ASK IRA: Is it already open season on Heat defenders?

Q: The Heat have too many guys you can hunt on defense. – Cody. A: And the Pacers certainly were hunting on Sunday .

With a day off before the rematch, it was clear that the Pacers were far more deliberate in hunting defensive matchups against Kevin Love and Duncan Robinson, particularly Pascal Siakam. And with the Heat also rotating through Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic and Terry Rozier, there certainly are ample opportunities to hunt mismatches. Bam Adebayo and Haywood Highsmith can only help so much.



And the zone can only help so much. Jimmy Butler will help when he returns. But the Heat nonetheless will continue to feature ample minus defenders.

Related Articles Q: So...

this season is looking just like last season. Cool. – Steve.

A: Hard to deny at this point, with Jimmy Butler missing a third of the season to this point and the Heat again spending the start of the season chasing .500. It certainly would be within reason to say it’s still early, but we’ve also already seen this movie.

So, no, not optimal. The reality is the Heat are not the only team struggling early. The reality 2.

0 is that the Heat next play three of those teams, with games in order against the 76ers, Mavericks and Bucks. Q: Ira, is the Eastern Conference not as deep as everyone thought at the start of the season? Who had the 76ers at 2-10 to start the season? – Stuart, Miami. A: I wouldn’t read much of anything into the East standings at this stage, other than the dominance of the Cavaliers and Celtics.

Injuries otherwise have left this all too muddled, from the Magic being without Paolo Banchero, the 76ers now without Tyrese Maxey and even the Heat now having played a third of their schedule without Jimmy Butler (but to their credit, the Cavs have been making it work in the injury absence of old friend Max Strus). There is still plenty of time for the 76ers and Bucks to become who we thought they were. The question is whether this is who the Heat are.

.