Ice Cold Miami Heat

Much has been written about the Miami Heat from forcing to organize a group of overnight basketball champions at the expense of another franchise to having three talented players not knowing how to play with each other. The announcement of LeBron James in the offseason over live television of his plan on taking his talent to South Beach (I don’t even know where that is before, never been there) and from Paul Pierce’s Tweet of sharing his pleasure of bringing his talent to South Beach after his Celtics defeated the Heat twice in a row in the regular season has brought added color to the brewing rivalry of Boston’s Big Three and Miami’s Superstar Trio.


The two (2) consecutive losses were heartbreaking and ranking fifth (5th) this early in the Eastern Conference doesn’t justify the entry of Chris Bosh and LeBron James in the Miami Heat line up. The team was a consistent fifth (5th) placer last year with Dwyane Wade alone and judging from their early showing, it looked like James and Bosh were bunch of substandard investments for the Miami franchise. Can LeBron and Chris tow Miami for their second franchise championship ring or at the very least a finals appearance? Nothing can be said of the finals today but for as long as the Heat continues to loss games the way they did against Boston, Utah and New Orleans, they are only as good as the old Miami Heat squad.


So what went wrong with the Miami Heat in their first nine (9) games? Ironically, the glaring mistake which caused the team to loss against Boston, Utah and New Orleans are the very same guys they invested on to hand carry the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy back to Miami. Yes, LeBron, Chris and Dwyane did nothing to prevent the three teams from snatching the win from them. All they did was to rebound, pass and shoot the basketball. But hey, these are the best things to do to win basketball games why blame the trio? Well it’s simple, rebounds, passes and shoots doesn’t always guarantee a “W” especially if you’re playing against an equally talented squad!


Lebron, Chris and Dwyane are obviously confused of their roles in the team. They are not organized for an All-Star Games and therefore they should stop playing as if they are on an All-Star Game. Enough of the fancy passes and acrobatic shots, degree of difficulty in a shot doesn’t count double in a regular game. Why go for a difficult shot when you or your teammate can score for an easy, uncontested and high-percentage basket? The point is simple, piling up individual statistics in any department doesn’t really matter each time you loss a basketball game, statistics matters most in games won! So what if LeBron scored 35 against the Celtics and Wade 39 against the Jazz? The fact is that they lost the game and their efforts are futile!


How can they therefore start winning in a convincing fashion? First, the Superstar Trio should be able to define their individual roles in the team and accept them as it is. Wade doesn’t need to score 39 points only if he can share the basketball to open teammates more. With his brand of play, Wade can surely attract multiple defenders leaving one or two teammates wide open for an easy basket. In his first nine (9) games this season, Wade is averaging 3.3 assist per game and 3.7 turnovers, that’s close to saying he doesn’t share the ball that often and would rather go for a violation. He is the original star of the Heat but if they continue with their losing ways this season, he will soon be one of the countless blind stars of the NBA.


Second, LeBron James’ game is built to pull the trigger and unleash the killer punch. With his athleticism and skills, he is the most lethal player on the floor in close games. In the four (4) games lost by the Heat, LeBron was standing at the sidelines and never had the chance to touch the ball as time was winding down. Averaging 22.2 points in his first nine (9) games with the Heat is unacceptable for a king who never went below an average of 27.2 points in his last six (6) seasons prior to joining the Heat. Yes he shared the ball much more often now that never before, but he needs to be involved more in scoring for his team to gain more “Ws”. This can only happen if Wade starts sharing the ball the way he used to and setup the king to score.


Third, Chris Bosh should engage the boards much more often and collect more rebounds. His average of 6.0 in his first nine (9) games with the Heat is nothing compared to his average of 10.8 rebounds per game with the Raptors. Scoring in double figures will come as a bonus but scattering more rebounds is a must for Bosh. The Heat is one of the worst rebounding team early in the 2010-11 NBA Season and this only shows that Chris is not doing his homework. More rebounds basically means more ball possessions and more chances of scoring a basket.


So what went wrong with the Miami Heat in their first nine (9) games? Now it can be told in three basic basketball figures. First, the Heat simply just failed to score more basket than the opponent because the star (LeBron) who is expected to take care of burning the hoops has reluctantly pulled his trigger. Second, the star (Wade) who’s in the strategic position to share the ball more simply refused to trust his teammates and opted to gather turnovers instead. Third, the star (Chris) tasked to manage the boards allowed opponents to impose their will against his. They lost because they scored less, share the ball less and rebounded less than their foes. In their wins and losses entering their first ten (10) games of the season, they are the Ice Cold Miami Heat. Let’s just hope that the superstar trio live up to their team name called Heat before ice freezes over them.