Heat Have Plenty To Fix In April
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami Heat are 6-4 over their last ten games, but after Sunday's complete demolition at the hands of the Boston Celtics; the team is in need of answers for a multitude of issues.
Over the last ten games, the Heat ranked 22nd in scoring in the league, averaging just 93.2 points per game. Of course at the same time, the Heat is sixth best in the league over the last ten games allowing just 91.8 points per game.
Part of the Heat's problem has been at both the point guard and center position.
Starting point guard Mario Chalmers has been a shell of his self from the first half of the season and Norris Cole has run into the rookie wall. Center Joel Anthony hasn't improved his hands or offense and backup Ronny Turiaf is improving, but is still getting into Heat game shape.
But even the Heat's stars are struggling recently. Chris Bosh put up a total of four points in the loss to the Celtics on Sunday and looked almost like Kevin Garnett was completely in his head and had him shaken during the game.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are still scoring at a good clip overall, but even they have seen their scoring dip lately. LeBron is ranked third in the league in scoring behind Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant. D-Wade is averaging 22.8 points per game, good enough for sixth in the league.
Bosh has been the hardest player to figure out. He went for 30 against his former team the Raptors and then was completely invisible against the Celtics. Bosh has had a tough few months after losing his grandmother, which is understandable.
The Heat's biggest problem seems to be from a lack of energy and desire in the past few weeks. The Heat has been on cruise control and didn't look like the team from the first half of the season.
Part of the reason is the Heat came out playing a high-intensity style of basketball that required a lot of energy. As the rigors of the condensed schedule wore on the team, other teams have caught up with the Heat.
All of it sets the Heat up for a critical final month of the regular season. The Heat will play a majority of their games in April at home including games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, and Memphis Grizzlies. The Heat play at Chicago, New York, and Boston as well in April
All total, the Heat will play 15 games until April 26th, the final day of the regular season. That gives the squad 11 off days through the end of the season to help tweak things that need to be fixed.
However, one thing that may have to happen in the last two weeks of the season if the team has already locked in the two seed is that Spoelstra may need to rest his starters as much as possible.
Getting LeBron and company healthy and at full-speed heading into the playoffs will be crucial for the Heat making a long run in the playoffs.
Currently, the Bulls have clinched a playoff berth already. The Heat are locked into the two seed three games behind the Bulls and six games ahead of Orlando and 10.5 games ahead of Boston.
