Miami Heat Breakdown: Heat Have Right Stuff to Make Playoffs

Both the visiting Heat and the home standing Nets were coming off emotional victories the night before—for Miami, a thriller against the Lakers; for New Jersey, a blowout over the Mavericks. Furthermore, the Heat had to travel from Miami into New Jersey, with their plane touching down at 4:30 in the morning. With that information as a backdrop, while both teams had excuses to play inefficient basketball, the Heat were at much more of a disadvantage.

That’s why Miami’s 106-103 victory over New Jersey was doubly impressive and showed that they have the fight to make the playoffs.

Here are the specifics:

Dwyane Wade—13-22 FG, 1-3 3FG, 16-18 FT, 4 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL, 2 BLK, 5 TO, 43 PTS—was the conductor and orchestra of Miami’s symphony. He loved to set up in the middle of the floor and either drive left off a screen leading to a pull-up jumper, or go away from the screen and use a right-to-left-crossover to blow by his defender and get to the rim.

Six of Wade’s free throw attempts came when the Nets had to foul late in the game. His other 12 were the result of his indomitable will to get to the rim, and his ability to tantalize defenders by driving straight at them, before subtly swerving to the left at the last minute to draw contact and still get shots up.

Defensively, Wade’s baseline rotations were extraordinarily alert, twice reading a Nets drive and dropping down from the corner to block the ensuing shot.

If Wade does have a chink in his armor, its because he can get sloppy with his handle and has the excruciating habit of jumping in the air to pass. Two dribbles off of his foot, and two jump passes to nobody led to four of his five turnovers.

Still, Dwayne Wade is back, and he’s made all the difference in the Heat’s social mobility from ineptitude to solid mediocrity.

Shawn Marion—5-9 FG, 4 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 10 PTS— is a shell of his former running, gunning Phoenix self. The Heat don’t create enough offensive spacing to give Marion enough room to uncork is flippers at the rim, or his chest-pushed jumpers. And Marion rarely cuts hard without the ball anymore.

What he did do was drive along the baseline for a pair of layups, make smart passes, and play decent defense on Vince Carter. He also picked up a crucial tap out of a missed Wade free throw late in the fourth saving a Heat possession.

He’s still a versatile player, but certainly isn’t the star he was in Phoenix. If Suns fans would take the time to stop criticizing Shaq, they’d notice that Marion’s game is declining too.

Mario Chalmers didn’t have the touch—3-12 FG, 1-6 3FG, 7 AST, 2 TO, 8 PTS—and got wiped by any and every screen, but played commendable straight up defense when defending Devin Harris. He also was able to turn the corner around screens and made smart passes with minimal mistakes. With more experience and strength, he’ll become a quality point guard.

Udonis Haslem—3-5 FG, 7 REB, 6 PTS—was a bear on the defensive boards, and executed terrific perimeter closeouts when asked to defend the paint and then recover on Yi Jianlian and Ryan Anderson along the perimeter. And if he didn’t score much, his baseline 16-footer with 14 seconds left all but sealed the game. Haslem’s rebounding, defense, and midrange shooting has been invaluable to the Heat, and he’s easily been their second best player.

Joel Anthony—4-5 FG, 7 REB, 2 BLK, 8 PTS—was a revelation. If he didn’t have the height to challenge Brook Lopez straight up, he always worked hard in his defense, fronting, three-quartering, and showing wide on screens. And if he doesn’t have much of an offensive game, he found seams under the basket to receive cookies, or manufactured his own points on the boards.

Anthony’s scrappy play has enabled the Heat to play Haslem at his natural position of power forward, while moving Michael Beasley to the bench—both positives for Miami’s short-term prospects.

The aforementioned Michael Beasley—5-12 FG, 5 REB, 11 PTS—certainly has a slew of athletic traits. He’s quick for his size and has long arms, making him a good baseline scorer. He has great touch out to 20 feet. He has the athleticism to someday be a great rebounder.

However, Beasley also has some serious flaws in his game.

He’s completely disinterested without the ball in his hands. His closeouts are extremely late. He rarely passes, even when driving into crowds. In fact, he was so out-of-control on one possession that he barreled along the baseline straight into Ryan Anderson—who had been holding his ground for almost a good two seconds.

Beasley’s talented, but there’s no polish—the main reason why Eric Spolestra has relegated him to the bench.

Marcus Banks—1-1FG, 4 AST, is totally defenseless and ball-oriented.

Jamaal Magloire—1 PTS, 1 REB—is much more active than he’s ever been, but he was a step slow laterally on defense, and a step slow vertically on the glass. Magloire’s simply a plug for a team desperate for size.

Daequan Cook—5-10 FG, 4-5 3FG, 3-3 FT, 17 PTS—is an awful defender, and does little offensively other than shoot. Still, the youngster was able to drive and dish to Wade late in the fourth (mostly because of Carter turning his head and losing Wade than any spectacular play Cook made) giving the Heat a lead they’d never relinquish.

The Heat were extremely successful running screen combinations, usually a ball screen on one side of the court, with a curl on the other. The Net frontcourt defenders were often unsure whether to sag into the lane to protect against the ball screen, or help on the opposite-side curl. The Heat recognized how the Nets defense would play, and made the correct decisions.

The Heat did a solid job of showing on screens, of defending the paint, and of closing out on the perimeter. Credit the court awareness of Anthony, Haslem, and Wade for Miami’s solid team defense.

Give Anthony, Haslem, and Jamaal Magloire credit for setting bruising screens all game long, including a TKO job from Anthony to Jarvis Hayes. Those screens allowed the Heat to run a very efficient offense.

Eric Spolestra made a subtle adjustment midway through the fourth of having his players race up in transition, with the ball handler, either Wade, or Chalmers, receiving a screen about 30 feet from the basket. That tactic resulted in a Wade alley-oop pass to Marion, a Wade dish on a Cook three, and a Marion dunk off a feed from Chalmers.

The Heat individual front court defenders give up a lot of size to bigger stronger players. This will be a sore spot unless they acquire a true center.

If Cook isn’t hitting his shots, then the Heat bench is porous. There isn’t reliable depth anywhere on the roster except small forward.

The Heat have absolutely no post threat. Jamaal Magloire posted up twice, getting fouled both times, and only converting one of his four attempts. That was the extent of Miami's post offense.

Still, if the Heat don’t have much size or depth, they’re well-coached, committed to defense, and possess one of the game’s truly elite players in Dwyane Wade. That will pull them through the Eastern Conference muck, and into the playoffs.