NBA Predictions: Why Miami Heat Will Sputter Out in Playoffs

The Miami Heat may be on a tear right now, ripping through the NBA like kings. However, that tear won’t continue and this team will sputter out in the playoffs.

There are a combination of factors that will make this so. Those factors include the health and play of the Big Three, the team’s deceiving depth and their coach.

Two Guys Isn’t Enough

There’s no question that the combination of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh is the best trio in the NBA. No team comes close to that kind of talent in their top three players.

However, can the Heat count on all three to play big at the same time? If they can, then great, they’ll win a championship hands down. But they can’t.

Last season, Wade and James played great during the regular season, while Bosh was slow to make an impact. James continued his stellar play during the first three rounds of the playoffs as the Heat rolled over their opponents.

In the Finals, Wade was his usual self, being a clutch leader. Bosh also played some of his best ball of the season and really contributed. James was a ghost, and the team lost.

This season, James is dominating the regular season like he always does averaging 30 points a game. Bosh has also played wel, averaging 20 points and eight rebounds per game and coming up big in the absence of Wade and James with 33 points and 14 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks.

Wade has been injured and has averaged just 18 points per game, which is low for him.

In order to win a championship, the Heat will need these three guys to all play at a high level at the same time. That has yet to happen over any period of time since the three came together at South Beach. It won’t happen this season, and they’ll be going home empty-handed again.

Their Depth is Deceiving

To answer the above-mentioned problem, most would fall back on this team’s depth that we keep hearing about. But just how deep is this team really?

Guys like Norris Cole, Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Shane Battier are all nice contributors to the team, but none of them can step up and make up for the deficiencies that a guy like James, Wade or Bosh could leave on the floor.

The Heat are especially thin in the front court. Bosh is obviously their best low post player, but they really have no one else. Udonis Haslem is a solid defensive guy and rebounder, but he isn't an efficient scorer.

The team’s other big men are Joel Anthony, Dexter Pittman, Juwan Howard and Mickell Gladness. None of those guys are any more than role players plugged into spots to field a team.

James Jones and Shane Battier are shooters, but nothing more on offense. Battier is a solid defender, probably the best defender on the team, but that’s it.

Cole is just a rookie and cannot be expected to take on too big of a role this early in his career. Chalmers has shown inconsistency throughout his career and doesn’t appear to be fixing that problem.

The Big Three are what Miami has. Their bench is alright, but it won’t be enough to save them.

They Have No Coach

There comes a point for every championship-caliber team when it needs its coach to make a great call to save them in crunch time.

Erik Spoelstra hasn’t been bad for the Heat, but what coach would be bad with three superstars on his team?

Spoelstra doesn’t have to do anything with this team except make sure they don’t fight with each other. Everything else on the court is taken care of by those three guys.

At some point though, they’ll need him to come up with a great call in a tough spot. He won’t be able to do that because he hasn’t ever had to make any calls except “throw the ball to Wade, James or Bosh.”

In the Finals last season, Spoelstra was clearly outcoached by Rick Carlisle. He wasn’t able to get his guys (most specifically Lebron) in the right spots to make the right plays to win games.

He couldn’t come up with an answer for the Dallas Mavericks’ style of offense or Dirk Nowitzki.

He hasn’t improved anything because he hasn’t been required to. Combined with having just two of the Big Three on at the same time and a weaker-than-advertised bench, this team will not win a championship this season.