Why Spoelstra remains intrigued by Heat’s preferred starting unit, and what the numbers say

Some of the buzz surrounding the Miami Heat entering the season was focused on its new starting lineup.

How would the NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro fit in with a unit that featured other ball-dominant players such as Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler? Could Caleb Martin hold up as a starting power forward despite standing at just 6-5 and 205 pounds following the departure of P.J. Tucker in free agency last offseason?

Three months into the season and just a few days from reaching the 50-game mark, questions remain regarding the Heat’s preferred starting lineup of Kyle Lowry, Herro, Butler, Martin and Adebayo because injury issues have limited their time together. This five-man combination has opened just 15 of the Heat’s first 46 games this season.

“I just want to see it through. I’m as curious as anybody,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of that group, with the Heat (25-21) set to close a three-game trip Friday against the Mavericks in Dallas (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and ESPN). “And I think we owe it to that group to give them an opportunity to gain some continuity.”

With Lowry returning from a four-game absence stemming from left knee discomfort, the Heat was able to use its preferred starting lineup in Wednesday night’s 124-98 blowout road win against the New Orleans Pelicans for the first time since a Jan. 4 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The longest string of consecutive games that the Heat has been able to use this starting lineup is four, and that stretch came in the second week of the season in late October.

But when the Heat’s preferred starting unit has been available, the results have been very positive. The Lowry-Herro-Butler-Martin-Adebayo grouping has outscored opponents by an eye-opening 11.1 points per 100 possessions 211 minutes this season, which is a net rating that ranks fifth best among the 25 NBA lineups that have logged at least 170 minutes.

“I think we just all understand each other’s role,” Adebayo said of their success together. “We understand how important we are to one another, and that’s where the connection is, and you see it. We always try to get each other going, and you love to have teammates like that where they think, ‘All right, let me get you going, let me get you going.’ And it just speaks to pure selflessness.”

During Wednesday’s win in New Orleans, the Heat’s preferred starting lineup outscored the Pelicans by 13 points in 14 minutes together. The unit began the victory on a 20-8 run in the first 6:36 of the opening quarter before Spoelstra turned to the bench for the first time.

“I think we set the tone early, trying to get stops and playing off our defense,” Lowry said. “Whenever our defense is great, our offense is going to always be better. But we got a talented group, and I think we understand Jimmy, Bam, Tyler, they’re going to be our guys. And me and Caleb, we got to be out there just trying to wreak havoc on the defensive end and getting those guys easy looks and getting those guys shots. That’s what we did [Wednesday].”

This five-man group has plenty of go-to offensive actions that it can turn to between the highly effective Adebayo-Herro pick-and-roll, Butler’s isolations in the mid-post, Martin’s dribble-handoffs and Lowry’s screening to help create mismatches for others.

That diversity has helped this lineup produce an offensive rating of 114.7 points scored per 100 possessions this season, which would rank seventh best among NBA teams.

“I think we just got a bunch of different triggers that we can attack,” Herro said. “Whether it’s Bam coming into it or Caleb or even Jimmy, and then our guard-to-guard pick-and-rolls are pretty high up there too on efficiency. We just play well together, I think. There’s a bunch of talented guys on the floor at the same time that know how to play the right way.”

The combination’s best work has come on the defensive end, allowing just 103.7 points per 100 possessions in their limited time together this season. For perspective on how elite that number is, the Memphis Grizzlies entered Thursday with the NBA’s top defensive rating at 109.1 points allowed per 100 possessions.

“They’ve been our best most consistent defensive lineup, first and foremost,” Spoelstra said. “I think we’ve been able to establish our game more often than not and they’re continuing to find that continuity offensively to bring out the best in each other. That’s ultimately the goal, five guys making each other better and making it a positive on the scoreboard, which they’ve been able to do.”

But it has required adjustments from the two newcomers to the starting lineup.

Herro said he has made an effort “to balance my scoring and playmaking, and tying not to get caught up in all the other nonsense out there.”

Martin entered this season “just knowing that I’m playing more of a sacrificial role” as an undersized power forward. He’s trying to “do all the other little things” as part of the starting lineup.

While the Heat’s preferred starting lineup still has to prove it can continue to perform at this elite level over a sustained stretch, the initial results are encouraging. The key will be staying healthy so the group has an opportunity to string together a long span of consecutive games for the first time this season

This would also allow the Heat’s preferred bench unit to settle into their normal reserve roles instead of playing as fill-in starters. With the starting lineup intact in Wednesday’s win over the Pelicans, Miami went with a bench rotation of Victor Oladipo, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Orlando Robinson that combined to outscore New Orleans’ reserves 49-33.

“We’re a deep team, especially with Vic coming back,” Herro said. “As we get guys back, I think we’re as deep as it gets.”

The Heat has won 13 of its last 19 games after opening the season with a disappointing 12-15 record. The hope is that winning trend will continue and the preferred starting lineup will remain the preferred option as the looming Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline quickly approaches.

“As long as everybody’s comfortable, everybody’s accepting their role and playing it to a T, which we are, we’re a really good basketball team,” Butler said. “So we’re going to build on this.”