Dec 19, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra watches from the sideline as they take on the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images David Butler II-Imagn Images

The Heat's biggest problem 28 games into the season

Originally posted on Miami Heat on SI | By Major Passons | Last updated Dec 20, 2025 5:15 PM ET

The Miami Heat have many problems that are starting to come up. The lack of shooting has been discussed at length. The lack of size is another topic that keeps showing up. Health will always be a cause of concern for Miami it seems. When a team has several glaring problems, it is hard to choose one as the most problematic. Bleacher Report has tried to find the Heat’s biggest problem.

They take an interesting route when selecting. They chose “the unknown” as the biggest problem. This is stemmed around the Heat’s offense being new and trying something that few teams have tired in this era. Miami’s offense has consistently been one of the slower teams in the league in the past few years, but this season they are playing with extraordinary pace.

They are currently first in the NBA in that category at 104.8 according to NBA.com, which would shock any Heat fan if you told them this even one year ago. They even are tied for the league lead in miles per game. The speed at which they play is refreshing for Heat fans who have endured the years of operating in the end of a shot clock.

The pace at which the Heat play is not the only change and might not even be the most shocking change Miami has implemented. They have transformed their philosophy from being middle of the pack in using Pick and Roll to now being the lowest team in the NBA by a large margin.

The According to NBA.com the Heat sit at 5.4 possessions per game of Pick and Roll, the next closest team is the Brooklyn Nets at 13.1 possessions per game. I was curious on how teams in the past have faired in this statistic and was able to go back starting at the 2016-2017. The Heat are the only team in this time frame to be less than 10 possessions and once again they are currently at 5.4 possessions.

They have skyrocketed to 5th in points per game but are only 16th in offensive rating. So, they are scoring points at a high clip because of the more possessions, but they still are only a league average offense.

To further the speculation of how this new system could affect the Heat, one might think that their defense would fall off. That is not the case and in fact they are in 4th in the NBA in defensive rating compared to last season when they were 9th.

The Heat are playing offense in a way no other team has, and it is producing mixed results. Can the Heat continue this level of play and figure out how to counteract defenses that have adapted to their system? Can they continue to play at this pace and still be an elite defense as the season goes on? To say the unknown is the Heat’s biggest problem could be correct, because what they are doing is so farfetched and the more you dive in to it, you start to realize you will find more questions than answers.