Report: Miami Heat Considering Mike Miller In Starting Five For Game 4 of Finals

Dan Favale — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:24:21 -0400

Mike Miller will be called upon to save the Miami Heat's offense in Game 4 of the 2013 NBA Finals.

Update by Stephen Babb at 8:55 pm ET, June 13

The Miami Heat are indeed starting Mike Miller in an effort to spread the floor in Game 4 according to the team's twitter account:

#HEATFinals: Tonight’s @MiamiHEAT starters: @KingJames, @ChrisBosh, @m33m, @DwyaneWade, @mchalmers15.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) June 14, 2013

---End of Update---

According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, coach Erik Spoelstra may insert Miller into the Heat's starting lineup for Game 4 with the hope that he'll inject some much-needed offense:

Looking to jump-start a sluggish offense, Miami Heat coach Erik Spolestra is considering changing his starting lineup for Game 4 of the NBA Finals and inserting the hot-shooting Mike Miller, sources said Thursday.

Miller is 10-of-11 shooting on three-pointers in the finals thus far and is shooting 50 percent from behind the arc in the postseason. He started 17 games in the regular season, mostly as a fill-in for Dwyane Wade when he was battling injuries, and the Heat were 13-4 in those games.

Windhorst notes that should Miller start, it will likely be Udonis Haslem—who played just 10 minutes in Game 3—who gets the boot.

And sure enough, Spoelstra has pulled the trigger, slotting Miller into the Heat's first unit.

Miller is shooting better than 90 percent from downtown in the finals and was 5-of-5 from deep in Game 3, when the Heat managed to muster just 77 points as a team.

With the San Antonio Spurs packing the paint, LeBron James and friends have been forced to jack up long-range jumpers. Miller stretches the floor in ways Haslem can't and creates more space overall.

Neither Dwyane Wade nor Chris Bosh are considered lethal three-point threats, so starting Haslem has often created logjams. Starting Miller should alleviate such clogs.

Let's not pretend like the Heat don't need his scoring in general, either.

LeBron is connecting on just 38.9 percent of his field-goal attempts thus far, and Miami has eclipsed 90 points once in three games. Not to mention Bosh and Wade have been incredibly inconsistent.

Sorely in need of an additional scoring punch, giving Miller the nod might not be such a bad idea—provided his back, legs and whatever else is ailing him can handle it.

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Report: Miami Heat Considering Mike Miller In Starting Five For Game 4 of Finals