Miami Heat's Kryptonite

The Heat are surprisingly 5-2, photo courtesy of oregontimes.com

With the start of the most anticipated NBA season in years, a lot of hype has been put around the Big 3 in Miami. Many believed that Lebron, Wade, and Bosh would be able to cruise through the season and find themselves in the finals. Experts such as Jeff Van Gundy said that the Heat would break the Chicago Bulls season record of 72 wins in a season. Through 7 games, the Heat have a 5-2 record to the shock of many. These two losses have exposed a real weakness in Miami’s game–guarding a premiere point guard.

Although the Heat have spectacular play at the shooting guard, small forward, and power forward positions, their weakness at point guard and center is undeniable. The weakness at defense at the point guard has really been exposed in the two losses for the Heat.

Taking a look at the Heat’s first loss to Boston, Rajon Rondo had his way with the Heat. Although Rondo only finished with 4 points on a poor 2-9 shooting night, he tore up the Heat with his 17 assists. Those 17 assists proved to be the game changing stat. The Celtics had a total 32 field goals made with 25 field goals that were assisted, and 17 of those belonged to Rondo. Rondo was involved in more than half of the baskets made for the Celtics, and the Heat had absolutely no answer for it.

The Heat’s second loss came to the New Orleans Hornets. Once again, the Heat were deflated by the hands of another all-star point guard, Chris Paul. Paul, just like Rondo, had a poor shooting night going 5-13 from the field for only 13 points, but dropped 19 dimes. The Hornets had 39 made field goals in the game, in which 26 field goals were assisted, with 19 of those belonging to Chris Paul. The Heat had no answer defensively for Paul who was able to get penetration into the lane and dump it off to center Emeka Oakfor who put up a big 26 points along with 13 rebounds.

As great as the Big 3 have looked, they get themselves into trouble against a strong, pass-first point guard. I think the Heat will continue to struggle against good point guards because Carlos Arroyo is just not a good enough defender to stop the premiere point guards in the league. Three things win titles in the NBA: defense, rebounding, and depth. The Heat struggle with all three of those facets and it will prove to be a serious handicap come playoff time.

This is just an opinion…so please, Pardon My Bias.