According to NBA analyst Couper Moorhead, the Heat played "zone" 37 percent of the time against the Houston Rockets, Charlotte Hornets, and Detroit Pistons. In those sets, the Heat allowed just 0.82 points per possession. To put that number in perspective, the NBA's best defense, the Oklahoma City Thunder, allows 1.05 points per possession this season.
During their current five-game win streak, which was extended on Sunday night with a 112-100 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden, they rank No. 1 in the NBA in defensive efficiency, No. 2 in opponent three-point percentage, No. 5 in turnovers forced, and No. 6 in opponent field-goal percentage. It is a significant turnaround from the unit that ranked 29th in opponent three-point percentage and 26th in defensive efficiency during an 11-game stretch in January, when they went 2-9.
At 1-10 after losing to the Toronto Raptors, with the 30th ranked defence in the league, one might think that's bad enough. But 30th doesn't cover the true pestilential stink of the Brooklyn defence. Coming into the contest against the Toronto Raptors, the Nets were allowing 129.8 points per 100 possessions. The worst defence last season allowed 120.2. That's an inconceivable gap between the Nets and a normal worst-in-the-league defence, the same as the gap between last season's 30th-ranked team and a top-10 defence.