Miami Heat soft in the centre, worry about playoff stretch – NBA Feature
When the Miami Heat started rebuilding in 2010, they made a great deal of effort to recruit LeBron James. Once they landed him along with Chris Bosh, Miami became the centre of all discussions with a superstar starting roster. However, in the midst of all
the excitement, they perhaps forgot that there is a very important spot in the starting five that they have not catered for, and that is the centre position.
Perhaps when they recruited Bosh, they thought he would make up for that deficiency, considering he is 6 feet 11 inches and has a great rebounding ability. However, they seem to have gotten their calculation wrong. Bosh is averaging 7.7 rebounds and 0.7
blocks per game but the void left in the centre is too big to be filled by a forward, even of the calibre of Chris Bosh.
It is amazing that Miami have been able to play so well despite being weak in the centre. They are averaging 41.62 rebounds per game, currently ranking 19th in the league. Their main strength is their offense, scoring 100.6 points per game on
average this season in home games. But in away games, this number also drops down to 93.53. This is the reason that Miami has been having some troubles in away games this season. Now with the Playoffs just around the corner, a solid centre player is becoming
somewhat of a worry for Miami.
In the game against Philadelphia, Miami started Ronny Turiaf instead of regular starting centre Joel Anthony. Anthony has been averaging 3 points, 4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game this season. He was blown away by the Oklahoma City Thunder centre players
Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins on the March 25th loss to the Thunder.
Ronny Turiaf is averaging 3.3 points and 3.6 rebounds for Miami this season, but is also averaging 14.9 minutes per game as compared to 21.6 for Anthony. He scored 6 points against the game in Philadelphia but went scoreless when Miami hosted Oklahoma City
on Wednesday. Anthony and Turiaf combined scored 2 points against Oklahoma and 6 points against Philadelphia. Come playoffs, these numbers will not be able to sustain Miami.
Compare that to Oklahoma City, whose centre Serge Ibaka is averaging 8.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game, and Chicago Bulls centre Joakim Noah with 9.9 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.
The Heat intend on playing Turaif as a starter and making Anthony play off the bench in the future.
“To get to my second layer of the rotation, there were some things that I wanted to move. Ultimately, we always envisioned Joel to be a game changer off the bench. At some point, somebody has to start as well. We have to find some people that can fill that
role as well” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.
The fact of the matter is that the Heat has four centre players in its roster but none has the numbers so far to go against the likes of Ibaka, Noah and Howard in the playoffs. The Heat have done a great job hiding this weakness so far but come the playoffs,
when they have to play 7 game series against opposing teams, it will be very difficult for them to compete at centre position. How they compensate for this weakness remains to be seen.
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