MIAMI — In secret societies such as the Miami Heat, what is said in the locker room typically stays in the locker room. By the time the media is allowed postgame access, the grease board tends to be little more than a series of smudges from where insights, inspiration and introspection previously had been offered.

But sometimes Erik Spoelstra’s players will begin to speak in tongues and the secret will seep out.

Saturday night, in the wake of the furious comeback that fell just short against the East-leading Detroit Pistons, was one of those times.

So the theme in the interview room, in the locker room and again at Sunday’s practice at Kaseya Center, was one of “slightly reckless.”

As in taking the right chances at the right times even if the defensive approach isn’t exactly right, as in much of what has made Heat guard Davion Mitchell such an unpredictable, but dependable defender.

For a rare time when private became public, Spoelstra came clean.

“There was a film session earlier in the year and I was commenting about a play Davion was making and I said, ‘That was slightly reckless. But come to think about it, I like it when you’re more slightly reckless,’ ” Spoelstra related before the Heat turned their attention to Monday night’s visit by the Los Angeles Clippers. “Evidently everybody thought it was humorous and it stuck. So now it’s becoming a theme.”

The genesis of that question was a comment Spoelstra offered a night earlier about Mitchell helping somewhat corral Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham, albeit a bit too little too late.

“When he’s on the ball like that, obviously turning guys, forcing guys into tough shots and then being off balance when they’re dribbling, and then off the ball, when they beat someone off the dribble, he’s always there to be disruptive,” Spoelstra said of Mitchell’s pestering defense.

“That’s kind of what we’ve talked about all year, is being slightly reckless in our attack defensively, trying to be disruptive, get steals, get deflections. I feel like it all starts with Davion, being like the head of the snake on the ball.”

The feistiness of Michell has come to embody “slightly reckless.”

“Man,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said. “I love Davion, man. He’s one of those players that like you hate playing against, because he’s a pest, and he’s hard to screen. You get offensive fouls trying to screen him, so I’m glad he’s on my side now.

“But he just plays the right way, man, just trying to make the multiple efforts.”

Slightly;

Reckless.

With the Pistons game the latest example ahead of Monday night’s close of the four-game homestand, the Heat next off on a two-game trip that opens Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks.

“He was the slightly reckless guy as Spo likes to put it, where he’s in the gaps,” Adebayo said. “He’s providing that energy for us. And, like I said, he just plays the right way.”

Spoelstra couldn’t agree more.

“He’s really gone to work on a lot of film study and a lot of drilling,” Spoelstra said. “He thought defense was just like when his guy had the ball, he would be activated. And then he was just totally chilling out on the weak side when he wasn’t involved. Now he’s starting to see how much he can impact, regardless of whether you’re on the ball or not. I like it when he’s slightly reckless.

“He has an uncommon defensive mindset. The way he can move laterally is uncommon. He loves it. He loves to defend. He may be 6-1, but he’s a tank. He’s built like a football player. So where he may give up some in height, he’s making up for it with his strength and agility and the way he can move. It usually comes down to mindset. He really enjoys defending.”

With the goal of more than just Mitchell being slightly reckless.

“Being slightly reckless, as Coach likes to use, that’s the identity we have to have,” guard Norman Powell said. “We have to have that attack mentality.”