Heat knows its defense must be better, more consistent moving forward: ‘That’s our identity’

The Miami Heat won without three starters Wednesday night in Toronto because its top-10 level defense returned.

There were plenty of positives that came from the Heat’s victory, including the resurgence of Caleb Martin, the growth of Orlando Robinson and the all-around performance from Duncan Robinson.

But, arguably, the most encouraging aspect of the Heat’s 112-103 win over the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday was its second-half defensive effort on the heels of one of the worst three-game defensive stretches for Miami in franchise history.

How bad was that stretch? The Heat entered that three-game span on Nov. 28 ranked eighth in the NBA in defensive rating and came out of it on Saturday with the league’s 16th-ranked defensive rating.

“We are capable of being better than we have been the last three games,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about the team’s defense about 90 minutes before tipoff in Toronto. “Before those three games, I actually felt like we were trending in a good direction. It just shows you how quickly things can change in a long NBA season.”

Things actually changed in the middle of Wednesday’s win for the Heat (12-9), which now returns to Miami for a matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday at Kaseya Center (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).

After Toronto exploded for 66 points on 53.5 percent shooting from the field and 8-of-16 (50 percent) shooting from three-point range in the first half, the Raptors were limited to just 37 points on 14-of-43 (32.6 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) shooting on threes in the second half. Miami upped its pressure to help force Toronto into 11 second-half turnovers, as the Heat came away with four steals in the final two quarters.

“Certainly much better,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s defensive display in the second half of Wednesday’s victory. “I think any head coach would like to see that against a very talented, aggressive offensive team, holding them to under 40 points in that second half. I don’t know what the percentage was, but there were much better efforts. More commitment to do hard things.”

After allowing 133 points per 100 possessions in the previous three games during that rough three-game stretch for a defensive rating that would rank last in the NBA among teams for the season, the Heat bounced back to post a defensive rating of 105.1 points allowed per 100 possessions in Wednesday’s win that would rank first in the league among teams for the season. The Heat improved to 10-4 this season when finishing with a defensive rating of fewer than 115 points allowed per 100 possessions.

Making the Heat’s defensive effort in Toronto especially impressive was the fact that it came without four-time All-Defensive team selection and perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Bam Adebayo, who missed his second game in a row Wednesday because of a left hip contusion. The Heat also did it without one of its other top defenders in forward Haywood Highsmith, who sat out the contest because of a lower back contusion.

Without both Adebayo and Highsmith on the court this season, the Heat has posted an ugly defensive rating of 120.9 points allowed per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning The Glass. That number improves to 113.6 points allowed per 100 possessions when Adebayo and Highsmith have both been on the court.

“The most important thing that we always talk about, you have to wrap your mind around doing difficult things if you’re going to commit to being a very good defensive team,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not going to be easy. You’re always going to have to show some toughness and fortitude, the grit to scramble around. There’s so much space and speed, it shouldn’t be easy. But if you can mentally and physically get to that place, you can do those tough things and you give yourself a chance.”

It helps that the Heat’s offense didn’t inject life into the Raptors’ offense. The Heat committed just seven turnovers, helping to hold the Raptors to just five fast-break points on Wednesday after Toronto entered the game ranked second in the NBA in fast-break points with 17.1 per game.

It also helps that the Raptors hold the 23rd-ranked offensive rating this season, compared to the Heat’s three-game defensive slide that included one matchup against a Milwaukee Bucks offense that ranks third-best in the NBA and two matchups against an Indiana Pacers offense that ranks first in the NBA for the season.

But regardless of the competition, the Heat’s defense needed to respond in Toronto and the unit did just that in Wednesday’s second half.

“We just mentioned at halftime, whichever team would get a hold of the defensive side of the floor would win this game in that second half,” Spoelstra said. “It was much better.”

The good news for the Heat, while its defense has been trending in the wrong direction, the offense has been producing more efficient results.

The Heat has the NBA’s sixth-ranked offensive rating (scoring 120.5 points per 100 possessions) in the last 10 games and entered Thursday with the 12th-ranked offensive rating (scoring 114.8 points per 100 possessions) for the season.

That’s ahead of the Heat’s defense at this point, as Miami entered Thursday with the league’s 16th-ranked defensive rating (allowing 113.1 points per 100 possessions) this season.

“Our offense certainly is trending in a better direction,” Spoelstra said. “I like that. It’s not like I’m a Grinch about that. But I think sometimes when it’s a little bit easier for you offensively, you think that all of it is going to be easy. You still have to roll up your sleeves defensively and commit to doing very difficult things in this league if you want to be very good on that end of the court.”

Even with the recent offensive uptick, the Heat knows it must have a top-10 defense — preferably a top-five defense — to reach its full potential this season.

The Heat has finished with a top-10 defensive rating in seven of the last eight seasons.

“That’s our identity,” Martin said of the defensive end. “I think the more we continue to find that and accept that, the better team that we are. So we all know that. It’s just making the decision to come in every night and pour into that on that end. I think that’s what we really did [in Wednesday’s win over the Raptors]. It just goes to show that we have a great chance of beating anybody if we continue to do that.”