Underachieving

Just when it seemed as if the Miami Heat's struggles were over, and they were well on their way to a championship, they suffer a skid, picking up Ls in five of their last six. The most recent occured earlier tonight: a 93-88 loss courtesy of the Knicks, who coming in were losers of seven straight.

After watching a good amount of the Knicks game, the reason why loomed right out at me, or anyone who knows the tiniest bit about basketball. It's the same problem you would see at an elementary school pick-up game. What's amazing is that coach Erik Spolestra didn't pick up on it at all, or maybe he did, but was afraid to say anything. He might not have wanted to tell LeBron and Wade (but mostly LeBron) to stop hogging the basketball.

Possession after possession in the 4th quarter I'd see the Knicks kick the ball around on offense, set screens, and find Landry Fields or Danilo Gallinari for an open three, or Amare down low, etc. Then Miami would take the ball down, Wade would and hand it off to LeBron (who shot just 7-24 on the night), and the King would dribble around and promptly take an acrobatic, contested J. One guy has the ball, the other four stand there was Miami's offense in the late stages. Not a single rehearsed play was recognizable.

Much of this seems to be at the fault of Spolestra, who is looking like the same inexperienced coach many were begging to be fired after the Heat's mediocre 9-8 start to the season. The timeouts he called amounted to nothing, unless he just repeatedly told his team to run the iso. Because that's all they were doing. The Heat's play looked like their coach either didn't know what he was doing, or didn't have control of the team.

LeBron and Wade are certainly the top players in the game; everyone knows that. But, LeBron especially, needs to realize that he doesn't need to do everything alone, that he has a team around him, regardless of its talent. The guys around him in Miami are certainly much better those in Cleveland, as demonstrated by their current woes. But instead of driving to the hoop every time and throwing up prayers, LeBron should kick it out to James Jones a few more times; the guy's money from beyond, or find a cutter (the few times there is one). I realize he's missing Bosh, but everyone on that team is an NBA player, which means they all have to be at least kind of good. Actually running set plays would help the Heat as well.

I certainly am not one to talk, but I can just see by watching the Heat for a few minutes the problem staring them straight in the eye. If LeBron played more like the point forward he did in Cleveland, top ten in assists, that would drastically improve his play. As power forward filling in for Bosh, he seems to think every time he touches the ball, he must score. The Heat will be fine as the season goes on, but this current stretch shows that they haven't jelled just yet.