But he did not. Spoelstra tweaked the starting lineup, moving Michael Beasley to the bench while inserting Joel Anthony at the five. This not only allowed Miami to have a defensive presence in Anthony, it let Udonis Haslem play in his natural position, the four. The Heat went 3-1 the rest of the road trip (and maybe 4-0 if that referee would have taken a step to the left or right) and managed to string two wins together for only the second time this season.
Miami (10-9) and New Jersey are currently deadlocked for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, and the Heat's schedule looks soft. League lightweights Oklahoma City, Charlotte, Memphis and Milwaukee coming up. It is imperative that the Heat do not take these teams lightly. This team has already lost to the Bobcats and the Clippers. But if Miami takes it one game at a time, they could continue to climb in the standings. The Heat have begun to find some consistency after a month into the season. And it starts and ends with Dwyane Wade.
Wade has been playing at an otherworldly level since last summer's Olympics (no, he is not a cheater). He averaged 28 points, five rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks per game through 19 games. He is playing as well as he played in the 2006 playoffs, but this performance now may be more impressive. He is shooting at an astounding 49.1 percent from the field, just four-tenths off of his career-high of 49.5 percent shooting from the field in the 2005-06 season. He is developing much more consistency with his mid-range shot and has even gone out to the three-point line more often. The young man has been nothing more of spectacular -- and his numbers will only improve once three-point specialist James Jones comes back from injury.
It is not all Wade, though. Beasley, Shawn Marion and Haslem average double-digit scoring for Miami. Beasley is Miami's second-leading scorer with 14.5 points per game. He is the only player on the Heat who can create his own shot whose last name is not Wade. Beasley seems to be adjusting well to his new role off the bench, but the 6-foot-9 forward who averaged over 12 rebounds per game in his lone season at Kansas State is not attacking the boards enough.
Daequan Cook has also emerged as a bit of a surprise, highlighted with good games against Phoenix and Golden State. Sure, he has shot the ball when he should not have, but Cook has been solid. Him and Wade have such good chemistry together. Every time Wade drives to the rim, it seems like he knows where Cook is. Cook made clutch buckets against the Warriors and had a strong game off the bench against Phoenix. Cook and Beasley are proving to be a solid one-two punch off the bench.
More broadly, this team is finding its identity. On defense, the Heat is a scrappy team that will make opposing teams pay for their mistakes. Miami averages nine steals per game and Anthony has a knack for blocking shots. Offensively, Wade is the catalyst for everything. He can provide easy baskets for his teammates or take it to the rim himself. And when Wade is not on the court, Beasley has done a fine job as the second unit's offensive focal point. This can also give Wade more rest. As a player who has dealt with injury problems his whole career, Wade's rest is appreciated.
This team has a rookie coach, a nine-man rotation with no one taller than 6-foot-9, and six players in the rotation with less than three years of wearing an NBA uniform. It is not bad for that team to be floating around .500. But this is the Eastern Conference, and it already looks like Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando are pulling away from the rest of the pack. The Heat may be able to get the fifth seed in the East, a huge jump from winning just 15 games last season. Miami is two games behind Atlanta for the fifth seed. After going unbeaten through its first six games, the Hawks have been just as up-and-down as the Heat. The ball is in Miami's court. All they have to do is get the job done. A fairly successful road trip is a great place to start.
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