A few thoughts as the playoffs approach by Thomas Johnson

Originally published with Playerspress Sportscaster Network: http://playerpress.com/articles/a-few-heat-thoughts-as-the-playoffs-approach



With the playoffs rapidly approaching, and the focus now squarely on whether the Heat will grab the fifth or sixth seed, it seems like a good a time to reflect on the season thus far and look forward to the climax of the basketball season.

As anyone who follows the game will tell you, pretty much every team in the East would rather play Atlanta than Orlando. Of course the only way Miami (41-37) will be playing the Hawks is if they finish fifth, ahead of Philadelphia (40-37), the team that the Heat shares an almost identical record with to this point.

At the moment, all signs point to the race for fifth place coming down to the final game of the season. Miami will face Detroit at home while Philadelphia has to travel to Cleveland. While at first glance it may seem that Miami has a great scheduling advantage here, keep in mind that there is still a chance that Philadelphia will be facing a Cavs team whose fate has already been sealed and in which case will likely be resting their starters, while Miami could be facing a Detroit team still battling to avoid finishing eighth.

Considering that Cleveland (63-15) has a four game lead in the East, their only remaining concern is in regards to securing home court throughout the playoffs by finishing with a better record than the Lakers (62-16). So from a Miami perspective, besides hoping that the Heat more or less win-out, you should also keep an eye on the Cavs and Lakers remaining games, and hope that the two teams remain in a battle for the best record all the way till the last game of the season, making the Cavs-Sixers contest a significant game for both teams. Should that fail to happen, there’s always the chance that Dwyane Wade will give his buddy Lebron a phone call and ask for a favor:

“Come on man. We were in China together for six weeks. China!”
“I’ll put you in a T-mobile commercial. Charles? Charles who? Come on Bron I need this!”
“Just go out there, score 50, grab the scoring title *cough* and a win *cough*, and you can have yourself the perfect ending to the regular season.”

In order for the Heat to finish strong, they will have to play the guys that give them the best to chance of winning. It’s a simple enough concept. Probably not even worth mentioning, right? Well it is when the coach has kept the second best player on the team on the bench for the grand majority of the season in favor of Udonis Haslem and now Yakhouba Diawara (Who? Exactly.)

Now if you look back at some of my older articles, it’s pretty clear that I’ve been saying all along that Michael Beasley should be the team’s starting power forward. There are various arguments echoed by everyone from Pat Riley to Erik Spoelstra as well as some beat writers that defend his role as sixth man. The main reason given to justify him coming off the bench usually centers on the belief that Beasley is a defensive liability and cannot defend the opposing teams’ best power forward without getting into early foul trouble. I have also heard the justification that the team needs Beasley as a spark off the bench, and that he does not grab enough rebounds.

While I still maintain my belief that Miami would be in a better position record wise had they stayed with Beasley as a starter for the majority of the season, or simply played him at least 30 minutes off the bench, I am aware that his defensive lapses have been an issue. However, it is also clear to any objective fan that he has improved in leaps and bounds in this area of his game, and if he is ever going to be more than a career sixth man, he is going to have to learn how to avoid foul trouble while defending quality players. The main way this is accomplished is by gaining experience through playing time as practice can only simulate so much. Besides, what forward on the Heat is he really going to have trouble defending in practice?

Sure he is going to get scored on and give up some big nights offensively to whoever he is defending, but guess what, so does everyone else on this team at some point. Wade, our best defender, has been torched by the likes of Jamal Crawford and even rookie
O.J. Mayo. Mario Chalmers, the rookie leader in steals, has been burnt numerous times by various speedy point guards. Even Sebastian Telfair scored a career-high 30 points against Mario.

(On a side note: When you’re defending a player that’s been in the league for a few years and he happens to set a new career high against you, that’s one thing. But when said career high is a whopping 30 points, well that tells you a little something about the caliber of the player who just owned you. From a personal standpoint, I’d rather give up 50 points to Kobe as that’s something that is almost expected, rather than be the one guy who’s going to play the role of supporting actor for at least half of Telfair’s season highlight tape. That’s like being the one guy Paris Hilton says “No” to.)

