Pitbulls from the 305: Heat’s Highsmith, Mitchell defining defensive deterrence (2025)

WASHINGTON — Typically they approach the scorers’ table together, unified in purpose, to stifle, smother, subdue.

But as Miami Heat teammates Davion Mitchell and Haywood Highsmith wait for the buzzer to allow for their entrance, there typically remains one element still to sort out.

“We sometimes fight over who’s going to guard the best player on the opposing team,” Highsmith said with a smile of the two self-assessing their defensive assignments.

And how exactly does that work, with Highsmith with the longer Heat tenure, but Mitchell with more games of NBA experience?

“I let him get the first crack,” Highsmith said with another smile. “And if he starts getting cooked, then it’s, ‘I got him.’

“We go back and forth.”

Said Mitchell with a laugh of his own, “Sounds about right.”

Mostly, the two go at opposing scorers with the type of intensity that changes momentum and recently has injected defensive vitality into Erik Spoelstra’s reserve rotation, including limiting the Philadelphia 76ers to 95 points in the Saturday night victory at Wells Fargo Center that extended the Heat’s winning streak to four.

“I mentioned that a couple of games ago,” Spoelstra said of the duo, “your second unit, you want the energy to change. When your second unit comes in, it should feel different. And those two guys are embracing that kind of role. They’re thriving in it. And I think everybody can feel it. The tempo changes. The defensive activity changes. Both of them, they’re enjoying that and it’s inspiring everybody else.”

As with many Heat elements since Jimmy Butler first quit on the team and then was dealt to the Golden State Warriors at the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline, the pairing evolved as a work in progress, Mitchell initially playing as a starter, Highsmith briefly out of the rotation after the trading deadline.

But as Spoelstra cycled through combinations, one that stuck was getting a pair of pitbulls to take a bite out of opposing scoring surges.

“They’re both tenacious,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat moving on to the midpoint of their three-game trip, Monday night’s game against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. “You want guys that are just going to be disruptive and change the energy of the game. You bring in your second unit, the game should change, the energy should change, there should be some kind of momentum change.

“It’s not going to happen every single time, but that’s the whole idea of it, particularly if you are effort-energy guys. Those guys are able to wrap their minds around it. They’ve each had different roles. Davion’s been a starter; H has been a starter. But this role . . . we just think it makes the most sense and they’re really kind of bought into that.”

In those spurts, the pairing alleviates the defense pressure on Tyler Herro, allows Bam Adebayo not to be as much of a defensive do-it-all.

With both appreciative.

“We all know Davion and Haywood are elite defensive players,” Herro said. “They can change the game defensively. And they’re moving the needle like that on defense and making those efforts and locking down some of the opposing team’s best players. That’s obviously a benefit for us.”

Affording Adebayo the opportunity to see a defensive tone being set in front of him on the perimeter.

“It’s those types of plays that change the game that nobody will really like pay attention to,” Adebayo said. “Those are momentum swings for us. We need those when they’re on the ball and they’re locked in. The two of them are very disruptive.”

As simple as being asked . . . to change the game.

“I mean we bring a different dynamic to the game, just the energy and defense,” Highsmith said. “It’s just bringing that grit and toughness.”

After first deciding who initially plays as leader of their pitbull pack.

“If he asks me first,” Mitchell said, “I’m never going to be like, ‘You got him.’ So it’s one of those things we’re both competitive. So it’s whoever asks first.

“But if he takes the challenge first, it helps me work on my off-the-ball, too.”

Pitbulls from the 305: Heat’s Highsmith, Mitchell defining defensive deterrence (2025)

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