked up wins against the Rockets, Kings, Lakers, and Thunder with losses to the Jazz, Clippers, and Warriors.
The Heat had their moments throughout the trip, both good and bad but overall it was a successful trip.
The Heat got off to a shaky start by losing 3 straight after beating the Houston Rockets. Miami lost to the Clippers who were without 3 starters in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Patrick Beverly, the Jazz and to the Warriors in overtime. The Heat failed to capitalize vs the Clippers and Warriors, both games that they could’ve won.
After losing three straight, Miami bounced back by picking up wins vs the Kings, Lakers, and Thunder to close out their road trip. Each of those games Miami played well on both sides of the ball and successfully closed out the games.
The Heat now return home to Miami but still have improvements to be made. One of Miami’s main struggles this season was rebounding and lack of consistent defensive play, however, that seemed to change throughout the road trip. Miami has outrebounded teams in their last 4 games and are 10-4 on the season when doing so. At the moment the Heat hold the league’s 8th best defensive rating and held opponents to an average of 107 points per game in their last 7 games.
While offense has been a bit of a problem for Miami, they improved on it throughout the trip, partly due to the success of Kendrick Nunn. Throughout the month of February, Nunn has averaged 17.7 points per game and is shooting 51% from the field, 45% from three and 91% from the line.
Overall this road trip was a success for Miami. They currently sit 2 games out of 4th place in the East and play 4 of their next 5 games at home before the All-Star break. The Heat hope to get Herro, Dragic and Bradley back soon in order to close out the first half of the season on a positive note.
Photo: Jasen Vinlove
