Chris Bosh: ‘It’s Open Season On Us’
By Wes Goldberg
The Miami Heat’s defensive struggles have been well documented and complained about among fans, and they should be. The Heat have allowed opponents to shoot better than 54 percent against them in their last three games, and are allowing 47.6 percent on the season–fourth the NBA’s bottom.
That porous defense has become too much to overcome. Even on a night in which the Heat held Marc Gasol to a season-low 2 points, held the Grizzlies to just seven offensive rebounds and out-gained them in the paint 50-40, the Heat still lost 103-87. Memphis shot nearly 59 percent from the floor and made 8-of-13 3-pointers.
The Heat couldn’t stop them from scoring, and Chris Bosh was understandably frustrated after the game.
Bosh on defense: "We’ve had speeches, we’ve had demonstrations, we’ve had walk-throughs, we’ve had practices & still nothing happens.”
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) December 8, 2014
Bosh: "Hell, they shot 59%. We can’t even get down to a flat 50. It’s like everybody shoots 59% on us. It’s open season on us right now."
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) December 8, 2014
Bosh says opposing offenses are a blur-"It’s so common that teams score on us that you don’t even know how guys are getting their shots off”
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) December 8, 2014
The question is how to fix it. Everyone knows Erik Spoelstra’s defense takes a minute to learn. Specifically, players haven’t seemed to master it in fewer than two seasons. Miami returns just six players from last season, so it will take time for every new individual to learn the defense and build the continuity that Spo’s “everyone-on-a-string” defense depends on. Time should heal this wound.
However, it’s been 20 games and Miami has gotten worse on defense. Probably because teams are figuring out that the Heat don’t have an answer in the paint. Rim protection and rebounding is an issue, and teams are attacking them from the inside out. Hassan Whiteside played a couple of minutes in garbage time, and maybe he’ll give the Heat a 7-foot presence in the middle. It’ll be interesting to see to what degree that will help things.
Until then, Heat fans will wait for things to click.
Erik Spoelstra on the Heat's defense: "We’ll get our breakthrough at some point."
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) December 8, 2014