The Miami Heat dominated the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in Miami. This highlights something though, the good/bad duality of the Miami Heat.
The Miami Heat are coming off one of their more impressive wins of the season on Monday night. Although they have been nearly flawless on their home court all year, they were welcoming in the best team in the NBA while they themselves had been less than stellar over the last week or so.
After watching the game though, it was pretty hard to tell which team was the NBA’s best and which team was struggling to regain their footing after the All-Star break. The Miami Heat came out and just gave it to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, making him and Khris Middleton look extremely ordinary in the process.
After beating them early on in the season, this game was thought to be the payback game for the Bucks and a barometer game for Miami, to see if they are really as good as they think they are and as we have made them out to be this year. Well, they are, when they want to be.
This begs of a notion though, why are the Heat so inconsistent? I would even dare to say that they are the Harvey Dent of the NBA, DC Comics’ Two-Face from the Batman comics, storylines, and universe. Here is exactly what I mean.
When looking at the Miami Heat’s offense, they can sometimes become stagnant and desperate on the offensive end. These are the times where it seems as though no one can even find a good look, nevertheless, actually get a shot to go.
Then there are times such as Monday night, where it seems as though the Heat can do next to no wrong offensively. Duncan Robinson, Jae Crowder, Goran Dragic, and Kelly Olynyk all hit shots that can go into the extremely difficult to impossible piles. This is their two-facedness on the offensive end.
There are also issues of the same variety on the other side of the ball. When you look at the Miami Heat’s defense, they can sometimes come off or appear as though they can’t stop a running nose.
Then you have nights like Monday where they seem as though they are not only one of the best defensive teams in the league but THEE very best defensive team. It is a rather unique trait to have, but it is indeed that for the Miami Heat.
The point of this all was to highlight the fact that it is time for the Miami Heat to stop with the excuses. We have seen on several occasions what they can be when they are firing on all cylinders and bringing a consistent effort on both ends every night.
Perhaps it was the need to continue to get the new guys acclimated or perhaps a function of getting fully health, although the adrenaline of facing the league’s best may have been enough on Monday, but they must figure out how to be this team every night. This particular iteration of the Miami Heat, the one that are flamethrowers on offense and the Great Wall Of China on defense, can beat anybody and possibly even contend for a title. That’s right, we said it!