A 2-3 start to the regular season may not seem like much cause for concern, but for a Miami Heat squad hoping to establish itself among the alphas of the Eastern Conference, it's enough to motivate players to hold a team meeting before practice.
"We had our discussions this morning," team captain James Johnson said Sunday, according to The Sun Sentinel's Ira Winderman. "We aired it out this morning. A lot of people took heat. I think it was the best thing for us to do, even more important than film.
"That's what this culture is about, that's what we’re about - staring guys in the eyes, telling guys the truth and that's how you show you really love somebody."
The 2016-17 campaign was a tale of two seasons for the Heat, who opened with an 11-30 record. They literally reversed their fortunes for the second half by going 30-11 over their final 41 outings, but lost the eighth seed to the Chicago Bulls due to a tiebreaker.
With the memory of that debilitating start lingering in their minds, the Heat are hoping to nip any issues they may have in the bud, before there's any need to panic.
"I don't think our concern level is worried right now," Johnson added. "You know, I know we're not last year’s team. That's just the past. That's not what we're working toward, to be last year's team. We want to be better than what we were last year. And that's not even the beginning of the season. I'm talking about the second half, with all our success. We want to be better than that."
Co-captain Goran Dragic was more frustrated Saturday night coming off a 96-90 loss to the Boston Celtics.
"I don't want to have the (same) season as last year where it's already late and we figure out things. We need to do it now because it's important," Dragic said, according to The Palm Beach Post's Anthony Chiang.
Miami sits in the bottom half of the Association in both offense (17th, 101.7 points per 100 possessions) and defense (21st, 106.7 points allowed per 100 possessions). They'll play host to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, with center Hassan Whiteside expected to miss his fifth straight game due to a bone bruise in his knee.
