The Heat is on in Miami
Well, this was unexpected.The biggest story in NBA off-season history is steadily becoming one of the league’s biggest disappointments. With about 20 games under their belt, the much-ballyhooed Miami Heat are floundering at, as of press time, just a little above .500. They’re three games back of the conference-leading Boston Celtics (whom they lost to twice) and just two games ahead of the team LeBron James spurned this off season, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
When James left Ohio and Chris Bosh left Canada for the warm comforts of Miami, the Heat were penciled in for 70 wins and a trip to the Finals. They were introduced to Heat Fans with fireworks and confetti. They were supposed to be NBA rock stars. Yet as it stands, they seem closer to the Indiana Pacers (whom they lost to) than they are to the defending champion LA Lakers. What’s going on?
Miami has two of the league’s top five players and another one in the top 15. Talent, obviously, is not the issue. The real issue here is that the Heat don’t seem to respond to their coach, a number of their key players are injured (including Dwyane Wade) and that the individual talents on this team don’t fit as seamlessly as they had hoped.
The easiest thing to point to, though, and the one that will probably be first addressed isn’t the biggest culprit: it’s the coaching of Erik Spoelstra. Coach Spo isn’t doing a bad job. He has the Heat sixth best in points allowed per game (94.4) and fifth in win differential (+6.2). The problem is that Miami can’t beat good teams — particularly good teams with size — and that spells trouble if they aim to unseat the Celtics and Lakers as the alpha dogs of the NBA. The Heat have beaten one good team (Orlando) who were able to exact revenge, and have lost to the Celtics, Mavericks, Hornets, Jazz, Grizzlies and Pacers. Spoelstra can’t seem to figure out how to plug holes in their system and in their roster on defense, and can’t seem to run anything that gets both James and Wade going on offense.
Often in these games, the Miami offensive game looks overly simplistic and unusually slow-paced for a team that has arguably the two fastest wing players in the league. That’s the problem that falls squarely on Spoelstra’s shoulders. When you see these Heat games and LeBron and Wade are on the floor together, it seems like they’re just taking turns with the ball while the other guy watches from the other side of the floor. It’s baffling how the two most dynamic players in the league combine for an offense that’s anything but.
Granted, the Heat still haven’t played with Mike Miller who’s been out all season with an injured thumb, and have lost Udonis Haslem to a torn ligament in his left foot. Let’s not also forget that Wade himself has been hampered by a bum wrist and a sore hamstring all this time. So yes, injuries have played a part in this less-than-stellar start. But we knew this all coming into the season. We knew the Heat had to surround their Big 3 with minimum salary guys and journeymen because of cap restrictions. This team was supposed to win just on sheer talent. It wasn’t supposed to matter if they played Eddie House or Eddie Murphy. The combination of James, Wade and Bosh was supposed to be enough to roll over this league. The Heat are now dealing with what every team will have to deal with eventually. Players get hurt, so it’s important that there is enough depth and talent around your core guys to plod through. Obviously, the lack of depth has hurt this team greatly, and so early in the season too.
More than depth, however, the Heat’s biggest and most concerning flaw — since it affects them long-term — is the compatibility of LeBron, Wade and Bosh as basketball players. The assumption was the pairing of two wings like James and Wade would wreak havoc, and a big man like Bosh would just have to clean up the mess and hit open shots. The conundrum is, the Heat offense works with James and Bosh or Wade and Bosh but rarely ever James, Wade and Bosh together.
As mentioned earlier, James and Wade look like they’re just taking turns playing their game. Some of the most impressive runs Miami has had this season was when LeBron took over a game or started a comeback while Wade was on the bench, or Wade put the team on his back while James was sitting. James and Wade have similar games. They like to control the ball, put pressure on the defense then drive to the rim to finish or to find an open shooter. Neither of them are the shooter of the Ray Allen or Derek Fisher mold, who have received plenty an open look from other dynamic wings like Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant. Neither of them can work in the post as effectively as Bryant either, so that leaves them dribbling and driving all the time while the other watches in the wings. It’s like you got Bono and Thom Yorke in the same band together but forgot that somebody had to play lead guitar.
