The Miami Heat find themselves tied up, 1-1, in their Eastern Conference Finals bout with the Boston Celtics. After winning Game 1 in a comeback type of affair, the Heat proceeded to allow the Boston Celtics to shoot them out of their own building in Game 2.
That’s the first key change that needs to happen right there. Allowing the Celtics a ton of wide open to semi-wide open looks from deep, the Miami Heat will need to ensure they stay plastered to guys in this series, forcing them to hit tough looks over the top.
Secondly and though it’s hard to ask anything more of this guy, Jimmy Butler needs to get himself activated earlier. He can’t fall back and wait for the game to come to him and his team, he needs to force the action from the very tip to set the tempo, not wait for one to be established.
Though there are several other things of note that could be mentioned, those are two of the top three, but the third of the top three is this one. The Miami Heat need more from two of their top four guys.
That would be Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. In Game 1, Adebayo would finish with 10 points, four rebounds, and one assist.
The Miami Heat took it on the chin in Game 2. A usually more docile presence, Heat play-by-play man, Eric Reid, put guys on notice afterward.
He would do so on 3-4 from the field. That’s the first thing there—Bam has to have more than four attempts.
He would only finish with six points, nine rebounds, and two dimes in Game 2 and again, on few shot attempts. He would only have six field-goal attempts in that game.
Tyler Herro would have a decent Game 1, though inefficient from three. He would finish with 18 points, eight rebounds, and three assists there, though only making one of his five attempts from range.
In Game 2, he would finish with only 11 points, a rebound, and three assists, also shooting poorly from deep by his standards. He would go 0-3 from range then.
It’s something that is clear as day, as they need to step up but it has become very noticeable. One of their biggest supporters and a guy that usually doesn’t speak this candidly about such incidents in Miami Heat play-by-play guy, Eric Reid, took on the topic after Game 2.
Here’s what he had to say.
"With Jimmy butler, listen, the guy’s got 70 points in the first two games of this series. Here’s the facts.The man needs help. He can distribute or do whatever—he needs help. And I think you’ve got to look to your best players for help at this point.And as the Heat get ready for Game 3, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro need to bring it up to the level that they are capable of playing at. Bam tonight, took only six shots, he only got to the free-throw line for one shot.In the last four games, he’s been under 10 field goal attempts in all four. Listen, we know he’s more than just a scorer, but you need more than nine or 10 points from him. And Tyler Herro, listen, all he’s got to do is play like he played all season long as the league’s top sixth man.He only had 11 points tonight, I think he was a -33 in the game. That’s got to change. That’s got to change for those two guys.JIMMY NEEDS HELP."
As Reid stated, we know Bam is more than just “points”, but he has to bring some of that too. Tyler has to be himself and it’s just that simple.
You can’t say it any better than Reid said it to close his soliloquy—”Jimmy needs help.”