In spite of its lack of size and offensive carelessness, Miami was able to keep it close for most of the game. Dwyane Wade, Michael Beasley, Daequan Cook and Chris Quinn played well, but the Heat let this game slip away. Erik Spoelstra's team had a slim lead with just under 10 minutes to go before letting Rudy Fernandez take over the game.
The lack of size was evident early on. In the first quarter, the Heat had three turnovers combined. Lamarcus Aldridge exploited Miami's smallness with Beasley on him, so it was not surprising to see Portland take an eight-point lead into the second quarter. Miami was able to get Portland out of its inside game, and ended up losing the battle of the boards by just five rebounds. Udonis Haslem grabbed 11 boards, Wade had six rebounds and Cook leaped for five rebounds. But more out of Beasley would have been nice, and Shawn Marion, who missed his second consecutive game with a groin injury, would have been useful last night.
The Heat committed 19 turnovers on the night while forcing only 12 mishaps by the Blazers. Wade had four turnovers (that is not eyebrow-raising), but Mario Chalmers committed five turnovers (that is eyebrow-raising). Chalmers looked very erratic and did not make good decisions in transition. Spoelstra did notice that and balance Quinn's minutes with Chalmers' almost evenly, and Quinn did not commit a turnover in 30 minutes of action.
In spite of all of its mistakes, the Heat made it a ballgame. After Cook nailed a three-pointer to put the Heat up 81-79 with 9:43 to go, Portland went on an 11-2 run to make it a seven-point deficit for Miami with just over six minutes to go. Wade kept Miami close almost all of the way, highlighted by a vicious two-handed dunk over two Portland defenders to make it a four-point game with 40 seconds to go. But on the ensuing possession for the Trailblazers, Steve Blake hit an open three just as the shot-clock was about to expire, putting Miami down 101-94 with just 17 seconds to go.
New addition Yakhouba Diawara started again in the absence of Marion. Diawara did not offer much, and did not even slow down Brandon Roy. If this is all we can expect from Diawara, maybe Dorell Wright can get another chance. However, Spoelstra did not have that in mind. Wright could not get out of his street clothes last night.
Joel Anthony played well, grabbing five boards in 13 minutes off the bench. He guarded Greg Oden when he was put in, and did a good job of boxing him out on defensive possessions, although Oden did score the first points of his career after he grabbed an offensive rebound over Anthony (was that over the back?) and jammed it home.
For the better parts of Miami's season thus far, Chalmers and Quinn have been more than sufficient at point guard and Haslem has exceeded expectations at the pivot. But nowhere more was Miami's lack of sound decision-making and lack of size more apparent than last night.
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