A defensive stop, an outlet pass and an easy bucket in transition.

The Miami HEAT’s recipe for success in 2011-12 was anything but complicated. Erik Spoelstra’s crew yielded just 97.1 points per 100 possessions (fourth in the NBA) and held opponents to a 43.3 percent shooting mark from the field, which meant there were plenty of opportunities for the HEAT to turn a bad shot into two easy points.

But for all the times we saw a Miami fastbreak punctuated by a one-handed dunk by LeBron James, it still wasn’t enough for Spoelstra. The HEAT ranked just 14^th in fast break points in 2011-12 and were tied for 14^th in pace (possessions per game). It may have seemed like the HEAT were on an endless fast break, but the numbers show that pedal is still far from the metal in that regard.

“I hope to play faster,” he told the Jorge Sedano Show on Miami’s WQAM, as quoted by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We turned it up a gear last year and I think we have the personnel to hopefully go even faster. And I think with a normal training camp and a full season, we can build that habit a little bit more.”

But beyond quantity, there’s something else that the Miami HEAT fastbreak was missing: efficiency.

According to teamrankings.com, Miami was 19^th in fastbreak efficiency (they averaged 1.578 points per fast break), which means there’s a lot of room for improvement.

Now here’s the really scary thought for other NBA teams: the HEAT, who ranked sixth in offensive efficiency last season, may have found a way to shake more change out of the fast break piggy bank.

By signing former Celtics guard Ray Allen–arguably the greatest 3-point shooter ever–as well as his former SuperSonics teammate Rashard Lewis, the HEAT have given themselves trailers on the fastbreak that are every bit as deadly as James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are at the rim.

“He’s a Hall of Fame-type catch-and-shoot player,” Spoelstra said of Allen. “We haven’t had that element before in our offense. So it’s been a lot of fun, trying to X-and-O and come up with new ways to get him open. I don’t want to overthink it. I don’t want to totally change what we do, but that’s a great element to have, that type of weapon.”

So in those rare moments when the defense has caught up with the Heat fast break, James, Wade, Bosh or point guards Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers can now kick it back to Allen as the defense’s momentum carries them toward the basket.

(Interestingly, the HEAT were the top team in the NBA in terms of opponent’s fastbreak efficiency, which might have to do with James and Wade’s ability to run down the court and block shots from behind)

The Heat averaged just 17.5 points per game on 3-pointers last season (17.9 percent of their points), which ranked 20^th in the NBA. Obviously there’s a risk in trying to improve that figure. But if the HEAT can turn some of their missed opportunities on the fastbreak into open 3-pointers for Allen, then there’s no reason they can’t improve on their 104.3 offensive efficiency rating from 2011-2012.

And while improving the HEAT kind of sounds like building a juggernaut, it’s important to remember that the rest of the NBA didn’t stay stagnant in the offseason. The Los Angeles Lakers have Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, the Brooklyn Nets have Joe Johnson, and young teams like the Oklahoma City have another year of experience under their belts.

“We knew this would be a big summer, one way or another, that there were a lot of teams out there with money, that had an opportunity to make big moves, and some teams did, some teams did improve,” he said. “The Lakers certainly did, and that’s going to make it all the more fun.”

Miami isn’t perfect by any stretch. They still have a defensive hole at center (Joel Anthony gets the most out of his ability, but at 6-8, he leaves a lot to be desired) and Spoelstra compensates by packing his defense in the paint and giving opponents room on the perimeter (22.1 percent of their opponents’ points came on 3-pointers, which was more than all but two NBA teams).

But by tightening things up on the fastbreak, Spoelstra is significantly reducing opponents’ margin for error. Now other NBA teams have to do more than just hit a lot of 3-pointers to beat the HEAT. They’ll have to figure out a way to stop an offense that can beat you at the rim, beyond the arc and out on the fastbreak.