Miami Heat: Point The Finger Of Blame Away From Spoelstra

Being a passionate Heat fan for as long as I can remember, I ran through the gamut of reasons why Miami has underperformed to this point.

Yes, the win against the Cavs was inspiring, and only time will tell whether it would symbolize what I predicted, err hoped, err prayed it would.

Yet, my senses reminded me that the Cavs are just like most of the other teams the Heat have been beating: A down-on-their-luck, athletic, non-championship contendar.

Except the Magic, for one game, that is, but jump-shooting teams with a formidable big man like Dwight Howard that can anchor a defense are outliers.

I have stayed devout to my argument that there is an internal struggle between LeBron and D-Wade, which still may very well be the underlying linchpin behind it all.

Along the way, I included Erik Spoelstra, who played a convenient scapegoat for a team littered with at least two future Hall-of-Famers. 

The problem is that the more I watched them play, the more confusing things were.

At the heart of every Heat fan's mind should be this question: How can a team continually lose to above-.500 teams, but be able to blow out six teams by more than 20 points?

When considering the latter, that of course was expected outcome with the LeBron, D-Wade, Bosh platter. It was supposed to be the life behind the art of their unity after all.

But eight losses, only twelve wins, and only one meaningful win?

If you were to look at where the Miami Heat ranked in offensive efficiency among teams in the NBA, you may/may not be surprised to learn that they are fourth in the league.

Keep in mind, however, that the league is littered with bottom-feeder teams, while the spoils of rich and talented teams are few and far between.

In every one of Miami's eight losses thus far, there is one, and only one, stat that has rung consistently true thus far: The Heat's opponent had a higher FG percentage. 

You may be thinking: "Well, duh! That seems obvious enough. Now why don't you tell me when the sun rises."

It's not as simple as that though. For example, the Boston Celtics have lost four games so far this season. And in three of those four games, they had a higher FG percentage than the teams that beat them.

Forget about that for right now. Consider another two Heat stats that I think intertwine themselves just fine. The Miami Heat are 22nd in the league in assists. A team that is 12-8, and six of those wins were blowouts. Now, how many more assists, if you had to guess, do you think the Heat have compiled more than their opponents? Maybe 100? Maybe 50? They are after all the fourth-most offensively efficient team in the league.

The number is five.

Here is the other stat. In all but one of the games the Heat have lost, they have been outscored in the points in the paint category by an average margin of 14.

How can that be when considering that two of the most free-throw garnering players in the league are on their team?

It's because when D-Wade and LeBron are both on the court together, the good teams that can efficiently score in a half-court offense collapse into the paint and force everyone to shoot jump shots.

This has caused a huge hiccup in both player's games, at least when they are both on the court at the same time.

When they are not, you keep hearing these words from color analysts: "The floor is spaced out."

Meanwhile, both guys need the ball in their hands to be effective.

How can this work?

At this point, I am not sure. And neither is Pat Riley, who is still involved with the logistics of how this team functions behind the curtains.

But there are only two solutions.

One is that Miami has to figure out a way that both D-Wade and LeBron can be involved in the offense in a manner that will allow the team to get in the paint and take higher-percentage shots.

After all, there is nothing more debilitating to a team's psyche when they have to use the majority of the shot clock to get a good shot up, and the other team scores with ease.

The other solution is to trade either D-Wade or LeBron, which is probably the all-time worst best problem for a team president to have.

For now, if Miami has any intentions of winning, it had better start by improving their FG percentage. And a good place to start would be at the paint.

Or maybe, I should say a good place to finish.