What is understandable were the constant clanks at the rim for Miami. What is not understandable was its relaxed defense. Throughout the night, there were missed defensive assignments, uncontested cuts to the basket and wide open shots from beyond the arc. Portland shot nearly 50 percent from the field and had six players register in double figures. When a team is having an off night, it should rely on its defense to at least keep the game competitive.
This game was over before it even started. The Trail Blazers jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter. Portland had a 20-point lead by the end of the first quarter, and the Miami Heat was never able to even bring it down to single digits. When a team is poor on the offensive end and pathetic on the defensive end, that team gets embarrassed. Last night was no different.
Channing Frye and LaMarcus Aldridge led the way for Portland, with 17 points and 16 points, respectively. Michael Beasley was no match for the bigger Frye or Aldridge, and ended up getting in early foul trouble (again). Shawn Marion, who missed the game to attend the funeral of his great uncle, would have been useful on defense.
A way to hide Beasley's defensive deficiencies would be to move him over to the three. In stead of starting Yakhouba Diawara in place of Marion, Coach Erik Spoelstra could have started Joel Anthony at the center position, moved Udonis Haslem over to the four and Beasley over to the small forward position. Small forward Nicolas Batum did score 15 points for Portland, but he is more of a three-point specialist than anything.
Beasley was the only rotation player who shot reasonably well from the field. The 6-foot-9 rookie out of Kansas State had 14 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Beasley attacked the basket and even soared for a highlight-reel dunk in the third quarter, but the same could not be said for attacking the glass. Beasley only had four rebounds in 30 minutes for Miami.
Miami's rebounding was a big problem again. The Blazers won the battle of the boards easily, with a 55-28 advantage. Haslem and Dwyane Wade had six rebounds apiece for Miami, but the lack of height was evident last night. Pat Riley cannot just sit back and hope that Jamaal Magloire will be the answer to his problems. He has to get someone in there who can defend and rebound.
Wade, who came off of a 7-for-23 shooting against Houston, was not much better last night. The 6-foot-4 guard out of Marquette shot just 5-for-14 from the field to score 12 points. Wade did have six boards, six assists and five steals, but there is a reason why the Heat managed just 68 points: its go-to guy had another off night.
The only player who shot above 50 percent from the field for Miami was Marcus Banks. In 22 minutes, Banks shot five-of-six from the field for 11 points. Banks also had four rebounds and one steal, but Rudy Fernandez nailed him on a back-door cut for a layup. Spoelstra can not single out Banks for this, since virtually every Heat player played bad defense.
Still, Banks made the most of his garbage minutes. And it could not have come better at a time for the point guard when both Mario Chalmers and Chris Quinn had poor shooting nights. But will this be enough for Spoelstra to put Banks back in the rotation? One game is not enough, but Miami's rookie coach may give Banks more playing time Friday against his former teammate Steve Nash and the rest of the Phoenix Suns.
On a lighter note, Shaun Livingston got his first minutes of action in nearly a month last night. The 6-foot-7 point guard scored two points on one-for-two shooting from the field in seven minutes.
The Heat is still in the playoff picture, tied with three other teams for the eighth seed in the East. However, Miami would face off against the Boston Celtics were the season to end today, due to the Heat's superior conference record against Philadelphia and New York. But after the worst loss of the season, the Heat are just going to have to put this loss behind them and focus on the Suns Friday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment