MIAMI — Through a week of the preseason, it has been pace without payoff for the Heat, creating question of whether it ultimately might be a pursuit without purpose.

The Heat exited the third of their six exhibitions on Wednesday night against the Spurs ranked No. 7 in the NBA in pace this preseason, heights the Heat haven’t reached during the regular season for decades.

So doing things speedier, swifter.

But better?

Not so quick, even as the ball has been buzzing for Erik Spoelstra’s team.

The Heat also exited that game against the Spurs No. 24 in the league this preseason in shots per game and No. 25 in offensive rating.

Granted, this hardly has been the complete Heat, with players such as Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell, Pelle Larsson, Kasparas Jakucionis and Simone Fontecchio all missing time, with many of the rotation regulars playing limited minutes.

But even what has been on display at the midpoint of this Heat exhibition schedule creates pause as to whether pace will lead to something better in the playoff race (or, in the Heat case, play-in race?).

A case could be made for Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell all being better suited to deliberate, measured halfcourt offense.

As in three of the most significant, highest-paid players on the roster.

In fact, a case could be made for dual approaches, measured with the starters, manic with the reserves, with a second unit that could feature the likes of Kel’el Ware, Jakucionis, Mitchell and even perhaps Keshad Johnson and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

To his credit, Spoelstra attempted to tone down the talk of the pace race, with a measured approach of his own ahead of the Oct. 22 season opener in Orlando.

“I know it’s a hot topic right now with this team,” Spoelstra said after practice this week. “We’re trying to create something that makes the most sense for this roster. Where that eventually lands? We’ll find out.

“It also has to be efficient. But I’ve said it before: We have youth, we have speed, we have quickness. We want to try to maximize that.”

And want to make it work on the scoreboard, which already has proven challenging.

“It’s not all about the ‘pace’ metric by itself,” Spoelstra said. “It’s about how fast you do things. That could be in the halfcourt, as well. And sometimes that’s how fast you can get to a screen, how fast you can get to the rim, how fast you can cut to create an advantage for somebody else. That all falls into our category of pace.”

So no, not off to the races.

“I’m not necessarily looking of that goal of like transition or fast breaks,” Spoelstra said. “We’re trying to maximize the speed and quickness of the roster. So that’s in a lot of different ways. That is one bucket and that is one way. But I have not set a goal for our team of how many fast-break points.

“I do like some of the things I’m seeing. But we have to clean up the efficiency and the decision making with the pace.”

All against a ticking clock.

“We changed the way we play, so there’s going to be some mistakes,” said Mitchell, who has yet to see action this preseason. “We’re kind of learning from these preseason games, just trying to play fast, knowing how to also play fast but play smart, try to get the right shots, try to move the ball. But also just try to play together.

“It’s going to take some time, but we’re learning from it. We got better a lot through training camp and these preseason games.”

So, to recap: A faster pace so far, but at low efficiency, with not enough shots (particularly 3-point attempts, where the Heat shockingly rank No. 32 in the preseason, when accounting for three international teams playing NBA exhibitions).

“We’ll find out what makes the most sense for this team,” Spoelstra said. “We’re getting some good attacks in the paint. Those numbers have been going up, drive numbers have been going up. The aggressive metrics have been going up, and teams will adjust to that. It will probably open up the three-ball more.

“I think we’ll get there. We’ll find a better balance.”

The reality is that any offense, whether at speed or something more measured, works best with a pure point guard, a pure playmaker.

At the moment, this roster lacks that again, as it has for most of the past decade outside of the best of times with Kyle Lowry.

So Spoelstra will push and prod, perhaps accepting a degree of the randomness required to play at pace. But what already is clear is that it will have to be about more than just pace — or else it will be more of the same.