Miami Heat are not all about sacrifices - Part 1
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have reached the NBA finals in their first attempt together. When the trio came together to form the Big Three of the Miami Heat in the summer, there was a lot of confusion over how they will function as a team.
After around a month or so of debate, the consensus in the media and in the wider NBA world, was on the word “sacrifice”. Pundits argued that with so much talent in the team, they had to share the ball and play for each other if the team was not to implode.
After all, it was sacrifice that had brought the players together. Sacrifice on the financial side of things where the players, all three of them, agreed to make less money in order to play together. Sacrifice in terms of their egos, as all three, who were alpha males on their own turf, came together to be just another in the pack. All of this was done, just to achieve what had eluded them for so long, the NBA World Championship.
It seemed reasonable for them to sacrifice on the court and made pretty good sense as well. For the first few months, they concentrated hard on each other and the chemistry. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James consistently tried to get everyone involved in the game. All three players cut down on their own aggressiveness as they did not want to be seen as somebody who were still going at it alone.
However, playing for one another ultimately became a problem for the Heat.
Playing for one another on defence, covering for each other, sharing the ball and backing up the other guy is one thing - and that is good. However, when the playing for one another turns into not being aggressive, making one pass too many and not taking responsibility on the offensive end then it becomes a problem. And it became a problem for the Heat.
Although their intentions were good and the team was in it together, the whole playing for one another thing started to get in their way. Miami’s Big Three perhaps tried a bit too hard to be one of the team and all three neglected their own games. The result was a team that seemed out of sorts and unsure of how exactly to tackle each game.
Somewhere along the line, the Heat became aware of this fact. In a recent interview, LeBron James recalled those days and the reason of Miami’s early troubles,
"I think coming into the season, we thought, especially me and D-Wade, we had to make more sacrifices offensively, and it really hurt our team early on.”
"We basically tried to change our game and it wasn't for the better of the team, and that's why we kind of struggled early on, because we were being too unselfish."
Once Miami realized this they started to play differently and started to play better. Wade, LeBron and Bosh decided that for the team to play well, these three had to take responsibility and play the way they used to play in order to succeed.
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