Don't Look Now But Giannis, Bam and the Heat Are Coming

Remember when Bam Adebayo said "We''re going to figure it out"? Well guess what?

The Miami Heat have figured it out.

For now, at least.

The team that started 0-4 is now 4th in the Eastern Conference and sitting with a 7-6 record after getting a 4th consecutive win. Sure, no one thought that would be something to celebrate when the season began given the Giannis and Bam pairing. But it appears as though, it's time teams to begin to watch out because this squad has seemingly found what it's been looking for.

So how exactly has Miami turned things around?

Well, there is the obvious: Giannis and Bam needed some time to get into their grooves. Bam had to adjust and find how he could be impactful in an offense that didn't need him to be off the ball as much, given Giannis is right there on the floor with him. Now together they're putting up video game-like numbers.

Then there's the adjustments by Erik Spoelstra. For the first 10 games, it was like a puzzle he was constantly taking apart and putting back together. Who could be the sixth man he relied on? Who could he push and leave in games for longer stretches? And who should sit some?

This was nothing new for Spoelstra, who dealt with this back in the early years of the Big 3 Era. And just like he did in 2010-11 with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, after they started just 9-8, he's proving he's one of the best at this part of the coaching game.

The Heat coach has had to tinker with the the second unit. That started with Andrew Wiggins. Once he moved Wiggins to come off the bench, Miami began outscoring opponents by over 2 points per 100 possessions.

Giannis said last night that Heat players were now “knowing each other’s spots” so I followed by asking if that made his reads easier. He didn’t seem to appreciate my use of “understand” — even though I didn’t mean it as pejorative — before he gave a full answer.

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/7mZjfDtuQd
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) November 15, 2026

Then came limiting Tim Hardaway Jr's minutes. Instead of using him, Spoelstra has relied heavily on Myron Gardner, Simone Fontecchio and Ryan Conwell in the rotation - which has done wonders for the bench.

Just one week ago (with only 10 games under their belt), Miami was 26th out of 30 in bench scoring per game and last in field goal percentage. Since then, Miami's bench has gone from averaging 24.7 points to 35.3 points per game.

And last but certainly not least, there's Klay Thompson. He was always going to be the "x-factor" for this team to get where they believe they belong. And he's done that routinely this season for Miami. He's dropped 26, 11 , 23 and 11 points in each of the last four games he's played (he did not play in the win over Cleveland).

But with Thompson, it's not necessarily about how many points he's scoring -- it's when. His game- winning three got this stronger stretch going against the Clippers in overtime. He sank the three when Giannis was falling over and passed the ball to him through his legs like a long snapper in the final minutes of the 4th quarter early on in Saturday's game against Detroit.

Does this team look like what Klay expected coming out of camp? pic.twitter.com/iiqZyfyHJ9
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) November 15, 2026

In other words, Miami has collectively found how each piece in the puzzle fits - even if that means operating with a limited amount of players in the rotation. It's working ... for now.

Miami now gets another test, perhaps the biggest during this stretch, as Kevin Durant and balanced Houston Rockets visit on Monday.

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