The Miami Heat were just swept out of the NBA Playoffs in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks. Losing in embarrassing fashion, for the most part, the Miami Heat saw their chinks highlighted and their flaws simply assaulted.
While there were quite a few revealed and taken advantage of by the Milwaukee Bucks throughout that first round debacle of a series, the one that most stuck out was their advantage when it came to their sheer size. Between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, the Miami Heat couldn’t seem to contend with them in the areas where being big matters.
During the playoffs, the Miami Heat were mauled on the glass. They were out-rebounded 169-237 in their series with the Bucks.
Think about that. Really, just think about it.
The Miami Heat were killed in the paint during their first-round sweep from the Bucks, meaning size is an issue that must be addressed.
How are you supposed to win like that and especially when they allowed the Bucks to have games like Game 4, in which they had 15 rebounds on the offensive end in that game alone, how? The advantage was glaring in the playoffs.
While watching them get pulverized on the glass and from a scoring prospective in the paint during the playoffs were enough to tell the story when it comes to their lack of size, their regular season rebounding numbers forecasted such events.
To make matters worse for Miami and the case in totality here, they finished the regular season ranked 29th of 30 teams in the league, at just 41.5 per game.
The case is clear and closed. The Miami Heat weren’t big enough to be able to compete in the areas where size matters the most.
It was clear in the regular season and though they added Dewayne Dedmon, who they should do almost whatever it takes to retain, he wasn’t enough. That was more than apparent in the postseason.
That should be one of the priorities this offseason. To avoid a similar fate next season, it looks like it’ll have to be.