Miami Heat: Is it time to fully unleash Trevor Ariza already?

The Miami Heat have played poorly over their last few games and though defeated on both occasions by the same team in the Indiana Pacers, they weren’t their best selves in doing so. Issues that have bothered them over the past few years have really begun to rear their heads again and in a major way.

While the Miami Heat take a ton of threes throughout the course of any given game, they aren’t seeing a ton of them fall over their last few games. Even still though, you would think that this fortune would cause a team to put their head down and perhaps, attack the rim?

Not this team. They continue to chuck up three after three.

While the numbers and philosophy match in saying that this isn’t a bad approach, it wouldn’t hurt them to at least attempt to get to the paint every once in a while. You can also look at the other side of the ball though.

The Miami Heat need a spark of some sort right now and Trevor Ariza might just be it.

The Miami Heat are allowing teams or certain players to go absolutely nuclear on them from the outside. Malik Monk, the Hornets as a whole, Milwaukee, the Pacers, and just pick another one from a hat, then you have all the teams and guys that have, somehow, torched the Heat this season at different points.

While they are playing decent to really good defense even on most occasions, teams are just making their shots and tough ones most times. You have to chalk that up to teams getting up to play Miami but at some point, something has to give.

The Miami Heat’s newest addition, Trevor Ariza, might be an answer here. On the offensive side of the ball, his size, length and skill set make him a potential matchup problem along the wings as well as a dependable kick out or spot-up option for distance shots.

He can also put the ball on the floor to get something going to the rim. On the defensive side of the ball is really where he makes his money though.

He is still as adept a defender as they come and that includes intelligent and efficiently contesting the three-ball. Ariza can certainly be an improvement in one, if not both, of the aforementioned areas.

Hopefully, he can be a spark, overall, such as the way Jae Crowder was last season. The Miami Heat need something, as they aren’t in a free fall or anything, but they need not to get so far out of rhythm that it starts to reflect in their standings.