The Miami Heat were the talk of the offseason. After acquiring the two prized free agents in LeBron James and Chris Bosh, they along with Dwayne Wade, would rule the NBA. With the "Big Three" now on one team, they were seemingly thought to be unstoppable. Miami sports writer Dan Lebatard even predicted on ESPN's PTI, that the Heat would match the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls 72 win season. It's not a matter of when they will win an NBA Championship, it's a matter of how many, and how soon? I remember LeBron being asked at the welcome party the Heat threw for him and Bosh, "how many championships do you think you guys can win together? One? Two?" LeBron confidently answers, "Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven...."
Some think the Heat are one, maybe two years away from being the completely dominate team they were built to be. While they do have the Big Three, the rest of the team is made up of garbage even Emeril wouldn't want to cook with (I know, way harsh). However, after taking a 2-1 series led over the 1st seeded Chicago Bulls, and making quick work of the defending Eastern Champion Boston Celtics, we could be looking at "the Heatles" (as LeBron has dub them), hoisting a trophy sooner rather than later. Their play of late has many asking the same question they were asking when the Heat first signed LeBron and Bosh, how do you stop and defend the Miami Heat?
This blogger thinks he had figured it out. After looking at all of the boxscores of the games lost by the Miami Heat during the regular season and the playoffs, there was one noticeable trend. Specifically looking at the Big Three, if one of them was held to under 20 points, the Heat generally lost. Only in three loses (regular season and playoffs) did the Big Three all score 20 points or more. And in those loses sustained by the Miami Heat, the one player of the Big Three who was generally under the 20 point benchmark was Chris Bosh. Could it be that the blueprint to beating the Miami Heat is to actually let LeBron James and Dwayne Wade score?
I know it sounds crazy, but I actually think that the best way to beat the Miami Heat is to let LeBron and D-Wade score their points, and focus on taking away or shutting down Chris Bosh and the other ancillary parts that make up their team. If you can keep Bosh under 20 points, and if possible, Bosh and the other starters and bench players not names LeBron and Wade, under or between 30-35 points total, you give yourself a pretty good chance at winning. If you are successful at accomplishing this, it forces LeBron and Wade to make up the difference. As a team, the Heat averaged 102 points per game throughout the regular season. So say you are able to hold Bosh and the other players to 35 points combined, that leaves 67 points that LeBron and D-Wade have to make up the difference on. Divide that amongst LeBron and D-Wade, that is 33.5 points. LeBron's season scoring average was 26.7 points per game; D-Wade is at 25.5 points per game. If you round up those scoring averages, that is only a combined 53 points, 14 points off the 67 point mark they need to hit.
I understand that to actually accomplishing this strategy is harder than it is too type about, seeing as the Heat's record this season was 58-24, but this seems to be the blueprint that is the most effective and easiest to achieve. You can try to stop and hold D-Wade to under 20 points, which might work, as when I was looking at the losing game boxscores, if it wasn't Bosh under 20, it was D-Wade who wasn't picking up the slack. But typically, in all of the Heat's loses, Bosh would consistently be held to under 20 points. One thing was apparent in looking at the boxscores, you weren't going to stop LeBron. In all of the Miami Heat loses this season (regular and post), only four times did LeBron not score over 20 points, two of those games happen to be in the postseason. So if you had to pick between Bosh or D-Wade to defend and hold under 20 points, who would you choose? I can already anticipate the answer from my armchair.
So could it be that the best way to defend and beat the Miami Heat is to actually let LeBron and D-Wade score? If this theory is correct, then the answer is absolutely. The real question may be: is a coach daring enough to actually let it happen? The pride and ego of a coach may prevent this from ever happening, but if they wants to win, they will have to put pride and ego aside for a night. It's almost funny when you think about it. Who would have thought that out of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, the one player you would need to defend and shutdown the most would be Bosh.
This is why many maintain that the Miami Heat are a year or two away from really being the dominate team everyone expects them to be. Yes you have two dominate players and a very good number three, but who else do you have that can consistently put up average numbers? Mike Miller, Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were thought to be those players, but injuries and poor play has forced the Heat to look elsewhere for production. The Heat acquired Mike Bibby in a trade mid-season, but he is clearly showing signs of aging. Luckily, Joel Anthony and James Jones have been real contributors to the Heat through the season. But the one to two year time frame given by the pundents to the Heat to win an NBA Championship is more to give the front office time to acquire a better support cast for the Big Three, and not to give the Big Three time to gel as a unit. So while the Heat may very well win the NBA Championship this year with a mediocre support cast, just wait that one to two years. Their best is yet to come. And that is scary.
Mr. Armchair Speaking
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