I mention all this not to chastise Wade and Chalmers for getting lit up occasionally (well maybe Chalmers just a little. We are talking about Telfair.), but to make the broader point that getting scored on in this league does happen, and it seems inconsistent for a coach to come down so much harder on one player while being far more lenient with others. That aside, I believe that the Heat’s offense needs just as much improvement as Beasley’s defense. On too many occasions this season, it has been Wade or bust. When he is playing at a ridiculously high level that can sometimes work. But when he isn’t, well let’s just say that the results have been far from pretty.

Too often at the end of games, while Beasley is reclining on the bench, the opposing team sends Udonis Haslem’s defender to double team Wade, and the Heat’s offense sputters and stalls out. The best example of this was the Heat-Cavs game a little while back when Mike Brown executed this perfectly by sending Varejo at Wade, basically daring anyone else on the team to shoot, and ended up winning a game that Miami had a significant late lead in. As a fan it’s infuriating.

This same anemic offense is the reason the Heat still tends to find itself facing significant first quarter deposits, and in need of Beasley’s “spark” off the bench in the first place. Crazy concept, but there would be less of a need for said “spark,” if the first unit had enough offensive firepower to get off to better starts. Hmm, I wonder how that could be accomplished.

That considered, it’s shocking how long it has taken Spoelstra to work on developing chemistry between Beasley and Wade. It’s only recently that we’re starting to see a somewhat consistent dose of pick and rolls between the two. And this is with four games left in the season. Instead, for the majority of the season that has been a play centered on Haslem and Wade.

Of course Haslem is the better screener and has six seasons of chemistry with Wade, but that is exactly why it should be Beasley involved in that play as he needs to get used to playing off of Wade. We already know what Haslem is as a player: a solid leader and supporting player, but at best a 12-point and 10-rebound type of player. Instead Beasley, the player with the much higher ceiling, is only recently showing what he’s truly capable of because he has the chance to now play significant minutes with Haslem injured.

The fundamental problem comes down to perception. The way Spoelstra has managed Beasley would make more sense if Miami were legitimate championship contenders, but considering that this is at best a couple-rounds-and-done team, this season should be used as a building block for next year. That’s not to say that wins and losses go out the window, but as long as the Heat still made the playoffs I think it would have made sense to focus on developing chemistry even at the expense of a win or two.

You can only imagine how much more dangerous this team would be right now with an offense built around a cohesive Beasley-Wade pick and roll that would have had a whole season to work out any kinks. Then imagine how much better they would be in a year’s time with another season of playing together on an every game basis. That chemistry can be the difference between going deep into the playoffs next season and going home early.

The thing that I cannot get my head around is how even with Haslem out and on the heels of Beasley’s 25-point, 9-rebound performance against the Hornets, Spoelstra still hasn’t committed to giving Beasley the starting nod for the Heat’s next game against the Celtics. Instead Coach Spoelstra is sticking to his mantra that Beasley must improve his defense, even though it was Diawara who picked up two early fouls last game. I’m not buying it. At this stage in the season, I think the decision to keep Beasley on the bench comes down to the fact that it makes life easier for Spoelstra personnel-wise.

Hypothetically, if Beasley were to finish out the rest of the regular season as a starter while putting up numbers on par with what he did against the Hornets, then Spoelstra would have a tough (at least in his eyes) decision to make. He would have to decide between starting a hot Beasley or a rusty Haslem in the first round series; a move that would no doubt be highly scrutinized by many (besides just me), assuming the likely scenario that he would stick with Haslem regardless.

Beasley’s success as a starter would also only intensify the second-guessing by the media and fans as to whether the move should have been made far earlier in the season. By playing it safe and staying with the same rotation, Spoelstra avoids the same level of questioning and scrutiny, so on an personal level it makes a lot of sense for him. Does it make basketball sense? I didn’t think so before, and I still don’t now.






One final note: Check back here soon after the playoff seeding has been determined as I will be breaking down each series and picking the winners.