After splitting a road back-to-back earlier in the week, the Miami Heat came home looking to take advantage of familiar surroundings. Unfortunately, the Atlanta Hawks weren’t very forthcoming.
The Hawks beat the Heat 112-102, picking up their second win over their Southeast Division rival this season. Atlanta lit up Miami by shooting 54% from floor, while shooting an absurd 48% from downtown. The Heat had no answer to stopping the Hawks shooters, as their defensive woes continue against another sharp-shooting team.
Jeff Teague led the charge, scoring 27 points and dishing out 6 assists. He was taking advantage of the Heat guards, getting by them at will, and then finding open shooters when the defense collapsed on him. Teague has been making this case to be an All-Star this season and the Heat have been more than accommodating to help him on his quest.
Hawks sniper Kyle Korver scored 18 points, on 6 of 12 shooting, including 3 three-pointers, while Paul Milsap went for 14 points and 6 rebounds. The big surprise was second year guard Dennis Schroder go off, scoring 16 points off the bench. The Heat point guards were simply no match for the much quicker Hawk guards.
Things that pleased me: After a slow start, Dwyane Wade found his groove to pace the Heat with 28 points and 7 assists. He missed his first four shots, before finding his rhythm and making 11 of his next 16 shots. When he’s on the court, Wade still has what it takes to be one of the top players in the NBA, as his efficiency as a shooting guard makes him a tough man to cover.
Chris Bosh only shot the ball 12 times, but he made 9 of them count on his way to 27 points. He led all players with 11 rebounds. It’s strange that a player as important as he is to the Heat had so few chances to shoot. Maybe he was just trying to see if his teammates could get off to a good start before worrying about himself. Who knows?
When you consider how well both he and Wade played on Wednesday, you would have thought Miami had this game well in hand. But…
Things that annoyed me: …this team can’t play defense. I mean, they’re out there doing things that appears like something a team would do if they were playing defense. But sadly, that’s not what’s happening. Again, the Hawks made 54% of their shots from the field, and it’s the third time in four games that the Heat allowed an opponent to make more than 54% from the field (the Knicks barely count as a team, so their inability to shoot well played into the Heat’s hands.)
It’s startling to see this. Miami has built its identity on defense, and right now they’re having an identity crisis. Their defense is predicated on attacking the man with the basketball, using multiple rotations to keep an offense guessing. Problem is that offenses have been guessing right a lot. The Heat have the sixth worst defensive rating per 100 possessions (105.8) that they’re lumped into a group that includes the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, Jazz, and Timberwolves. Put it this way: the Sixers haven’t been as bad. I’ll give you a few moments to digest that.
Yes, it’s still early, and Wade’s absence hasn’t helped with continuity. But is it time to change the defensive schemes? Is that something Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra would ever think about? I doubt he would admit that, let alone consider it. But these guys need to get it together, before things get uglier.
Things that perplexed me: What happened to the home-court advantage? The Heat have lost their sixth game at American Airlines Arena, and they looked so uninterested out of the gate on Wednesday. Maybe it was the random home game sandwiched in between road trips, but there didn’t seem to be the same enthusiasm playing in front of the home crowd.
Then again, the home crowds haven’t exactly been energetic to start games in the early part of this season. Miami has always had fans arriving late to games, but there also seems to be a lack of energy at home. Look, I know the party of the last four years is gone, however that’s still not a reason to not get fired up for a home game. This regular season might be more important than the past four seasons, so the crowd being into the game from the jump is one of the little things that get a team going. It’s been a while since the regular season mattered in Miami; it’s up to us to make these games feel important again.
Scale of 1 to 10, how bad did I want to throw a lamp because of Mario Chalmers?: 1. Chalmers found himself in the starting lineup and was fantastic, scoring 19 points, on 6 of 8 shooting. He even looked like a true point guard, dishing out 11 assists, and seemed really comfortable back in the starting lineup. His +18 while he was on the floor was the best the Heat had on Wednesday. Again, Chalmers will have his ups-and-downs, but he’s seems to be finding his form this season. Maybe the Finals woke him up.
What we’ve learned: This team has their issues on defense; there’s no debating that. It doesn’t help that they’re a walking infirmary, as Wade has already missed seven games, while Norris Cole sat out Wednesday’s game with the flu; Chris Andersen has been out of the lineup; Luol Deng injured his hand on Wednesday, so there’s a chance he’ll miss time. It’s one thing to try to incorporate new players into a system, yet it’s another to try to do that while also dealing with injuries to key players.
The schedule won’t do them any favors, as they go on a five-game road trip, starting Friday night in Milwaukee to play the improved Bucks. On this trip, they’ll see the Grizzlies, Suns, Nuggets, and Jazz, so they’ll need to find a way to pull it together if they want to finish above .500 on that trip.