MIAMI – Now that all of the hype surrounding the Miami Heat’s season opener against the Boston Celtics is over, the question remains: how good is this team?
Clearly the Big Three, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, underperformed, especially the latter two, who combined for just seven of 27 shooting from the floor.
The highly publicised triumvirate also committed 15 of the Heat’s 17 turnovers in Tuesday’s 88-80 loss to the Celtics, last season’s Eastern Conference champions. But since then, Miami have looked very good in two dominating wins over arch-rivals the Orlando Magic, and the New Jersey Nets.
But there are still worrries. In the loss to Boston, Miami’s other two starters, centre Joel Anthony and guard Carlos Arroyo, scored an underwhelming five points between them.
Those numbers are going to have to improve if the much-hyped Heat are to have any chance of living up to their lofty expectations.
Miami had decent production off the bench with Udonis Haslem scoring 11 of the reserves’ 16 points. But take away the three from centre Zydrunas Ilgauskas and all of those points were from the outside.
Although the era of NBA teams needing a big centre is clearly gone, the Heat might have trouble winning over the long haul with Anthony (2.6 career scoring average) and Ilgauskas (35 years old) in the paint. Bosh is 6-foot-11 (2.11m) but is not a true centre, preferring the power forward position.
The Heat need to acquire a big man to take the pressure off their three All-Stars.
When James, Wade and Bosh are hitting their shots, the Heat can beat anyone. But going deep into the play-offs with Anthony and Ilgauskas patrolling the inside just isn’t likely. (Reuters)
