Rebounding has been the Achilles heal for the Miami Heat throughout their four-year Finals derby, and we’ve heard coaches and players say that they needed to do better on the boards time and time again. Yet it hardly gets better, if at all.
Talking with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Shandel Richardson following the 81-75 loss to the Indiana Pacers in which the Heat were out-rebounded 53-28, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh admitted–again–that the team needs to get better at rebounding.
"“It’s always been an issue,” Wade said. “We have moments. Like in the first half of the Dallas game, it was an issue. I thought we did a better job in the second half collecting ourselves … You can’t lose like that on the glass and expect to win.” […]“It’s going to continue until we do something about it,” Bosh said. “And we should do something about it. It’s just getting more aggressive and initiating ourselves early in the game on defense. … If we do that, that will take care of a lot.”"
This is one of the most frustrating things about the pace-and-space Heat. Look, I really don’t care about rebounding that much. I think it is an overrated stat that is more frustrating than impactful (it’s just important to, you know, not get out-rebounded by 30). What’s frustrating is that this team talks about getting better at it and never really does.
Unlike what Bosh is saying, it’s not “just getting more aggressive and initiating.” The Heat don’t have the size to rebound–even at a comparable rate–with many NBA teams over the course of the season. If this team is to rebound consistently, they will have to either trade for a big man (unlikely) or sign an impact rebounder (not easy to find).
As they say, talk about it or be about it. Whatever this team decides to be, stick to it. Space the floor, move the ball, shoot a bunch of 3’s and crash and dart on defense. Like Wade said, you can’t get out-rebounded like that. The Heat need to keep the rebounding margin closer, but let’s not pretend that it’s a priority for this team. It never has been.