Miami Heat: 3 Emerging Difference-Makers Heading Down The Stretch
The Miami Heat have several difference makers on their roster and none more important than ‘The Dragon’.
Listen, in case you couldn’t see the biggest difference in this team up until now, then here’s an answer. The reason that the Miami Heat haven’t been as explosive this year as they were, at times, last season is because one of their big guns wasn’t firing at full operation.
Goran Dragic
Coming off of a plantar fascia tear, Goran Dragic or The Dragon needed time to get back right. Not only did he, physically, need to get back right but he had mental hurdles to leap that are associated with all the physical stuff he endured.
With a shortened off-season, an extended season for them last year, and all the other volatilities in a year that is, anything but normal, it’s no wonder that Dragic hadn’t gotten back yet. He looks to be finding it again now though and that spells trouble for the opposition.
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Trevor Ariza
We knew what Trevor Ariza could offer a team from a defensive perspective, as he’s been one of the better defenders in the entire league across his entire tenure. That’s what has always allowed him to stay contracted and well-paid by pretty good teams.
The thing that shocks you about Ariza, though it shouldn’t if you pay attention, is the fact that he can really shoot it. Shooting 40 percent from three on last season for Portland, before the bubble that saw him opt-out of attending, you can see how that happened with his play thus far for Miami.
You want him to continue to improve his drive game and finishing, but with the way he’s shooting the ball, he’s working on new money from Miami. If Jae Crowder’s leaving and subsequent absence proves anything, it’s this.
Pay the man Riles. As soon as possible.