Miami Heat Week 3 Review: Klay’s Game Winner, Doc Rivers Disses Giannis, and Revenge on Cleveland

Untitled project from SquadCast === Eric: [00:00:00] Week three of the 2026-27 NBA season is over, which means it's time to run it back. This is Run It Back, NBA Week in Review: Heat Edition. I am Eric Labrador, contributor at thePeachBasket.net, covering the Heat. This is the show where we recap the week that was in the NBA, and then highlight the marquee matchup for the week to come for the Heat. In this week's power rankings, we start with the only objective overall NBA power rankings anywhere, and you can read more about how we get to these rankings and see the entire list at thePeachBasket.net. As for the Heat, they moved down to two spots to 13 after their one and two week. The top five teams, and they're probably gonna be switching places as the season goes along. Detroit, Philly, Boston, Cleveland, New York, fit in Toronto somewhere in there. Giannis An- Antetokounmpo led the team in points, [00:01:00] defensive rebounds, blocks, and turnovers. Bam Adebayo led the team in offensive rebounds, field goals made, and game pace. Davion Mitchell averaged 8.7 assists per game and tied with Pelle Larsson with 1.7 steals per game. And Klay Thompson, the man who said that he still had more in the tank, again led the team in threes made, and factored into winning one of the games I'm gonna explain right now in the review of the week. The Heat obviously faced stiffer competition. In the games against the Lakers, it showed a pattern. This team, for a while, is gonna have problems with superstar players, be it Anthony Edwards, be it Cade Cunningham. Then it was Luka Dončić, and he was scoring from anywhere and everywhere on the court. Let's see if that's different when the Lakers come to the Kaseya Center. Then the Heat stayed in Los Angeles and played [00:02:00] the Clippers. Now, in the championship video of any team, there's always a, a game that kind of turns the corner. Maybe this Clippers game was one for the Heat. The Clippers were hot in the first half. They shot 60.5% from the field. The Heat, an okay 42%. Then Erik Spoelstra had a knock-down, drag-out speech at halftime. The Heat came out. They were swarming. The Clippers only scored 40 points in the entire second half, shot 35%. The Heat shot a little bit less, 38.8, but that was enough. Bam Adebayo had 35 points and 10 rebounds, Giannis 27 and 10, and then Klay Thompson hitting the game-winner- And scoring 30 points. And Davion Mitchell very quietly, 11 points, 10 assists. For everybody who [00:03:00] says that he's not much of a point guard, I challenge you to prove it otherwise. The Heat outscored the Clippers 54 to 40 in the paint, and 14 to four in second chance points. That is a, a historic trend that when the Heat out-rebound their opponent, they usually win the game. The next night, they lose to Golden State, but at one point in time, and when I'm looking through the game play-by-play, the Heat start to get trigger-happy from three. In the game against Golden State, they went 13 of 44. They only made 13 shots for 29 and a half percent. The Heat were staying with Golden State going into the second half, and then at one point it's just miss three. The other team starts to make threes, but then they make other things. They get to the foul line, and then the Heat just fall apart. [00:04:00] That was the case in early in the second half against Golden State, and then Golden State shot 60% in the second half, and that was all she wrote. So to use from usual the usual suspects over the years for the Heat, Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, attack the basket, stop doing the pace game and the transition game so much and the threes, and start cutting to the basket, driving to the basket, getting layups, slowing down the game. That's gonna help the Heat, not getting trigger-happy from three Which leads us into the marquee matchup for the week to come. Now, the Heat have to play. They played the Kings last night. They play Utah. Both teams, as usual they're in the wilderness. They're just trying to figure things out. So I'm not gonna go over that too much and leave that for next week. But the marquee matchup is a back-to-back that they [00:05:00] have at the Kaseya Center, which is a good thing against the Cavaliers on Friday and the Pistons on Saturday. Now, for any Heat fan, the Cavaliers game after the 55-point four-game sweep in the playoffs, the Cavaliers have a target on their back. The Kaseya Center should be packed with fans, and every Heat fan should never forget that 55-point drubbing, and the Heat have something. They have their work cut out for them. They have something to prove. If they can't get past Cleveland in the Eastern Conference, they're never gonna have a good season. So Cleveland, we're coming for you. Then the Pistons. The Pistons, the last time they were in the Kaseya Center, they shot an unheard of 40% from three-point range. I doubt they will do that in this game. But the Heat defense has to be there So this leads me into a full, into the full court press with the help of my friend [00:06:00] AI. I ran searches for keywords, the Miami Heat defensive communication, and found the following readout. The Heat are second in the NBA in assists per game at 29.2. That's very good. They caused 18 turnovers against Sacramento, and per the Sun, an article in the Sun Sentinel, now other players are starting to make defensive calls, not Bam Adebayo. I've been saying this for the past three seasons that I've been working with the Peach Basket. Bam needs help for people to take some of the defensive responsibilities off of him, and it, any fan could see obviously that he has answered on the offensive end in spades. Coach Spoelstra was saying in the article that Klay Thompson, Giannis, Davion Mitchell have all been starting to make defensive calls, not being shy anymore. That's a good thing. And finally Doc Rivers on a podcast [00:07:00] commenting that Giannis' basketball IQ isn't very good. And to me I look at it as not taking-- look at it as anecdotal evidence. Where there's smoke, there's fire, but it's not confirmed evidence that Giannis has some growing to do in in his NBA game. He-- I I saw h-his locker room interview that he didn't even know that Doc Rivers had said anything about him. He didn't-- he looked annoyed, but I think Giannis should take it to the gym and not d- say anything on social media. Don't go the Kevin D- the Durant route and get petty. Take it to the gym. Improve your mid-range jumper. Watch film with Bam. Learn how to make those defensive calls. Improve your basketball IQ. Giannis and it was evident in the clinic that he had with kids before the season [00:08:00] started he had a book of questions ready to ask Kobe Bryant. Giannis is a student of the game, so this should be a personal mission not only showing how healthy he could be, but also how much he could still grow his game so that by the end of the season, he's not the same player he was when he started. And with everything that Jeff Teague said and Doc Rivers said all that gets put to rest by the end of the season. And by next season, we're looking at a different Giannis with a highly developed game. I'm excited to see what happens against the Cavaliers and the Pistons this week. But as for week three, that's all done. Join me next week when I go over week four of the 2026-27 NBA season and run it back with you. Have a good day, everybody.