NBA Playoffs 2011: Who Will Be the Miami Heat's Most Vital Role Player?

We know what the Miami Heat's Big Three can be capable of. In their first season together, the newly formed trio have made too many highlight reels to be counted and have led the team to their best record in five years.

Not only that, but LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have proven time and time again over the past few months that this experiment has been a success.

The question of the idea of a Big Three of this caliber being able to work in the post season will be the real test. This next month's worth of basketball will prove just how legitimately successful this experiment has worked out.

With this new team, the Heat have improved by 12 games from last seasons 47-35 record where Wade and company were only able to secure a fifth seed.

If not for a weak start to the season, injuries and a few mental lapses, Miami could be boasting the first seed in the Eastern Conference and possibly home court advantage throughout the postseason. Unexpected circumstances, however, have deterred the Heat from their regular season goal.

The No. 2 seed is still nothing to look down upon even for a team that had preseason predictions of possibly winning up to 70 games.

Miami has played well in the home stretch of the regular season winning 14 of its past 17 games and winning the games that mattered most, including their recent wins over Boston and Atlanta that helped them reach the second spot in the East.

With the two-seed, the Heat now get home-court advantage over every team in the NBA aside from the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs and now have a first-round date with the Philadelphia 76ers.

One of the most important parts of reaching the second seed is that they will hold home-court advantage in the second round against the Boston Celtics or the New York Knicks, two teams that could easily prove to be stiff competition before a possible eventual date with Chicago in the Conference Finals.

The last thing the Heat would need is to use up all their energy before even going that far on their postseason journey.

The 57-24 record that the Heat have achieved this season can all be attributed to what the Big Three have accomplished. They've had to deal with the adversity from the media and their peers, injuries to various members of the Big Three and key bench players and adjusting to playing with two superstars.

Aside from Wade playing three seasons with Shaquille O'Neal, no player has had experience playing with a superstar by their side.

While the Big Three have done all they can to help the Heat achieve various accolades in the regular season, they'll need all the support they can get from their bench and the point guard and center that join them in the starting lineup.

In a seven-game series, opposing teams can make adjustments in the middle of a series that could completely throw off the Heat's simplistic offensive system.

For opposing teams' scouts reading this: The secret is that the Heat don't have an offensive system.

If the Heat want to go anywhere this offseason, they're going to need their support system. They'll need starting point guard Mike Bibby to keep the offense honest and hit open three-pointers and create plays and they'll need starting center Erick Dampier to rebound, play some defense and catch and finish.

As for the bench, they could be the X-factor for the Heat heading into the postseason.

When the bench is producing, Miami is the most dangerous team in the league. For example, they outscored the Celtics bench 32-12 last Sunday and the team only needed 27 combined points from Wade and Bosh to win by 23.

Big contributions off the bench from Joel Anthony and Mario Chalmers proved to be deciding factors in the win.

All it took was nine points from Chalmers and seven points and 10 rebounds from Anthony to push this team over the edge and into the second spot.

With the team playing without Udonis Haslem, Miami has had to look for all the help it can get from the bench. Most of the time, it's the Big Three doing all of the work with the role players pouring in maybe 15 percent of the team's overall production in some games.

In the postseason, this cannot be the case if the Heat want to advance past teams that have deep enough benches to compete. Miami's bench has lacked consistency all year with every shooting or defensive specialist hit or miss in various games over the years.

Whether it's James Jones nailing five three-pointers one game and zero the next or Zydrunas Ilgauskas hitting the mid-range shot one game and being a liability the next, the lack of consistency from the bench has been one of the team's main downfalls.

For these playoffs, Miami is going to need all the help it can get from its bench.

Lately, they have been receiving plenty of support from various players with Jones hitting clutch three-pointers in the team's win over Atlanta and Anthony actually rebounding, catching the ball in rhythm and finishing the shots that the average basketball player can finish.

Anthony has proved to be quite the asset now that the Heat have found someway to get him involved in the offense.

While Anthony providing offense would be a huge asset to the Heat in the postseason, he still wouldn't represent himself as the team's most valuable player off the bench. One of the main problems for the Heat is that they have yet to find a consistent touch from the perimeter.

It's always warming to see Wade or James get hot from the field and hit absurd shots, but it's not something that the Heat want to rely on in the postseason.

There have been times this season where the Heat have relied on that in the first half of a game and then falter in the second half because they're unable to hit the shots that they were making in the first place.

As good as it has been to see Jones step up this season to hit a career-high in three-pointers, he's not the player that the Heat paid $30 million to hit shots from deep. That $30 million player is Mike Miller and he has been out of sync all year long and failing to live up to that hefty contract that the Heat awarded him prior to the start of the season.

After shooting 48 percent last season with Washington, Miller was predicted to be the Heat's biggest producer off the bench next to Haslem.

After suffering an injury to his thumb on his shooting hand in the preseason, Miller just hasn't been the player the Heat were hoping for. He came back in December and still hasn't fully mentally recovered.

I say "mentally" because Miller is consistently hitting three-pointers during practices and shootarounds, yet can't hit an ocean from a boat during game time. Aside from a 31-point night against Toronto, he has been just dreadful as far as being a shooter goes.

With no consistent shooting threat aside from the veteran point guard Bibby, the Heat have no shooting specialist that they could rely on. Even the myriad of injuries he is suffering as of late to his off-hand and his ankle, Miller needs to be that consistent shooting threat off the bench to help the Heat in what is sure to be a electric post season.

At 36 percent, Miller is shooting the lowest three-point percentage since the 2002-03 season. The 41 percent overall shooting and six points per game are the lowest of his career.

Miami is going to need to find a way to allow Miller to get into a rhythm. With the second seed in tow, the team can give Miller some playing time and get his confidence up in their final game of the season against the Raptors.

Momentum heading into the playoffs could be what Miller needs to help his confidence and shot be in full force and allow him to be ready for the playoffs.

It's either that or watching Chalmers jack up a few more 25 footers, the ball is in your court, Mr. Miller.