Miami Heat: Sunset Vice helping to get the team back on track

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Luck the Mother

The fourth quarter looked like two heavy-weight boxers caught in a slugfest in the middle of the ring.

(What a treat.)

At this point, fans are quoting LeBron James after his first championship saying, “We not supposed to be here.”

You could say Danny Green’s corner 3 with 22 seconds remaining (only shot attempt in the quarter) was the nail in the coffin, but I disagree.

In this game, Spoelstra was the nail in the coffin.

For three quarters, Winslow had been everything you wanted him to be, but for some reason, he goes away from that in the final period, while playing Dwyane Wade half the quarter and mostly alongside Winslow.

There were a few times you could tell either the play was designed for Wade or the offense broke down, and Winslow came through to save the day (with Leonard guarding him).

Luck the Executioner

Unless you’re Michael Larson from the game show Press Your Luck, dipping into the well one time too many, can have catastrophic effects.

With 1:04 remaining and the Heat down by two, Wade takes a broken offensive possession and turns into a stepback 3 on the left wing in Green’s face.

This play was very reminiscent of the step back 3 he hit during the ‘purple shirt man’ playoff game against the Hornets, just to the other side. With 15 seconds left in the game down by two, Spoelstra calls an out of bounds play that gives Wade this exact same action, to the exact same side.

This time, Green was locked in and disrupted the shot. The irony here is that Winslow did get the ball with the clock winding down in this possession, but was forced to take a contested 3-pointer.

This is now twice we’ve seen this from Spoelstra.

In a close battle with the game on the line, he draws up a play for Wade with an elite defender on him; last week against the Los Angeles Lakers and again during this game. With so much time on the clock, I was surprised not to see a play heading downhill towards the basket.

At this point, sunset luck had had enough and pulled the plug.

The Heat lost by two but can hang their heads high on an excellent game played against one of the best opponents the league has to offer.

The Heat’s next opportunity to further their position in the standings comes at home Friday night, against the young Cleveland Cavaliers.

I’ll be watching almost exclusively for play call choices from the bench, and to see if Point Winslow continues to be better.