Heat Looking For Answers On Road Trip
SAN FRANCISCO (CBSMiami) – The Miami Heat are in the midst of a six-game road trip and don't look anything like a team ready to contend for a second straight NBA Championship.
The Heat is 1-3 on the current road trip and just 8-9 on the road this season. In addition, Miami has not beaten a team with a winning record since Christmas Day, according to CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald.
Compounding the problem for the Heat has been the play of two-thirds of the Big Three in recent games. Everything came to a head during Monday's game against the Utah Jazz when both Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were benched for almost all of the fourth quarter.
Bosh and Wade combined to shoot 13-24 from the field but were also 0-3 from the free throw line and pulled down just 6 rebounds between them, with Bosh accounting for just one of them.
The Heat's rebounding woes have been well-documented this season. In Monday's game against the Jazz, the Heat was outrebounded by a 40-23 margin. The Heat have lost the rebound war to Indiana, Sacramento, and Utah and only tied the Portland Trail Blazers in a recent game.
Not only that, but for the first time since the Big Three came together in the Summer of 2010, the team is growing increasingly frustrated with each other and the coaching staff.
"Coach makes the calls," Wade told CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald. "I'm just a player."
"Low energy against a team like this in their building in front of their amazing crowd – we can't play with low energy," LeBron James told the Herald.
The Heat doesn't have the physical size to rebound well against many teams, but try to utilize a team rebounding approach. It worked extremely well in the playoffs last season, but the Heat have struggled this season to replicate that magic.
Still, with the amount of talent on the court at any given time for the Heat, eventually they will figure out exactly how to get things going.
Plus, despite all of the Heat's recent road woes, the team is still 0.5 games ahead of the New York Knicks for first place in the Eastern Conference and 16-3 at home this season. But, Miami needs to get things going in the right direction after winning just four of their last 10 games.
