LeBron James and the Miami Heat were routed by the Indiana Pacers 93-77 last night, turning in a performance that was as undisciplined and one-sided as the final score indicates. Between Dwayne Wade shooting a dismal 1-13 from the floor to LeBron’s forced passes resulting in six turnovers this contest exposed a lot of issues that plague the Heat as we enter the second month of the regular season.
The Pacers? A burgeoning unit that deserves your attention and an extremely fun group to watch despite their frequent inconsistencies. Larry Bird has done a fine job putting together a young, cohesive group that should be very competitive this season and beyond.
Watching this game really drove home the fact that you can sign all the marquee talent in the world but if you don’t have a superior coach to put the puzzle pieces together and the players don’t stick to their role within the scheme you’re still going to struggle just like everyone else.
The Pacers played incredibly intense, hard-nosed defense all night, causing the Heat to cough up the ball twenty-two times and forcing Wade into difficult shots he should have never put up - it really looks like Dwyane simply doesn’t have his legs under him yet and needs to make the necessary adjustments until he’s all the way back. A career-worst shooting performance for Wade in this one.
Bosh? I could give a rat’s behind that he scored twenty-one points because if you watched the game you realized that he gave up WAY more than he put in the bucket himself due to his unbelievably awful defensive rotations and help defense. Does this guy even know how to put his hands up and defend the rim? The Pacers ran a few plays with their bigs at the free-throw line setting screens for a backdoor-cut and wow… Bosh looked lost attempting to defend his area and layups were available as a result. Bosh’s +/- for the night was negative twenty-two and it wasn’t hard to believe after watching his performance.
LeBron had a fairly decent stat-line of 25 points, five boards, and six dimes but his body language screamed frustration and a lack of confidence in his teammates. Post-game he stated that “What we’re lacking are two things: That is fun and a little bit of swagger right now.” but it definitely isn’t that simple. The expression on his face as Wade continued his relentless brick-fest was very disturbing - James needs to realize that a great leader simply doesn’t allow his internal negative emotions to expose themselves so openly and to such a harsh degree. Same issue with Wade by the way as during the second half he looked totally miserable and dejected.
The Pacers deserve major props for executing their game-plan tonight and not being intimidated. By forcing all those turnovers, turning Wade into a jump-shooter, closing-out on Miami’s long-range snipers, and exposing Bosh for the weak interior defender he is they essentially displayed to the entire NBA the perfect formula for competing with and conquering Miami at the moment. As I stated in my column detailing my prediction of greatness for Roy Hibbert, I expect the Pacers to win the Central this season and when their spacing and passing ability is at its peak they are very difficult to defend. Well done, guys.
The loss of Udonis Haslem until February is going to be rather tough to deal with as his defense and ability to hit the mid-range jumper allowed the second unit room to breathe. Now? You have the Juwan Howard-Jamaal Magloire tandem working the post and I’m sure I don’t have to say twice that those two are a bit past their primes. I know they will be getting Mike Miller back shortly but he isn’t the answer to their glaring bench issues, especially on days when Eddie House and James Jones don’t convert from downtown.
The Pacers continue to impress me with their effort and have a deeper bench than most realize. Between Granger, Darren Collison, Brandon Rush, and Hibbert this team is oozing with potential and I can only hope that Coach Jim O’Brien is the right guy to make it happen. It looks that way right now and I look forward to watching them grow together this season.
It isn’t time to jump ship on Miami quite yet but these two consecutive losses prove they sure have a lot of issues to deal with. As I’ve stated before I firmly believe we’ll see a more effective Heat offense in May but we’re already fifteen games into the season and their chemistry has only deteriorated.
So much for a seventy-win campaign this season, huh fellas?
Hey Pat Riley, maybe you should give Penny Hardaway a call to bolster that bench!
Just kidding, I think…