Breaking Up the Miami Heat: How Would You Do it?
By Jason McIntyre
Remember when the Heat lost to the Pacers in game three and the world was ending and all anyone could talk about was trading Dwyane Wade? Good times. Well, Boston’s 94-90 triumph over Miami on the road Tuesday is the kind of upset that will inspire the masses to chew up the internet’s bandwidth today on how to tear down and rebuild the Heat.
First, some quick thoughts on those old-ass Celtics, who got a 3-for-15 night from Rajon Rondo and a 6-for-19 effort from Paul Pierce, but still managed to win. How’d they do it, overcoming a 6-point deficit in the final six minutes? Actually, Miami led 59-50 midway through the 3rd quarter, but then ..
* Haslem turnover
* Lebron miss
* Wade miss
* Bosh turnover
* LeBron miss
* Chalmers miss
* Bosh miss
* LeBron miss
* Jones miss
I left out of a few offensive fouls on Miami, but that 59-50 lead turned into a 65-60 deficit at the end of the 3rd quarter. Poor coaching? Great defense? Setting for jumpers? All of the above. Had Erik Spoelstra never seen a zone defense before? Were they that unprepared? (The alternative: Doc Rivers is just a damn good coach.)
And now, LeBron (who I am not blaming for the loss). He shot 11-for-25 (6-of-8 on free throws). He was 2-for-6 on three pointers. I kept watching and expecting him to go into Game 4 vs. Indiana Beastmode … never happened. In that game (14-of-27, zero three-point attempts, 16 free throw attempts), everyone saw LeBron, the best player on the planet.
Check out his shot chart from last night. That’s 12 shots outside of the lane. Nearly half of his 25 shots. Go back to Game 4 against Indiana – just six shots (of 27) outside of the lane.
Am I nuts for thinking LeBron goes back into attack mode for games six and seven and the Heat advance to the Finals?
Oh, right, breaking up the Heat … keep LeBron, could care less what happens to the rest of the roster (obviously, Spoelstra has no shot of returning if they don’t win the title). LeBron took a group of misfits in Cleveland to the Finals and can’t get there this year with Wade?