Maybe The Heat Don't Have It All Figured Out

How many people watched the Miami Heat go 21-1 in that 22 game stretch and said, 'Here we go, told you they were going to be unbeatable. They will almost never lose the rest of the year. NBA champs!' Yeah, I am sure every basketball fan knows at least one person who said that. Well that might not be the case, believe it or not you can't hand them the trophy just yet.

Last night the Heat lost to the Atlanta Hawks in overtime, at home no less, and it was their fourth straight loss. Yeah, four straight. That means 21-5 in their last 26, and gives them a 30-13 record overall (that means the Chicago Bulls 72 wins record is safe from the Heat this year). Last night's game, along with the previous three losses, have brought up some kinks in that armor as well.

This team without the big three playing together is suspect. The last three losses came with LeBron James missing the first two, and Chris Bosh missing last night's game. So while not having all of your players that this team is really pieced together around, more so than maybe any other team in the NBA, then you will struggle a little. Not being able to get a win without one of them though is tough to accept.

What was learned from last night's game, Chris Bosh is more valuable to this team than was originally believed. In last night's game the Heat as a team attempted 30 three pointers, the most in a game this season. Not only did the team take more threes, but James himself took 10, and he took 30 shots altogether by himself. Wade then took 20 shots as well, that is 50 shots between the two, out of the teams 77 shots. Not quite the balance you would want, perhaps a reason that they lost.

Another reason they lost, and a trend that is starting to be seen, is the lack of being able to close out games by the Heat. In games decided by five points or less they find themselves at 1-7. Not only below .500, but only winning one of those eight games. That is a problem, a glaring one for a team that is not going to just blow everyone away, especially come playoff time.

A part of that inability to close is their late game decision making. Just using last night's game as a starting point, they had shots in regulation and overtime in the closing seconds. What did they get? LeBron taking 28 foot three pointers that were at the very least mildly contested. Those are not winning shots, those are not shots that you want to rely on in close games. The Boston Celtics, they give it to Paul Pierce at the top of the key. The Chicago Bulls, they give it to Derrick Rose and let him create. The Heat almost looked like they did not know who was going to shot, where, or when, and just sort of panicked into two deep heaves.

This team is struggling right now so it is easy to pick on them. They are injured and losing so some of their deficiencies are more apparent, just ask the Dallas Mavericks. These issues will not go away with healing injuries though, they have to learn to win more than one out of eight close games, and who is going to create for that last shot when it comes time.