Miami Heat Crying: Who Is to Blame for LeBron James and Company's Waterworks?
The Miami Heat dropped another game against one of the top teams in the league, losing by one point to the Chicago Bulls.
With missed shots by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, the Heat are now 1-for-16 on shots to win or tie during the final 10 seconds of a game. If you're doing the math at home, that's a dismal 6.25 percent.
For a team that had championship expectations heading into the season, this isn't exactly what the Heat or their fans had in mind.
With the playoffs quickly approaching, Miami needs to figure out the source of its problems…and fast. However, who or what to blame for these failures and how the Heat can get past them may be difficult to determine at first glance.
Find out inside, and if you have any thoughts or comments, make sure to leave them below.
How would you fix the Miami Heat's late and big game struggles?
Coaching
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Simply put, Erik Spoelstra has done a poor job coaching this team.
Many people thought Spoelstra was over his head when this team came together during the summer, and he hasn't done much to change that perception since the start of the season.
Miami's offensive sets consist of nothing more than pick-and-roll plays with Chris Bosh and isolation plays with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the wings. With all of that talent, Spoelstra has somehow managed to bog the system down in the half-court sets.
The Heat are excellent in transition, but they can't get out and run against the top teams in the league—the exact reason we've seen Miami struggle in late-game situations against those teams; everyone in the building knows what plays they're going to run.
Spoesltra needs to figure something out and get creative. Otherwise, the Heat will never overcome this hurdle.
Mental Mistakes
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Yesterday, Miami had the game almost given to them.
Luol Deng went to the line looking to tie the game and missed his last foul shot, giving Miami a chance to force the Bulls to foul them and extend the game. However, Mike Miller came rushing in, knocked Deng to the ground and put Chicago back on the line with a chance to take the lead.
Naturally, Deng knocked both shots down and put the Heat in a position where they had to win the game at the buzzer. With Miami’s struggles against top teams in late-game situations, the Heat are now forcing things by trying to make a play, and it's hurting them when it matters the most.
The Heat's woes are in their head, and it's just compounding the mistakes in crunch time.
LeBron Is Not a Closer
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Miami has used LeBron James as the closer in late-game situations and after each failure, nothing changes.
James has missed three-point shots, layups, etc. You name it, and LeBron has come up short when the game has been on the line. However, I have not seen one set for Dwyane Wade in the crucial moments of a big game. The closest we’ve seen was against Orlando when they had to settle for a Chris Bosh three-pointer.
Yeah, because that makes sense.
Wade is a natural closer, but in these situations, Miami keeps looking to LeBron. James has not shown the killer instinct in these situations and has not taken advantage of his superior size and strength. He has shied away from contact on drives and has looked less than confident on three-point attempts.
That doesn't sound like the guy I want taking the biggest shots of the game.
Flawed Roster
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Pat Riley did Erik Spoelstra and his stars no favors by surrounding them with this roster.
Guys like Mike Bibby and Joel Anthony are members on this team who bring next to nothing to the table. Miami is soft inside and has no physical presence to help get stops and rebounds during the most crucial sequences of the game.
Sure, a lot of this has to do with the three massive contracts on the books for the Heat. But when you talk about winning multiple championships before you even take the court together, you should probably take a look at the depth chart and realize that you're surrounded by scrubs.
If the stars could rely upon some other players who could make big-time plays, maybe the Heat would be winning some of these close games.
How Can Miami Overcome This?
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In the end, it just takes one game to help break this streak of horrible finishes.
However, in order to get back on the right track, the Heat have to start making some philosophical changes to the way they run things at the end of the game. Miami needs to start utilizing Dwyane Wade, or LeBron James has to become more of a facilitator as a point forward.
Additionally, Miami needs to start being less predictable during these end-game sets. Yesterday against Chicago, the Heat kept running plays with LeBron and Chris Bosh, and the Bulls—a solid defensive team—sniffed it out every single time.
We can't lay the blame at just Erik Spoelstra or just the players; it's a joint effort, and both sides have come up incredibly short against the best teams in this league. This must change before the playoffs. Otherwise, this team may be enjoying the South Beach summer weather much earlier than they had expected.
