Miami Heat manage to defend decently for a night – NBA Update
Miami Heat are the defending NBA champions and the major reason why they were able to win it all last season was their grinding defence that literally refused to be shaken in the face of some of the most potent offensive batteries.
The situation has however changed drastically this season.
At present, Miami are ranked third from bottom in terms of defensive efficiency, and in their last two losses against one-win Washington Wizards and the phenomenal New York Knicks, their D looked as soft as a freshly baked cheese
cake.
However, in Saturday’s night fixture against New Orleans Hornets, Heat got back a semblance of their old selves, albeit only for one quarter.
LeBron James, who has been quite vocal on the issue, ever since the Heat got spanked by the Knicks, seemed pleased;
“It was a good step in the right direction,” James said. “We came in with the mindset that we needed to defend. We wanted to defend. And we did that.”
The Heat started off on the wrong foot, allowing 32 points to the Hornets, but then turned things around by outscoring them 33-15 in the second. That burst was enough to carry Miami across the line by 16 and nip a two game skid.
“We didn't do everything right, but the commitment on the defensive end was better than the last two games,” Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have been missing the activity on the defensive side for a while. There is a list of things
that we haven't been doing defensively. No. 1, we must be disruptive. That is one of the most significant things that we really haven't been getting to consistently.”
The defensive struggles of Heat this season do have a lot to do with the addition of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. The veterans don’t have the legs to defend at an optimum level consistently, and this has given the coach some headaches
as far as the rotations are concerned. He might have had some success on Saturday, but there are still loopholes, which can be easily exposed by quality opponents. Even the Hornets did some damage. Playing without their star rookie Anthony Davis, they still
managed to score 32 in the first, shots at nearly 45 percent from the three point range and also managed to make a push deep into the game.
The bottom line is that Heat need to up their game on the D, before they start raising fingers on each other. And that can get pretty messy, considering the star power present at the South Beach.
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