Miami Heat’s lack of rotation hurting their chances of winning games – NBA Report
It’s the NBA Finals again and once again, the barrels have been pointed towards the Miami Heat. The criticism has been the same as it was throughout the regular season. The Miami Heat do not have enough depth in their team to win
playoff games against young teams. The game 1 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals on Tuesday night was just another proof.
After leading by as many as thirteen points in the 2nd quarter and having a 7 point lead at half time, the Heat were defeated 105-94 by the Oklahoma City Thunder here at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
It is sometimes hard to understand the team balance in Miami, as they are paying almost $48 million to their top three players but then do not have a deep bench after that. In game 1 of the Finals as well, Miami were outplayed
in the 2nd half because LeBron James and Dwyane Wade seemed to have lost their breath by the time they reached the final period.
James and Wade just cannot play competitive basketball for the full minutes against a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are a fast paced young and aggressive team who run both end of the court maybe even better than the
Miami Heat. Russell Westbrook is as quick as they come, and chasing him down requires fresh legs.
The Heat played Chris Bosh off the bench and got off to a great start without him on the floor. He played for 34 minutes but could not find any rhythm. Besides him, the only other bench players that played were Mike Miller for
10 minutes, and 2 minutes from Joel Anthony. If you compare that with the Thunder, you will be surprised.
Norris Cole and James Jones both did not play, and the Heat said after the game that Jones was suffering from a migraine.
“We know we have to have more production for sure. We’re going to have to have more guys in there to give me and D-Wade a rest. And Shane, Shane played a lot of minutes. But Spo will figure that out. We’ll be more conscious about
it, just trying to get a minute or two here or there so we can finish strong,” said James after the game.
Going into game 2, Erik Spoelstra needs to play out his rotation better, even though he has limited options. Tiring out James and Wade early on is not the right strategy against the Thunder, who play their best basketball in the
2nd half.
Mike Miller is suffering from back pains and it is unclear whether he will be able to play more minutes. Norris Cole could be an option for Spoelstra, but that is it. Starting Bosh would make matters even worse on the rotation.
Spoelstra will have a long two days trying to decide the best rotation going into game 2.
“Going into this game, we were going to try and keep it a tight rotation, maybe not as tight as it was, and give us our best shot,” Spoelstra said. “But I’ll probably try to go a little bit deeper in Game 2,” said Spoelstra.
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