Why has the Heat’s performance been so uneven over the past two regular seasons?

Why do they make me sad? Anthony Chiang: First, it’s important to remember the Heat has produced many happy moments in recent years. In addition to NBA championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013, the Heat has also advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in three of the last four seasons and NBA Finals in two of the last four seasons. But this regular season and last regular season have definitely included some deflating moments.

Sunday night’s home loss to arguably the NBA’s worst team, the Washington Wizards, is the latest on that list. There was also the seven-game skid from January and a 1-4 start to this season. Then last regular season, there was the play-in tournament loss to the Atlanta Hawks that put the Heat on the verge of elimination before even making the playoffs. Miami eventually defeated the Chicago Bulls in the second play-in tournament game to keep its season going and advance to the playoffs at the East’s No. 8 seed on its way to an improbable run to the NBA Finals.

The Heat is in danger of again putting itself in the same position this season, currently sitting in eighth place in the East. The question is, why does this Heat core that’s had so much playoff success continue to struggle to find sustained success in the regular season? That’s a hard question to answer because some of it is just confusing.

But the Heat’s offensive issues seem to be the biggest reason behind the team’s inconsistent play during these two most recent regular seasons. The Heat closed last regular season ranked 25th out of 30 NBA teams in offensive rating and entered Tuesday ranked 21st in offensive rating this regular season.

The Heat had a top-10 defense last regular season and has a top-10 defense this regular season, but it’s hard to win consistently when the offense is unreliable. So, what’s the difference in the playoffs? Well, the Heat got hot from three-point range and Jimmy Butler essentially turned into Michael Jordan at times last postseason. We’ll see if the Heat can again turn its game up a notch again when it matters most this season.

As a side note: When the Heat finished as the East’s top playoff seed in the 2021-22 season, it closed that regular season with the NBA’s 12th-ranked offensive rating (above average) and fourth-ranked defensive rating (elite). @HeatDameTime: Why isn’t Delon Wright getting minutes? Anthony: I think the answer to this question is connected to the first answer of this mailbag. While Delon Wright doesn’t turn the ball over much and can play as a connector, he’s not a high volume three-point shooter and he’s not as much of a floor spacer as fellow newly-acquired Heat guard Patty Mills.

That’s why Heat coach Erik Spoelstra went with Mills instead of Wright in Friday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sunday’s loss to the Washington Wizards. Here’s what Spoelstra had to say Sunday about his decision to play Mills over Wright in Friday’s game against the Thunder: “In terms of that game, I was just trying to leverage a little bit of space versus a team that they protect the paint.

They are swarming that paint. We were able to keep them honest in the first half, where they actually had to change their coverage on a couple different things to stay at home a little bit more. Then in the second half, we weren’t able to leverage that and they were able to really lock in on that paint.”