Heat vs. Celtics: Miami Players Have Heated Discussion After Game 5 Loss

The Miami Heat suffered a devastating collapse against the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. If that wasn’t bad enough, reporters overheard Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Udonis Haslem having a heated discussion behind closed doors in the locker room.

According to ESPN’s Michael Wallace, the argument was over breakdowns. The Heat certainly had a number of breakdowns over the course of the contest, but the passionate discussion came far too late. 

While it may never be known if this was a practical debate or one in which blame was passed around, the bottom line is that these three players need to move on and focus all of their energy on Thursday night’s game in Boston.

Miami has its back against the wall and is facing elimination in hostile territory. The only member of the Heat that seemed to realize this late in Game 5 was Wade, who showed a sense of urgency down the stretch.

Collectively, the Celtics showed more heart with the game on the line, turning a nine-point deficit into a five-point lead after a 15-1 run in the third quarter. Paul Pierce put the nail in the coffin with less than one minute remaining in the game, dropping a trey over the league MVP to put his team up by four. 

Defensive breakdowns may have been part of the reason why the C’s were able to stay in the game, but James scoring just one basket over the final eight minutes of the final period has a lot more to do with why the Heat lost.

Chris Bosh managed to grab nine points and seven rebounds in just 14 minutes, but there was no reason for Erik Spoelstra to sit him late in the game, regardless of his injury status.

Not capitalizing on Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo combining to go 4-of-22 on field goals in the first half may have been Miami's biggest “breakdown” of all. 

There were plenty of opportunities for the Heat to win Game 5, they just weren’t able to capitalize. If they think rehashing their previous failures is the way to turn things around before Game 6, more power to them.

Just don’t expect to see them in the NBA Finals.