Erik Spoelstra strongly believes the Miami Heat are better than their current record. After a strong start to the season, going 14-7 in their first 21 games, the team went 15-20, slipping to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference standings.
Spoelstra is optimistic they can turn things around, as the Miami Heat enters the break with the league’s fourth-best defensive rating (111.6) and fifth-highest scoring offense despite injuries to their key players.
“You just look at our defense, our defense is improving,” Spoelstra told the Miami Herald. “It’s getting better, we’re third or fourth, depending on the metric you look at. It’s the same thing with our offense. The efficiency isn’t exactly where we need it to be, but we can explode on teams. We’re fourth in scoring. It’s a matter of doing it in those moments of truth when it really matters to push a win.
“Offensively, I think when we get our guys back, I think we’re going to be a really dangerous offensive team. We can be fourth in the league in scoring with large parts of our rosters on the sideline. Just wait until we get our guys back into the fold,” he added.
Miami Heat News: Erik Spoelstra has terse response to Tyler Herro’s injury timetable
The Miami Heat could certainly use someone like Tyler Herro in the lineup. The one-time NBA All-Star has missed 15 consecutive games due to a rib injury, and he has played with Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell in only eight games this season.
“He will be back,” Spoelstra said of Herro. “Yes, for sure. I don’t have a timeline exactly of when that will be… We’ll see how he progresses.”
“Hopefully, we can get everybody back. I feel like we should,” Kel’el Ware said. “I feel like we should have everybody back. Everybody should be healthy. Everybody take some time off, and we can come back stronger.”
