Many factors can explain why an NBA team starts its campaign winless. The Miami Heat have many factors to consider after losing four straight games to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, and Dallas Mavericks. Some blamed Giannis Antetokounmpo while others pointed fingers at Bam Adebayo. Coach Erik Spoelstra says the change shouldn't come from a player; it's in their schematic system.
The Heat head coach said they have a glaring weakness to fix and laid out plans to do it.
Spoelstra reveals Antetokounmpo-led Heat's biggest weakness
Four losses don't come out of nowhere or from bad nights. Either the squad's schematics or rotations have problems. This is exactly how Coach Erik Spoelstra feels about the Heat's losing streak.
Spoelstra wasn't blaming Giannis Antetokounmpo or Bam Adebayo. Instead, the head coach identified a major problem the Heat had to fix to get out of this four-game rut, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
"We are going to have to execute in the halfcourt. There’s no way around that. You can’t play a pace game for a full 48 minutes. You also do need to be able to execute in the half court, and that’s where our spacing and our principles become so vital to open up driving lanes and open up opportunities for our guys to make plays," the Heat head coach declared.
True enough, Coach Spoelstra does make a great point about the Heat. The only major statistical category where they rank within the top 10 in the NBA is pace. Antetokounmpo and Adebayo run an offense that has a 103.2 pace; that's good for eighth in the NBA. In every other category, the Heat falter.
For starters, they have a -12.4 net rating that's 27th in the NBA. This is due to their 105.7 offensive rating, 27th in the league, and 118.0 defensive rating, 22nd in the league.
Some of the best NBA sets from Monday 10/26: Heat - Stack out Re-screen Mavericks - Inverted 77 Cavaliers - Empty Flare Timberwolves - Floppy Hornets - Away Reject Gut Zoom Grizzlies - Clear out Spain (vs Drop) https://t.co/FS0hsU28d6
— Josh Wiley (@ImTheMan_TM) October 27, 2026Diving deeper into the Heat's woes, their four factors on both ends also signify a dysfunctional system. They have a .500 eFG% that ranks 24th in the league, while their ORB% of .211 ranks 28th in the NBA. This suggests they can't get shots off efficiently and struggle to clean the offensive glass for second-chance opportunities.
Defensively, the same woes show up. The Heat allow a .565 eFG%, the fifth-worst in the NBA. This suggests problems in point-of-attack defense and overall shot contests. Their DRB% of 70.1% is also just 19th in the league. This is despite a stunning front-court rotation of Antetokounmpo, Adebayo, Bobby Portis, and Andrew Wiggins.
Coach Spoelstra is having the worst start of any team he's handled in his career. However, he might be the sole person capable of fixing these woes in the Heat system.
