Miami Heat: Even With Mike Bibby, the Team Is Playing the Same Sloppy Song

Scoreboards don't lie. They never have. So when Dwyane Wade's team (yes, it is Dwyane Wade's team) was up by 24 points in the third quarter, it is expected that it would win the game.

But, in true Miami fashion, it relinquished its lead while Orlando went on a 40-9 run to eventually snatch the game from the Heat, which left it with multiple sloppy last three-point field goals to try to tie the game and send it into overtime.

The three-pointers are what killed Miami Heat when it was all said and done. Jason Richardson and Ryan Andersen off the bench were of massive interest when it came to the perimeter offense, combining to go 9-for-14 for three-point field goals, which was much more impressive than James and Wade's 47 points in the first half. In fact, I don't think anyone even remembered it when those airballs and bricks were being tossed at the rim with 0.0 seconds left in regulation.

So, how irritated does this team have to become in order to finish games and stop letting go of them when it has the other team on the ropes? Last night, it was not about how tough the Magic fought to get back in, but how easy Miami made it. There is no explanation for how the tide turned, except for saying that the Big 3 and their supporting pieces got a little too comfortable against a team that has a three-point rain man on its bench and in its starting lineup.

The newly assembled star trio does not even have much confidence in its own perimeter game anymore in the second half and that hesitation kills the accuracy every time.

Mike Bibby adds a great dimension to the offense, and he is underrated as an offensive screener, like LeBron so eloquently pointed out in the short halftime interview he gave to interestingly dressed Craig Sager. Bibby could very well be the one depended on to take that clutch shot because he has done it over and over and over again. But, until they solidify the holder of that responsibility, close calls will end as the game did last night.

Also, you can see a huge shift in personality and appearance in the Miami Heat's postgame interviews. After earlier season losses, there was still a glimmer of hope in every man's eye. They were still figuring things out, and they still needed to learn how to mesh well and grow. However, now when you look at them, they are slumped over and mumbling, "Hopefully, they can figure things out." It seems like they are losing confidence in not only themselves in the second quarter but each other.

If only Mike Miller's 70-footer had counted...