Miami Heat: Three Players to Increase Their Toughness/Rebounding vs Chicago
“We took it on the chin tonight.”
The words of Erik Spoelstra following the Heat’s embarrassment in Chicago Sunday night are still swirling through my confused head 48 hours after the fact.
As are the 19 offensive boards and the 31 second-chance points.
My brain felt boozed, but without alcohol. It’s disorienting to think about how the Heat, a team supposedly built on mental toughness, got out-toughed to the fullest.
Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and even Omer Asik threw the Miami bigs around with pure intensification. It was like watching JV versus Varsity.
Forget Carlos Boozer and hope he plays more. His plus-minus of +1 in Game 1 was shattered by Noah (+15), Gibson (+17), Asik (+9). So the Bulls essentially played the Heat to a draw with Booz in the game and dominated with him out of it. Heat fans should somehow hope Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau missed that stat.
At first I thought Miami could always play more intense, it’s not a skill right?. But the more I think about it, I consider intensity more skill than mindset. Some guys have it all times (Think Noah), while some only have it sometimes (Bosh).
Although Derrick Rose is without a doubt Chicago’s best player, their bigs set the tone and they set it well in Game 1.
This Bulls team is a different beast than the Heat are used to, and it all starts with their ultra physical big men led by Noah. There isn’t another seven-footer in the league like him.
Everything about the guy is rough. His physical appearance shatters cameras upon capture, and his game is harder than a Viagra-spiked scotch on the rocks.
Then there’s Gibson who put on a show in Dwyane Wade‘s living room. His game is energy blended with athleticism and hunger.
Asik, despite his awkward gangly appearance, is already one of the best interior defensive post players in basketball. It’s amazing this his first year in the NBA after playing professionally in Turkey for the previous five years.
Those three bigs in Noah, Gibson, and Asik all have one elite skill in common. Despite playing a collective 70 minutes, they committed only four fouls on Sunday. For a duo in LeBron James and Wade who thrive at getting to the line, that’s an impressive feat. And playing intense, physical basketball without fouling is no easy feat.
The Heat can thin the gap in intensity between the two teams, but there’s going to need to be some lineup changes. The following three guys would help the Heat in two critical areas, rebounding and toughness.
They can start by dusting the cobwebs off Erick Dampier, by far the Heat’s best combination of girth and toughness with three important skills to boot. He’s a quality rebounder, shot blocker and sets such forceful screens you can feel the pain rippling through the victim’s body. Although he’s better suited to match up with Asik, he can bang with Noah inside and rough him up a bit.
They should use Udonis Haslem enough to see what he’s got. I would rather take Haslem at 75 percent than Jamaal Magloire at 200 percent, even at the center position. He looks like Miami’s best antidote for Gibson. What he lacks in quickness and athleticism he makes up for with toughness and physicality. He’s still an asset.
Next, get Mike Miller on the court. He may be a living mummy, but he’s a smart player who is one of the best pound-for-pound rebounders in the league, as his 8.8 rebounds per 40 minutes this season indicates. He left his jumper in Washington, but despite public perception, he is more than just a shooter who has struggled to make shots. His best matchup would be against Kyle Korver or Keith Bogans.
Dampier, Haslem and Miller embody toughness on a physical and mental level and can make an impact in this series. These are players who can “take it in the chin” and deliver back blows of their own and their seven minutes (with Dampier inactive) in game one isn’t going to cut it.
The Heat are supposed to be the mentally strongest team in the NBA after the tornado of a season they endured. It’s time they start acting like it.
