Wednesday night was the Miami HEAT’s first test against a playoff proven team as they faced off against the San Antonio Spurs. There was a common theme Wednesday that the prevailed early in the season for the team. They can’t stop anyone in the paint. It’s pretty bad too. Some teams are managing to rack up over 50 points in the paint against the HEAT, and though it’s only 4 games into the season and Hassan Whiteside is a missing piece of the puzzle for the HEAT due to injury, this isn’t going to go away any time soon.
Last night was no different as the Spurs managed to score 44 points in the paint. At the end of the 3rd quarter they already had 40 of those 44 points. The departure of Willie Reed at backup center was a major bench loss for the HEAT, and new guys Jordan Mickey and 1st round draft pick Bam Adebayo are trying to adjust to the system. Bam made his first start for the HEAT yesterday. Adebayo showed some positive signs for the team, but it’s a tall order to ask a 19-year old rookie to have to face off against LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol in his first career start. Aldridge decided that Wednesday night on national TV would be the time to show NBA fans that he was worth the $72 million contract extension that RC Bufford gave him in the offseason. He scored the first 11 Spurs points and finished the game with 31 total.
There are some other glaring issues for the HEAT. One such is Justise Winslow. HEAT fans have been waiting patiently for his emergence to be worthy of that #10 draft pick, and it hasn’t happened yet. Guess what guys? It won’t happen. Winslow has become a liability on the court both on offense and defense. In two straight games Winslow has missed point blank layups. Winslow missed most of last season when the HEAT started peaking. At this point, there is nothing that leads anyone to believe that Winslow can be an asset to this HEAT team.
When the HEAT finished 30-11 at the back end of last season and Riley and Elisburg managed to keep the core of the team together, many had high hopes that maybe they could finish in 4th or 5th in the Eastern Conference, but that’s not happening, even with the return of Hassan Whiteside and Rodney McGruder. The Heat will most likely finish somewhere between 6-8 in the East. They have some more steps to get to the top 4 in the conference, but at least fans can expect them to make the playoffs this year. What will happen with Winslow remains to be seen, but after Dwyane Wade, we all know that Riley doesn’t make decisions on sentiments.
This is a very early season prediction. Just remember that there’s always the brutal January road trip to shake things up. If the team has a similar epiphany to the one they had last season after the trip, it will be interesting to see what second half HEAT team we get to witness.
