Heat Are Cold As Ice
MIAMI (CBS4) - The Miami Heat hoped they could make the turn at the All-Star break and start bringing their A-game to make a final playoff push. Unfortunately, the Heat are about as hot as Alaska in winter as the playoffs loom large on the horizon.
Since the All-Star break, the Heat are giving up 101 points per game. For a team that likes to preach defense first, that's not the showing head coach Erik Spoelstra is looking for in March; especially when Miami is only scoring 99 points per game during the same span.
The Heat's problems have been dissected by almost every sports writer and every opponent. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are still not on the same page offensively near the end of the game, and Chris Bosh can be taken out of the contest by being physical with him.
Perhaps more troubling is the production, or lack thereof, the Heat are getting from their bench. In Sunday's loss to the Bulls, outside of the Big 3, only Mario Chalmers scored more than 3 points for the Heat.
In the Heat's absolute destruction by the San Antonio Spurs, Mike Miller had 12 points, but past him, it was 7 points for Chalmers and 6 points for Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Against the Magic, Erick Dampier had 9 points, but that's arguably his best game of the season, which doesn't say much for the Heat's big men.
Even worse for the Heat is that LeBron, D-Wade, and Bosh are the only players who average more than 4 rebounds per game. In addition, the Heat's 3-point shooting has been atrocious all season. The team is shooting just 37 percent from behind the arc, and Dwyane Wade is hitting just 31 percent.
But, things are not completely lost for the Heat. Opposing coaches are still nervous that eventually, the Heat will figure out where they are going wrong.
It starts with motion out of the offense. Too many times, especially at the end of games, the Heat stand around and wait for LeBron to take the shot or take a bad shot.
The other players aren't moving into open spaces to get a clean shot. That, and LeBron is still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that he doesn't have to take the final shot each and every time. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James will both have to work harder to move towards the basket and towards open spaces to free up shots for them, or a wide-open teammate.
But the key is, the Heat are still on pace to win over 50 games this season and easily make the playoffs. The Heat are going to finish off a tough stretch by the middle of next week, and will have a much better idea of just how far they have to go to get to the elite team status.
The Heat take on the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday, then have a date with the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers Thursday, and next week take on the Spurs, and Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday and Wednesday.
Things are not good for the Heat right now, but as is the case with the NBA, things can change really quickly. It was just last November when everyone wrote the Heat off and said head coach Erik Spoelstra should be fired.
The only question is, can the Heat recapture the magic they had in December and January and head to the playoffs on fire?
