Heat Lose Game Seven

The Heat lost a tough game today. The series went seven games but none of them were close. It was the anti-thesis of the Chicago Boston series.

So what went wrong for the Heat?

1. The offense runs through Wade. It is too predictable at times. When Wade is off or the opposition can slow him down, the Heat are in trouble. They need a couple other scoring threats who can create shots.
2. Their defense is not quick enough for some teams. The Hawks big men were just faster than the Heat. They were slow on their rotations which led to easy baskets.

The good news is that the Heat have three young promising players in Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, and Daequan Cook. All three have the potential to step up and become that other scoring option to create their own shots on a consistent basis. Beasley has the most upside with his size, speed, range, and creativity.

Look at the other teams in recent years that have made deep into the playoffs or won the championship. They are not single dimensional on offense. They have two or three consistent scoring options. This is something the Heat had in the past when they went deep in the playoffs (Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, and Jamal Mashburn) or won it all (Shaq, Dwayne Wade, and Antoine Walker)

The defensive scheme is another story. It is a difficult system that Riley developed and used by the Magic (with Stan Van Gundy) and the Heat (with Pat Spoelstra). With the right players (and opposition) it can be stifling to opponents. The Heat need big men who can rotate quicker. Beasley has the physical skills, he just needs to learn the system. Udonis Haslem and Jermaine O’Neil seem to struggle at times with the rotation assignments. Against a team like the Hawks (with quick bigmen like Josh Smith and Al Horford) it was a mismatch at times.

What Riley does not need to do is trade the young core away for another superstar to go with Wade. We probably have another superstar in the making with Beasley. There are rumors about trading him for Chris Bosh which I think would be a mistake.

We need to let the young guys play and bring in some quicker big men to help defensively. The league is becoming more speed oriented with point guards dominating play. The team needs to adapt and move that way as well.