It’s amazing that the Miami Heat, who lost 100-92 to the Atlanta Hawks at home just a few days ago with both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the court, were able to beat the Hawks in their home court, without LeBron and Wade, in a 116-109 triple overtime thriller.

There’s no way that the Heat are a better team without James and Wade, right?  Yes, the Heat are still at their best when a healthy LeBron and and a healthy Wade are both in the starting lineup, but we did learn something special last night about what the Heat can do without their two brightest stars.

We learned that the Miami Heat have incredible depth on their bench, and they need to start using it more often.

While the Heat’s high scorers were both starters, Chris Bosh with 33 points and Mario Chalmers (who undoubtedly solidified himself as the Heat’s starting point guard) with 29 points, the Heat’s other 54 points came from players off of the Heat’s bench.

Here is a list of the Heat’s “bench” production in their win against the Hawks: James Jones (5 points), Shane Battier (9 points), Dexter Pittman (5 points), Udonis Haslem (14 points), Norris Cole (9 points) and Terrel Harris (9 points).  That is solid production all across the floor from players who aren’t often called on to provide serious offensive production.

One of the most impressive surprises of the Heat’s triple overtime win was the play of rookie Terrel Harris, who spent all last year hopping around the NBA‘s developmental league.  Harris was one point away from going for a double double, with nine points and a thoroughly impressive 14 rebounds, seven of which were offensive rebounds.  Harris’ production will surely earn him some more time at the shooting guard position behind Dwyane Wade, James Jones and possibly Norris Cole.

Almost more impressive than the Heat’s ability to get serious bench production was the way that their starters and their bench players alike played defense against the Hawks.

The Heat’s defense down the stretch was the difference maker in their 116-109 win, holding the Hawks to 38.3 percent shooting overall, as compared to the Hawks’ 47.6 percent shooting percentage in last week’s matchup.

So how did the Heat, without LeBron and Wade, lock down the Hawks, holding them scoreless in the third and final overtime?  The Heat’s bench did so without crashing on every dribble drive like they did in last week’s game, allowing the Hawks to beat them by hitting opportunistic three-pointers.

The Heat locked down the Hawks by forcing them to beat them in the paint against Bosh, Haslem and Anthony, something the Hawks proved they couldn’t do.

The Heat allowed Hawks guards to penetrate into the lane, while still maintaining defensive focus on the Hawks’ outside shooters, ultimately contesting their three-point shots which resulted in the Hawks only hitting 6-of-22 three-pointers for a measly 27.3 percent shooting percentage.

To help put that into perspective, you should know that the Hawks went 9-of-16 (56.3 percent shooting percentage) from beyond the arc, which included two deep three-pointers from Tracy McGrady that sealed the Heat’s fate.

With the Heat’s overtime win, we learned that the Heat are better off trusting their post-defenders’ ability to help in the paint with Joel Anthony, Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem, instead of bringing help-side defense on every drive from the guard and small forward position.

We also learned that the Heat’s bench is much stronger than most of us had originally thought.  What some considered the Heat’s biggest weakness, their lack of “depth” on their bench, might just be one of their biggest strengths.

Without LeBron and Wade on the bench against a Hawks team that will undoubtedly be in the playoffs, we might never have known the talent that is buried deep on the Heat’s bench.

The Miami Heat did the unthinkable by beating the Atlanta Hawks without LeBron and Wade, and they taught Heat fans two things about their team that they didn’t know before—that there is legitimate depth on their bench and that trusting their interior defense is a key to winning games.

The Heat’s 116-109 win over the Atlanta Hawks might have taught us more about their team than any other win of the season so far.  Good things are in store for the Miami Heat in 2011-12, that’s for sure.