When asked before the season began, they all answered, “whoever is hot.” The question was, “if it’s a close game, who gets the final shot?” And of course, those asked were Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. Little did they know at the time that perhaps that answer was already predetermined.
With a team full of guys who made a living on taking the final shot for their respective team, I certainly didn’t envy Heat coach, Erik Spoelstra in that regard heading into the season, as far as the late game decisions that he would ultimately have to make.
Up until about two weeks ago the Heat were getting through the season, business as usual, while enduring their normal dose of Heat hate. After getting off to a slow start, they turned the corner after that win in Cleveland early in December and a good majority of that hate subsided. But since the All-Star break, it has ramped back up and it has to do with how they close games.
The Heat are currently mired in a four game losing streak and questions are swirling. The questions are prevalent because of what they’ve been doing against certain competition. Against the elite teams of the league they are 1 – 9, which includes a 30 point embarrassment at the hands of the Spurs Friday night. To take it a step further, they are 14 – 18 against teams above .500 and 29 – 2 against teams less than .500. Also, they are 5 – 13 in games decided by five points or less.
But they’ve come under intense scrutiny lately because they have not been able to hold on to leads. Last week they were up by 24 to Orlando in the 3rdquarter and ended up losing. I began questioning what has been going on lately when I noticed that no matter what had been going on in the game, if it came down to a final shot, LeBron would be the one to take it. It happened again yesterday and it is obviously something that should be discussed internally.
Yesterday, LeBron missed a left-handed layup attempt with just seconds left, after he took on Joakim Noah 1-on-1 from the top of the key. As his shot way array, it just so happened to land into Dwyane Wade’s hands who took a rushed 15-footer that hit front iron. Ball game.
But let’s take a quick look at the past few weeks for Miami. On February 24, LeBron missed a 3, down by 3 with 11 seconds left against Chicago. On February 27 against the Knicks, LeBron had his layup blocked by Amar’e Stoudemire with 7 seconds left and the Heat trailing by 1. On Thursday, in the aforementioned game against Orlando, LeBron missed a 3, down by 3 in the final seconds. However, right before that, Bosh missed a 3 of his own. The Heat would lose all of those games.
But I’d like to know where Wade is during the sequences. Why isn’t he getting the ball? On the final inbound play against the Magic, Mike Miller inbounded the ball and it appeared as if he was looking for Wade but you know what they say: the guy inbounding the ball is the most dangerous man on the floor. Wade was covered which forced Miller to pass it to Bosh for that failed 3-point attempt. If Miller would have found Wade, I think the play may have been drawn up to dish it right back to Miller for a 3. If my assumption is right, nothing has been drawn up for Wade late in games in the past few weeks. It has largely been LeBron James. Can Wade get some love too?
I’m not saying that LeBron isn’t clutch because I remember very clearly the game winning 3-pointer that he hit as a member of the Cavs against Orlando in the playoffs a few years ago. But I don’t think it’s a wise game plan to simply just give it to LeBron regardless of what’s going on, when you have a player of Wade’s caliber on the team.
Even before this stretch, LeBron has been the one to take late game shots, even when he’s been off and Wade has been on. That was the case back in January when they lost to the Knicks at MSG. It’s now being magnified because it has happened repeatedly in a short period. Mike Miller also bricked a late game 3 against Boston a month ago or so in a play drawn up for him. If we’re talking about going 1-on-1 with just one possession left, like in yesterday’s game, I think Wade is better in those situations because he has a better crossover move than LeBron.
At the end of the day, players need to execute, but Erik Spoelstra should be held accountable to a degree as well. I don’t think “just give it to LeBron” is a good enough game plan in every scenario, especially when Wade is on the team. Sure in Cleveland it was, but not this year. By doing this, Spoelstra is walking right into criticism. Not to mention the fact that he told reporters after yesterday’s game that, “…there are a couple of guys crying in the locker room right now.” He must not realize that people are looking for any reason, no matter how insignificant, to gang up on the Heat. There’s no better source of ammo than that.
In fairness to the Heat, we are only talking about this because of the increased scrutiny around them. If this were any other team, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal. Having said all of this, I still wouldn’t want to play them come playoff time.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
